# Apartment hunting in Malaga



## mihaela.grigoe (9 mo ago)

I am moving to Malaga for a new job and I'm apartment hunting at the moment. If anyone can offer some tips & tricks, I would be most grateful. 

The issues / surprising facts I encountered so far would be:

- finding a place in Malaga seems almost as difficult as finding a place in Paris, which I thought was the ultimate challenge. Is really the request for rental so high ? Should I expect a LOT of struggle to find a good place ?

- real estate agents and private individuals who post ads on idealista / yaencontre have a very low response rate for messages. And my Spanish is not that good so that I would handle a phone conversation. Is texting through web platforms / emailing a dead end and should I go for calling them every single time ?

- arranging rental remotely seems to be something that scares them. Even when I mentioned that I have a relocation agent in Malaga who will go for the viewing, I was refused. 

- real estate agents seem not to try to sell the place to you. My feeling was that they are getting requests anyway, so if you're a peculiar case (like me doing the viewing through a relocation agent) they prefer to tell you they cannot help and take the next customer, who gives them less work.

That's it for now. If somebody has some advice or an ecouraging thing to say about this, I would appreciate it. So far, the experience made me less optimistic about relocating to Malaga  Would be nice to know there is light at the end of the tunnel 😔


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## tardigrade (May 23, 2021)

I cannot really help but Whatsapp is the normal mode of communication here. All you can do is try using google translate or your own service. Over, over and over again if need be.

As always, it is better to be on the ground (here) rather than miles away. A lot of people will not want to include another person in this transaction. That is why the rental agent gets dismissed. They want to see the "person" who will be living there. That is unless you are dealing with very expensive rentals and this is the norm for "foreign" workers; in Diabi,NYC, Paris, etc.
Come, see, rent for the timetable you require and give the person renting the apartment a chance to earn some cash until then.. The contract also has to be in Spanish and in accordance to the renting laws here.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Also the landlord would want to make sure you can pay the rent, so will demand to see your work contract, bank statement showing regular income or pensions details.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

Joppa said:


> Also the landlord would want to make sure you can pay the rent, so will demand to see your work contract, bank statement showing regular income or pensions details.


In 18.5 years of renting here in Spain I have never been asked for anything more than my passport & NIE number, neither when renting directly from the owner, nor via an agent. 

When my elder daughter moved out to flatshare with friends, neither was she.


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## Joppa (Sep 7, 2009)

Here in Nerja, and elsewhere on Costa del Sol, also in cities like Malaga, showing proof of income is common and expected. Many adverts actually mention this. If you use an agent, you will show evidence to them and they can reassure landlords that prospective renter has means to pay what is due. With difficulty of evicting unsuitable tenants, landlords must take steps to safeguard their interest.


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## Overandout (Nov 10, 2012)

tardigrade said:


> I cannot really help but Whatsapp is the normal mode of communication here. All you can do is try using google translate or your own service. Over, over and over again if need be.
> 
> As always, it is better to be on the ground (here) rather than miles away. A lot of people will not want to include another person in this transaction. That is why the rental agent gets dismissed. They want to see the "person" who will be living there. That is unless you are dealing with very expensive rentals and this is the norm for "foreign" workers; in Diabi,NYC, Paris, etc.
> Come, see, rent for the timetable you require and give the person renting the apartment a chance to earn some cash until then.. The contract also has to be in Spanish and in accordance to the renting laws here.


There is no law in Spain which obliges contracts between private parties to be in Spanish.


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## mihaela.grigoe (9 mo ago)

Thank you all for your replies. 

I concurr that the proof of income is a mandatory requirement. All ads I have seen on yaencontre and idealista explicitly mention this. They actually want a 'proof of solvability'. This can take the form of: proof of last 3 salaries, work contract for indefinite period of time or maybe even a savins account.
This seems to be a trend in countries / cities where it's difficult to evict the non paying tenant. I've seen the same in Paris and landlords were extremely paranoid when checking for 'solvability'. 

Luckily, I expect no issues with this requirement, as I have my savings account that can cover many months of rent and my new job in Malaga.

But the part where I experience difficulties is finding legit & friendly ads / owners / real estate agencies. Most real estate agencies I have contacted don't answer the phone, don't answer messages or refuse to discuss further details before my arrival in Malaga. The owners I have contacted relunctantly answered and when they did, they said 'call me when you're in Malaga and we'll see if the place is still available'. 

I'm starting to realize that I will have to go through airbnb for 1-2 weeks after my arrival and look for a rental on the ground, there, like someone else suggested.
But I'm also starting to get worried that I have no reliable method to look for a place when I will be there. If I rely on idealista and yaecontre, it will be the same spammy / dismissive real estate agents that I'm facing now 

Are there are other ways to find landlords or a helpful real estate agency ?


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## Barriej (Jul 23, 2012)

mihaela.grigoe said:


> Thank you all for your replies.
> 
> I concurr that the proof of income is a mandatory requirement. All ads I have seen on yaencontre and idealista explicitly mention this. They actually want a 'proof of solvability'. This can take the form of: proof of last 3 salaries, work contract for indefinite period of time or maybe even a savins account.
> This seems to be a trend in countries / cities where it's difficult to evict the non paying tenant. I've seen the same in Paris and landlords were extremely paranoid when checking for 'solvability'.
> ...


The problem with trying to arrange rental in any city or large town is the turnover. 
What might be for rent today, may not be tomorrow and unless you lodged a large sum with an agent, I doubt anyone would hold a flat etc for you site unseen.
Both of the agents I know here (inland of Albir) say that they have enough work with walk ins from people already here and looking, so they feel that distance selling is not as worthwhile.
They have no idea if you are 100% genuine, you may just be fact finding for a future trip (one of the local agents had an email enquiry about a rental a family wanted to take from March 2023) He ignored it..

Again a lot of agents wont be happy dealing with 3rd parties either, they are, after all responsible for who they put in the property and a face to face is the easiest way to gauge what a prospective client will be like.
When we sold up and moved from Northampton to Shoreham in 2015. I spoke with a few agents and none of them would even deal with me or put the rental on hold for me unless I personally visited them, saw the property and signed up with them. 
And thats in the same country and I had all the paperwork with letters from my employer and bank statements.

To be brutally honest, the only way to find what you want is to visit the area you want to live in and then walk into a local agent and see what they can do. 
I would expect Malaga to have a few decent agents and some of them will speak English if you Spanish is not up to much.


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## mihaela.grigoe (9 mo ago)

Barriej said:


> The problem with trying to arrange rental in any city or large town is the turnover.
> What might be for rent today, may not be tomorrow and unless you lodged a large sum with an agent, I doubt anyone would hold a flat etc for you site unseen.
> Both of the agents I know here (inland of Albir) say that they have enough work with walk ins from people already here and looking, so they feel that distance selling is not as worthwhile.
> They have no idea if you are 100% genuine, you may just be fact finding for a future trip (one of the local agents had an email enquiry about a rental a family wanted to take from March 2023) He ignored it..
> ...


Thank you for the advice and taking the time to ellaborate on this. For some reason, I had the expectation of arranging everything remotely, like I do on Airbnb. I didn't even expect I would need to go visit the apartment, since photos + Google Maps for location and seeing the area were enough for me. I guess I've been spoiled by the modern short term rental platforms 😌
It's good to know that the right strategy is to rent an Airbnb room for 2 weeks and start looking once I am there.


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## mihaela.grigoe (9 mo ago)

xabiaxica said:


> In 18.5 years of renting here in Spain I have never been asked for anything more than my passport & NIE number, neither when renting directly from the owner, nor via an agent.
> 
> When my elder daughter moved out to flatshare with friends, neither was she.


May ask what method you usually use when you have to find a new place ? Is it a particular website or a particular agency ? 
Thank you ! 🙏


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## KVP (Apr 16, 2017)

I have no advice for you sorry, but wanted to note that I am staying in an AirBnB in Costa del Sol and I got a months rental at a discount. If you check, you can usually find some that give you a good deal for a longer stay, it would give you some time to find a place.

Also, I joined a local Facebook group so I could ask for advice and such while I am here, and there are a LOT of people asking if anyone knows anyone with a long term rental. Many families seeking any apartment, I've even seen 2 families so desperate to get an apt that they have joined forces to find 1 place and have committed to sharing that place. There are a few people posting in the group that they have a place available, so maybe joining a Malaga based group might give you some idea of what's around locally. I'm sure I don't need to tell you to be careful though!!!

It seems rental shortages are Europe wide at the stage..


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## Ade77 (9 mo ago)

mihaela.grigoe said:


> I am moving to Malaga for a new job and I'm apartment hunting at the moment. If anyone can offer some tips & tricks, I would be most grateful.
> 
> The issues / surprising facts I encountered so far would be:
> 
> ...


My cousin owns an apartment In Malaga in case you are still looking DM me


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