5 Tips to find your apartment in Madrid

Finding an apartment in Madrid can be a bit annoying, especially if you are not from here … many questions will come up about the location, prices, timing, etc. Here are some tips to help you with your search process

1. Room? Entire apartment? Student’s residence?

First of all, you should think about what suits you better in terms of your personality and especially, your budget. All the options are good but it all depends on what you are looking for:

• Room in shared apartment: if you are looking to make new friends, learn to live with people from different cultures and habits, this will be your ideal option. In addition, this is usually the cheapest option and also the most common in our city.
• Entire apartment: if you appreciate your personal space and are looking for independence, this is the best option for you. Logically it will be a little more expensive than a room, but you will have the comforts you are looking for and the space will be completely yours and you can also have visits with total freedom.
• Residences: ideal for students, since normally all tenants are students. They usually include breakfast and lunch, in addition to cleaning the room and changing towels and sheets (come on, you will live almost like a king). Normally some residences have stricter rules about the time you can go in and out the building, there are others like ours that don’t, so if you are looking for independence, check this before deciding on one. As for the price, it is usually the intermediate option between the previous ones.

2. Choose the area

If you haven’t been in Madrid before, this may be the most difficult part, since there are 21 districts and it gets a little bit confusing. If you come to study or work in Madrid, in our experience, we recommend you to look within the “central almond”, which is the space enclosed by the M-30 road. The proximity to your university or work center is important, but it is also important that the place you choose is close to a metro station or bus stop that connects you to your campus / work center.

Any neighborhood within the M-30 will be no more than 30-40min away by public transport and all the night movement or social life that you hope to do while living here, is concentrated in this geographic space.

These are the districts enclosed by de M-30:

• Centro
• Arganzuela
• Retiro
• Salamanca
• Chamartín
• Tetuán
• Chamberí

Also, part of these districts are enclosed in this area: Moncloa – Aravaca (Argüelles neighborhood), Colonia de Manzanares (Casa de Campo neighborhood) and part of Ciudad Universitaria.

 

3. When is the right time to start searching?

In Madrid there will always be apartments for rent, but you shouldn’t wait until the last moment to start your search. As soon as you have decided to come, start exploring the options. Many apartments have annual contracts according to the university semester. Keep in mind that in many of these apartments they can be very strict with the required documentation, so get so confident if you see a lot of options. Also, April and September are months in which (start dates of most of the masters and undergraduate classes), the apartments can be rented in a matter of hours (yes, hours!!), so we recommend you go ahead and book in advance.

4. Musts

Think of 2 or 3 essential aspects that you want no matter what in your apartment. It could be: heating, washing machine, cleaning service included, etc. Always check these basics before making the reservation so that you are not surprised after arriving at the apartment. Make a balance between price, features, and area before making a decision. Remember that it will become your home for the next months.

5. Beware of scams

Unfortunately, this is true … there are a lot of scams when it comes to renting apartments in Madrid. Here are some tips to avoid being scammed:

• You should be aware if the ad you see is “too good to be true”, this means an excellent location at a price below the market. Te most common ones are those who tell you “we are from Airbnb” or “deposit money by Moneygram or Western Union”. Although some people are lucky and these entities manage to detect the risk, this is not always the case. It is recommended to make the payment through a virtual payment gateway or make a wire transfer, so there is a trace of your money and recipient.
• Before renting, do a little research of the agency and the owner… and if you can ask for references, so much the better!
• If you are not in Madrid, it may be better to rent through a specialized platform or an agency specialized in foreign students.

We hope you find these tips useful and if you have any questions you can write to us at info@livingmad.es, we will be happy to help you find your new home in Madrid.