# Some advice for the Brits looking to rent



## SpanishFly (Aug 16, 2016)

The situation in Spain is very different to the UK. In the UK to get an apartment you need to go for interviews, provided months and months of official documents and its a long winded gruelling and expensive process.

Well last week I went to Spain to talk with the estate agents and see what its like there and the situation is the exact opposite. Theres so much empty and available housing that you as the tenant hold a lot more weight. You are often in the position to negotiate them down!

This is the total opposite to whgat you will find with a British letting agent. In all honesty I have found them all to be pretentious, snobby and judgemental of me as a younger male. 

So if anyone else was wondering like I was. Don't worry - its very easy for you to get an arptment there. They will likely take you to view it immediately and it will likely be available and empty. The exact opposite of England!  


Also I was blown away and stunned by the Spanish culture, how friendly it was, how clean the streets are. No homeless, no one trying to stab you. England has really gone down hill over the past 20 years. When I got back to the UK the difference in how people treat you is so noticable. Nobody is happy and they look down and grunt at you. This isn't the majority in Spain, people there were brilliant, I had to open myself up to how friendly they were to me at first as I was coming from a place where you guard yourself here. Something went badly wrong here and all I can really say is sometimes you need to leave a situation and look back in on it...


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## yesican (Jan 18, 2016)

We have been in Tenerife since early July and as far as how the Spanish treat you, i'm humbled by their attitude. They're so welcoming and everyday , you're guaranteed to receive a hello or how are you? or anything from a stranger, something that has gone down the dogs in UK. It's a shame that our own country has changed negatively.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

SpanishFly said:


> The situation in Spain is very different to the UK. In the UK to get an apartment you need to go for interviews, provided months and months of official documents and its a long winded gruelling and expensive process.
> 
> Well last week I went to Spain to talk with the estate agents and see what its like there and the situation is the exact opposite. Theres so much empty and available housing that you as the tenant hold a lot more weight. You are often in the position to negotiate them down!
> 
> ...


I'm pleased that you've had such a good introduction to Spain but I'm a bit puzzled at your description of the difficulties of renting in the UK. No way did I require loads of documents and certainly did not make prospective tenants wait months before handing over the keys.
All I required was that the tenant signed the legally drawn up tenancy agreement and after inspection an agreed inventory of the property, plus of course a deposit.

Yes, there are many empty properties in Spain....and yes the tenant has a few more rights than in the UK. But there are also very many rapacious greedy landlords as we have read from posts on this Forum from people with unhappy experiences of renting.

I also agree that generally speaking Spanish people are tolerant and friendly - but then I could say the same of the small town I lived in in the UK. Spain has its share of unpleasant people too.

But yes, on the whole, Spain is a friendly country, it' s easy to find a property and with the prospect of Brexit looming it's possible that renting will be even cheaper in future.

I'd always owned the house I've lived in and been a landlord but we sold everything on leaving the UK and now have been happily renting a very nice house with all our own furniture etc. for almost eight years. We have a good landlord and can do what we like with the property within reason - hang pictures, decorate to our taste..
I personally wouldn't contemplate buying in Spain but obviously there are many happy homeowners here.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

I should also add that there are sadly very many homeless people in Spain...a consequence of the 24% unemployment rate with youth unemployment at over 50%, much higher than in the UK.
That may have been one reason why you found so many empty apartments to rent, they may have been bank repossessions.
Spain has no Housing Benefit or Tax Credit system as exists in the UK so losing a job can very often lead to losing your home


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

Don't paint all UK landlords badly, some of us are good and very straightforward with our tenants. I no longer deal directly with my tenants as I leave it to my letting agents but...ALL my tenants have a phone number they can contact me on if needed and I've only had one call in around five years.

Yes, we need things like bank statements, utility bills et al, but remember we are running a business; provide whats needed and you get the keys.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

bob_bob said:


> Don't paint all UK landlords badly, some of us are good and very straightforward with our tenants. I no longer deal directly with my tenants as I leave it to my letting agents but...ALL my tenants have a phone number they can contact me on if needed and I've only had one call in around five years.
> 
> Yes, we need things like bank statements, utility bills et al, but remember we are running a business; provide whats needed and you get the keys.



A friend of mine has just rented in the UK and its not as easy as it used to be. It seems most rental agencies now use credit agencies to do the checks - My friend jokingly said that they even want DNA samples lol. 

Jo xxx


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

jojo said:


> A friend of mine has just rented in the UK and its not as easy as it used to be. It seems most rental agencies now use credit agencies to do the checks - My friend jokingly said that they even want DNA samples lol.
> 
> Jo xxx


Getting a reference from a credit agency takes seconds these days and if your record is good...no problem.
If it isn't, who can blame a landlord for turning you down?
We used to do credit checks as normal business practice when a customer requested account facilities.


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## SpanishFly (Aug 16, 2016)

If you are looking to make the move but had held back and not really known why then do it. It perfect.


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## 95995 (May 16, 2010)

mrypg9 said:


> Getting a reference from a credit agency takes seconds these days and if your record is good...no problem.
> If it isn't, who can blame a landlord for turning you down?
> We used to do credit checks as normal business practice when a customer requested account facilities.


Credit checks are unreliable - they make lots of mistakes resulting in the wrong people getting bad reports. The biggest issue, though, is that you have to borrow to get a credit rating.


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## SpanishFly (Aug 16, 2016)

My credit got ruined by a rogue a electric company that stole my savings when I was a youngster, I spent weeks in citizens advice and I was phoning police and everything but theres nothing you can do when a company steals from you in England or at leats I never recovered the £3000 the electric company debited out one nmonth of my account. It wiped me out and I was homeless but yeah this is all a long story I'm sure any landlord would find it easier to just not give me a home which is exactly what they did but most did it before even looking at the documents as soon as they see a young male you are discriminated against because there are 50 older females with more money who LOOK like better tenants.

Its that simple. I'm fighting the odds and statistically a landlord would place their bets on an older rich female than a younger male with less money. If you don't see that your eyes must be pretty well shut


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## jimenato (Nov 21, 2009)

Glad you've had such a positive experience with renting in Spain but a word of warning, we are often told on this thread that getting your deposit back is highly unlikely. It never happened to me but to has to lots of others. The best plan is to not pay the last month (or two's) rent. I did this having told the landlord I was going to do it and there was no problem.

I have to say that no-one has tried to stab me in the UK.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

SpanishFly said:


> Its that simple. I'm fighting the odds and statistically a landlord would place their bets on an older rich female than a younger male with less money. If you don't see that your eyes must be pretty well shut


Statistics have nothing to do with it, but prudence and common sense and an understandable desire to protect your investment certainly has.

Landlords are not idiots, they're in business and if they wish to stay in business they weigh up the reliability of their customers. 

I don't know a single landlord who would prefer as a tenant anyone with a poor credit rating, regardless of age or gender, to a tenant with solid bank references.


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## Pazcat (Mar 24, 2010)

We got most of our deposit back but to be fair that is what a deposit is supposed to be used for. There were a few small wear and tear things that needed fixing, a toilet that needed a new flush mechanism and the movers(I use the term loosely) broke the kitchen plumbing when they figured you can just pull a dishwasher out of the wall still connected.

All in all I was surprised that we got more than half of the deposit back, fairs fair really.


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## bob_bob (Jan 5, 2011)

jojo said:


> A friend of mine has just rented in the UK and its not as easy as it used to be. It seems most rental agencies now use credit agencies to do the checks - My friend jokingly said that they even want DNA samples lol.
> 
> Jo xxx


DNA no, cheaper properties of mine (around £450 per month) are straightforward to rent and in excellent condition. I have other properties which rent at over £3500 a month and on those...I want to know who I'm renting to.


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

bob_bob said:


> DNA no, cheaper properties of mine (around £450 per month) are straightforward to rent and in excellent condition. I have other properties which rent at over £3500 a month and on those...I want to know who I'm renting to.


Two prospective tenants: one, young man, poor credit record, low income, no steady job
Two: sixty-five year- old retired nurse or school teacher, excellent credit record, in receipt of good steady FSS pension.

What landlord would spend an hour in a darkened room pondering which one to choose....


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