How NOT to rent a flat in Spain – Month three of living as an ex-pat

---

“Are you an ex-pat? On minimum wage and a temporary part-time contract? Thinking of renting a flat in Alicante? Well contact us now: Rejectionville estate agents, serving none of your needs all of the time”

We excitedly started hunting for flats in Alicante as soon as we receive our first contract in Spain, not worrying too much about the fact it states we are only on a 6 week trial and legally were only working 5 hours a week each. Right now we are focused on the task in hand and arranging viewings for flats in the sought after area of Cabo Huertas and Playa de San Juan at the north end of the city. We decided to focus our searches there as we are already working in that area and so knew it a little better than other areas around the city. Plus, we were more than taken in by the impressive coastline views and proximity to the beach- something we have been missing since our days in China. The other tick point being that most properties in this area have parking attached to them, or at least nearby, unlike many flats in the city centre.

Our online search brought up a number of potentials, and we set to work contacting the estate agents to arrange viewings. All far so good. One estate agent contacted us back immediately, and we are eager to go and see the handful of flats she has set up for us the next day. Now at this point we were thinking how smooth and easy the flat hunting process in Alicante was, but little did we know we were in for a bumpy ride! In fact, I was convinced we would choose the one we liked best and be moved in by the next weekend, and why not? If the flat is free and we have the deposit there then that’s usually what happens, isn’t it? Anyway, we turn up at the allotted time the next day and after she keeps us waiting for a good 45 minutes, she finally arrives and we are on our way. In the end she takes us to see 3 flats, one which we rule out straight away but 2 that we really like. We check when we would be able to move in and both say that we can move in from next week if we so wish. I actually really like the second one we see which is the closest to the beach but unfortunately doesn’t have a balcony. Greg much prefers the third one which has a huge balcony, but the complex is much older and the flat doesn’t have air conditioning. This is a good dilemma to be in but we don’t want to rush such an important decision, so we agree to go back and visit them a second time. This takes a few days, and considering my eagerness to get moved in as soon as possible, I am quite restless about it. In the end we both agree the third one is the winner, so immediately arrange to go into the estate agents to sign the paperwork. The owner has even agreed to put air conditioning in for us! It’s only at that point when she tells us to bring in our work contracts that doubts start to creep into the back of my mind, but not enough for me to be particularly worried. I keep thinking this is Spain not Britain and they are not as strict on these things, so if worst comes to worst then we can simply get them to speak to our boss directly to reassure them we are working.

We agree to meet on the Friday evening after work, and I have already mentally started making lists of what we need to buy and what we need to pack etc. But sure enough, as soon as we produce our contracts, the estate agent starts to get ever so slightly concerned. She calls the owner to discuss it, and sure enough he says that he is unwilling to rent to us without something more concrete. So onto the next idea- contacting our boss. She speaks to the estate agent to reassure her we are working full time and can afford it, but it’s still not enough, so she agrees to email through a statement to confirm this. But unfortunately she sends it in English and we really need it in Spanish! By now its after 8pm, and she says she doesn’t have time to do it now so it will have to wait, but she will get a proper letter draughted up by Monday morning which she will scan over first thing. Me being the impatient little thing I am is pretty disappointed about it, but there’s nothing more we can do so it looks like another few days of travelling back and forth from Playa Flamenca in the meantime. I’m gutted as I really could imagine us in our wee flat that weekend.

We wait with baited breath on the Monday to see what is happening but then receive a text from the estate agent at about 4pm saying she still hasn’t received a letter from our boss. This is rather annoying so we chase it up and are assured it will be sent that evening. So now we have one additional day of waiting which is frustrating but then again I know nothing is ever done quickly in Spain and I just need to be patient. Fortunately they do receive the required information by the next morning so they can go ahead with our credit check and see if the tenant will accept our position. It takes what seems like a lifetime only for us to be told on Thursday afternoon it hasn’t been successful and unless we are willing to pay 6 months rent up front (which we aren’t) then we can forget about the flat. It’s pretty gutting and even more so because in the meantime we haven’t even thought about looking for any other flats. We really did have our heart set on it and assumed we would be able to get it. So that’s rule number 1 learned- don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

So onto the end of our second week of flat hunting. It’s Friday now so trying to arrange appointments to see flats is getting more and more difficult as the day goes on. Most estate agents have closed for the rest of the week (Fridays being a half day and they don’t work weekends) so we have to leave messages and emails and hope that we’ll get some more viewings arranged for next week. We were lucky to have found the one estate agent who actually worked a Saturday, as no one else seems to.

So, week three of our flat hunt. We have spent most of our Monday morning trying to contact estate agents after they haven’t returned our calls from Friday, but we either still can’t get through to them or they say they will phone us back to arrange a viewing and then don’t ever phone us back. In the meantime, we have asked the first estate agent if we can go back to see number 2 flat again, as Greg thinks he can maybe get round the idea it doesn’t have a balcony.

By Wednesday, we have managed to arrange a total of 2 viewings, one being the flat we have already looked at. I don’t understand why estate agents are so bad at returning your calls, or why they promise you a viewing to go and see something but then cancel on you at the last moment. And it’s made even doubly difficult by the fact they shut between 2pm and 5pm every day and we work after 5pm, so the only time we can talk to them is in the morning. Anyway, our next viewings are at 4pm and 5pm respectively on Thursday afternoon. Greg decides to take a wander in the afternoon to have another look from outside at the second flat again and on his way he happens to bump into the estate agent lady. Greg confirms our appointment at 4pm, and she rather dismissively tells us that the flat has now been rented. Well cheers for letting us know!! At least we still have one viewing which is a bonus… The next viewing is for a flat situated halfway between the area we have been looking at, and the area where our first school is situated. It’s an excellent location and handy for both our work. The flat itself is gorgeous, in fact probably too nice for us! It’s three bedrooms which is more than we need and also has a huge terrace and a swimming pool out front. This is all reflected in the price, which is 50 euros over our top end budget. This estate agent is convinced however that the flat is overpriced and reassures us she can get it down to within our budget. So that evening we decide to go for it and ask if they will accept our offer. The owner comes back to say she will meet us halfway instead. We regroup and decide to go in at a cheeky offer of 10 euros above our maximum, but then have to wait until the next morning to find out.

We are both a bit flabbergasted when she phones us the next day to tell us the owner now wants the full asking price, plus a 3 year tenancy agreement!??? We are flabbergasted how it has changed so much within the space of a day, but the estate agent tells us she is a loony and therefore we walk away. Once again it’s pulled at our heart strings, but nothing for it but to start again….. By now we’re starting to lose control of all the flats and estate agents we’ve contacted, as half the time an appointment has been cancelled or they’ve never got back to us. We end up reviewing the same flats on the websites and wondering the reason why we haven’t seen them already. We notice that there are two estate agents that we have contacted yet, and both seem to have nice properties in the area of Albufereta and Playa San Juan, so we decide to go in and see them face to face at the risk of being fobbed off on the phone. Once again we have made it the end of the week without much progress but we won’t give in just yet.

The first estate agent we see is a woman called Brenda who is American but speaks Spanish. She tells us her mum is from Glasgow too and so she will do what she can to get us the flat we want. It’s a good start, but then when we question where her mum is from in Glasgow, she answers Birmingham, which I’m sure is in England and not in Scotland. Anyway, it also becomes apparent pretty quickly that they are trying to pap all of the shite of the day onto us. We’ve told them what areas we would consider, but they assure us we won’t get anything in that area for our price range. We try to tell her we have already seen a few properties in our price range in that area, but she doesn’t listen to us. She doesn’t even seem to take our criteria into consideration and before we know it we are getting shown pictures of studio flats and apartments in Urba Nova and Elche which aren’t even in Alicante! We make our excuses as quick as we can and leave- she was as helpful as a women’s tourist guide of the Yemen. We head onto the second estate agency who are slightly more helpful, but who also haven’t updated their website in about 4 months, so every single flat we have taken a note of on their website has already been let out. They seem to do that a lot here, probably as it makes people contact them and leave their details in the first place. She seems to be a bit more positive that we will be able to get something in our price range, but they don’t have anything suitable in the meantime.

Week 4 of our flat hunt – total flats viewed 4, flat viewings arranged for this week: 2. For some reason estate agents don’t like to arrange viewings for the start of the week so it’s Wednesday before we even have a sniff of our next viewing. And in the end she cancels on us at the last minute (surprise, surprise) and asks if we can make it Friday instead. Thursday is a holiday this week and we have arranged a viewing to see another flat, but are a bit worried it will still be on as we wouldn’t have thought the estate agents would be open. So Greg phones her to confirm and is reassured that we will indeed be able to go and see it. He also confirms the time- tick, see you there. So off we head from Playa Flamenca to Alicante at 11am the next day. When we are almost half way between the two places, we receive a text message telling us the estate agent cannot get hold of the owner. We reply back asking what the problem is and also confirming that we are already half way there and will arrive in 30 minutes. We assume the owner has popped out for something and its nothing to worry about, so continue on as planned, especially when we don’t hear back. When we arrive we don’t see any sign of the estate agent so give her a phone to check we are at the right address. I know you have already worked out what’s happened, and I don’t need to tell you the ending but I will. Sure enough the estate agent tells us that the owner is actually away on holiday in Valencia. So why the hell did she arrange a viewing with us without checking that first??! We are more than slightly annoyed and Greg ends up telling her where to go on the phone. So it’s a wasted 2 hour journey and we can’t even spend some time in the city centre as everything is closed because of the holiday.

So, back to Friday AGAIN. BY now we’ve half come to expect the owner or estate agent will cancel on us last minute, so we are almost preparing ourselves that we won’t get to see the next flat. Amazingly the estate agent does turn up, and we are led inside. This is actually a flat we haven’t seen on the website and was a flat offered up to us by the estate agent instead. It’s in the right area and she tells us it is small but perfectly formed so we just have to wait and see. At this point we are open to any suggestions. When we walk in though we know straight away it definitely isn’t for us. It’s smaller than any apartment we’ve seen up until now, and it feels really dark inside. There’s also a foosty smell about the place. And to top it off, the balcony has been enclosed and doesn’t open fully, so the chances of getting sunshine are limited. Once again we are really disappointed, but this time because we were praying we would like it and we don’t.

Where are we now? Oh yes, week 5. Another fun week of chasing rings around estate agents and arranging and rearranging appointments. We manage to secure a grand total of 3 flat viewings this week, and we’re in luck that we actually get to see two on a Wednesday! The first one is situated in an area right on the seafront just at the very beginning of Albufureta. The photos of the flat show stunning views out to sea, and the apartment itself is a very generous sized two bedroom which looks well decorated. We wonder where the catch is, but soon find it when we realise it is hidden at the bottom of a cliff in a secluded area miles away from anywhere else. And the complex itself looks like it was built in the 1960’s and almost resembles a prison from the front. It’s part of a hotel complex and so the facilities are shared with guests. The pool looks like it is only big enough to accommodate about 30 people, and the complex itself probably houses about 300, so there’s a bit of a discrepancy going on there. Greg is determined not to be put off by the exterior, but when the estate agent fails to turn up, I am secretly very relieved. In the end she phones us the next day to offer us a viewing to go and see it without even acknowledging she stood us up the day before, so Greg reminds her politely before deleting her number from our mobile. We’re desperately running out of estate agencies here!

In the meantime, we go to see the other flat we had arranged to see which is situated on the 15^th floor of an apartment building. There’s no doubt that the views are absolutely stunning, but even I am slightly nervous about the drop down to the concrete below and i don’t suffer from vertigo. I don’t know how Greg can even contemplate it considering his fear of heights, but I feel desperation is beginning to set in. It is a shame when the complex itself was nice and the location again was ideal, but there is no point in settling if we are not 100%!c(MISSING)onvinced. Our final viewing of the week is a flat at the other end of Playa San Juan, towards El Campello. It’s slightly further away from both our works, but it’s also in the nicest and most upmarket location of all flats we have seen so far. The owner is there to greet us rather than just the estate agent so we try to give her our best charm and reassure her that we would be ideal tenants to take on her property. We are blown away instantly by how lovely the flat is and how pristeen the surrounding grounds are (which include an indoor and an outdoor pool, a sauna, tennis courts and a garden). The only concern is that it doesn’t have a sofa or fridge inside but she assures us that she is planning in getting them put in asap. We enquire when we would be able to move in and she pretends to hand us the keys and says “now!” so we feel quite reassured that she likes us. We also explain our work situation and she tells us that isn’t an issue at all. We leave the viewing (on a Friday afternoon) feeling on a high. We ask the estate agent if we can go to her office straight away to sign the papers and she tells us why not? So we head to her office and just as we are about to get out of the car, she asks us “Oh, you mean sign a contract today?” and we’re like “Yeah”. She then says she needs to confirm everything with the owner just to be sure. The next thing we know we are told that she apparently has someone else coming to look at the flat tomorrow and she wants to keep her promise to them so we will need to wait. We are a bit taken aback and confused, because 10 minutes ago she was practically throwing the keys at us. Anyway, the estate agent apologises and tells us she will let us know what is happening the next afternoon.

Lo and behold we don’t hear form the estate agent the next day, so by 4pm we make the move and contact her. She comes back to us and tells us that the owner says she is now apparently worried about our work situation and wants to speak to our boss to confirm things. We agree to do that, but then we are sent another message telling us that if we pay a 200 euro commission then all will be forgotten and the flat can be ours. What??? Eh, no way Jose! We stand our ground and tell her that we are willing to let her speak to her boss but no way are we willing to pay extra for the flat, we simply can’t afford it. Basically the situation is that most owners register with several estate agents and don’t pay an advertising fee up front. They basically pay the advertising fee to whoever manages to rent out their flat, and they pay this off of the first month’s rent that the tenant pays to them. But if they can convince the tenant to pay this for them on top of their first month’s rent if they think the tenant is desperate enough to secure the flat, then even better for them. But not us, no no no. They picked the wrong Scots! Anyway, there is a lot more to-ing and fro-ing but nothing much else is achieved and in the end we have to accept that the flat just isn’t meant to be for us.

Week 6 and we are starting to really lose faith now. Plus it is also only a week until Greg’s mum and dad arrive and we are beginning to panic that we will be sleeping on a sun lounger in the garden at this rate. In fact, Greg’s mum has already made the suggestion! But we are determined to get somewhere before then, so we keep trying. In the end we have contacted 2 more estate agents as our last hope for getting somewhere. After all our disasters so far, our boss has basically advised us to go through them to speak to the estate agency, as it will stop us from getting ripped off or being passed from pillar to post. It works and we have arranged to see two more properties. The night before the viewings I have a dream about a man with a moustache handing us 2 sets of keys, so that can only be a good thing surely. The first one we go to see this week is in a HUGE complex and although big inside, looks and smells like a little old lady. Plus it’s on the 9^th floor but the walkway to the front door has very low railings, and all I can think about is coming back drunk one night, losing my balance and falling over. … Not exactly an ideal situation! The very last property is situated on the same road as our work, so definitely handy for getting to! The outside of the building is not the prettiest, but it has a pool and is in an ideal location so lets see… I almost don’t dare to breath as we enter as I have all my hopes in the world riding on the fact we want to like it. As it turns out, we really do! It has a huge balcony, and even though its only a one bedroom, it feels homely and just about the right size for us. Once again though we are worried we will get this far and then fall at the last hurdle, so we ask the estate agent what the next steps would be. He tells us we need our ID, deposit and work contracts- here we go again! We are straight up with him about our work situation but also show him the letter we have from our employers guaranteeing our income and job security. He doesn’t seem fazed and simply asks if he can speak to our boss quickly. He does and then tells us he is satisfied that everything is fine, hurrah! We ask him when we can go and sign the contract (it’s Monday now) and he tells us not until next week. Oh no! But when he sees our faces he then says we might be able to do it at the end of this week instead. He says Friday would be the earliest and we agree to do it then (of course it would be a Friday, what else?) and spend the next 4 nights in anticipation of what’s to come. We are convinced something will happen before then, but sure enough Friday comes around and there he is waiting for us to sign the contracts along with the owners. We literally sign the pages and he stands up to hand us 2 sets of keys (he doesn’t have a moustache but its close enough to my premonition I think). I am so happy I could cry! It took us 6 long weeks and a lot of bullshit, but we got there in the end. All it took was one owner to take a chance on a foreigner and just play it straight. Here’s to the next year in our own little apartamento- que suerte!

---