Rent Deposits -Help Please

[helink]

Hi -have been visiting lots of forums and yours seems to have a vast range of knowledge and info! Well done and sorry if this has been answered before -but maybe someone out there can advise, is it normal procedure or the way it is done in Spain for the rental company to ask for a deposit of the equivalent of two months rent and a months rent in advance - we are moving over in March 2009 and do not have to pay any rent until April 2009 -( have heard of some not many admittedly) of dodgy rental agencies and just want to be safe rather than sorry. Also we would receive the contract after transfer has been made, fine if this is how it is done, but just wondered if anyone can give advice - (thank you and bet weather is better there than sw ireland!!

[Stravinsky]

Originally Posted by helink

Hi -have been visiting lots of forums and yours seems to have a vast range of knowledge and info! Well done and sorry if this has been answered before -but maybe someone out there can advise, is it normal procedure or the way it is done in Spain for the rental company to ask for a deposit of the equivalent of two months rent and a months rent in advance - we are moving over in March 2009 and do not have to pay any rent until April 2009 -( have heard of some not many admittedly) of dodgy rental agencies and just want to be safe rather than sorry. Also we would receive the contract after transfer has been made, fine if this is how it is done, but just wondered if anyone can give advice - (thank you and bet weather is better there than sw ireland!!

The one month rent and one month deposit is not unusual for sure, three is a little more unusual but not unheard of. But theres a lot of rental properties out there at the moment so try and negotiate

[SunnySpain]

Originally Posted by helink

Hi -have been visiting lots of forums and yours seems to have a vast range of knowledge and info! Well done and sorry if this has been answered before -but maybe someone out there can advise, is it normal procedure or the way it is done in Spain for the rental company to ask for a deposit of the equivalent of two months rent and a months rent in advance - we are moving over in March 2009 and do not have to pay any rent until April 2009 -( have heard of some not many admittedly) of dodgy rental agencies and just want to be safe rather than sorry. Also we would receive the contract after transfer has been made, fine if this is how it is done, but just wondered if anyone can give advice - (thank you and bet weather is better there than sw ireland!!

Welcome to the forum,

In answer to your question, it depends, it might seem a lot, but its not totally un-reasonable. Make sure you get a genuine signed and dated receipt though.

If you were looking to rent in Barcelona then it would not be common to hear of people or agencies asking for 6 months deposit in the way of an Aval bancario and I have come across one's asking for 2 months up front and 8 months Aval Bancario, but that is pushing it really.

HOWEVER - I would be far less pleased about receiving the contract after the transfer, WHAT transfer, the MONEY ?

If yes, then definitely don't do it, as its almost certainly a scam.
And always get, read and have another person read the contract before you sign anything or pay any money - its your money, your worked hard for it, don't give it away - lol

[chris(madrid)]

Originally Posted by helink

is it normal procedure or the way it is done in Spain for the rental company to ask for a deposit of the equivalent of two months rent and a months rent in advance

Yes - but NORMALLY at contract exchange. Never heard of before! - sounds very odd. imo ALL CONTRACTS IN SPAIN should be notarised.

[helink]

Hi and thankyou for comments, am glad we have joined and asked some questions before parting with any money, as yet may all be OK but it isnt ten euros after all!! Briefly we have been over and met and viewed several houses, filmed them and returned to SW Ireland and have had email/phone contact with estate agent since, having viewed about 12 properties we felt confident in our choice and have confirmed this......as we are not in country they have said the need deposit to secure and reserve the property which is fair enough and they have sent a sample tenancy agreement which is in english and fairly basic but easily understood. The contract they have advised will be sent out once money is received with them and we can either wait until we get over again prior to moving in or we can scan and send by internet. We did meet with several rental companies and these seemed as good as and have been quite helpful. It maybe the fact we are not present in spain ??? Sorry about long reply...Im an avid writer - and Im trying really hard not to write reams believe me!! Cheers and any advice is great at this stage !

[TakeItEasy]

One thing to check out, some friend's of mine entered into the exact same arrangement. Everthing seemed fine until they decided to move out at the end of the contract. They only got 1 of the 2 month deposit back. The rental agency kept the other month as their fee!
It was in the contract but in the very, very small print and they claim, certainly never mentioned verbally to them.

[helink]

Originally Posted by TakeItEasy

One thing to check out, some friend's of mine entered into the exact same arrangement. Everthing seemed fine until they decided to move out at the end of the contract. They only got 1 of the 2 month deposit back. The rental agency kept the other month as their fee!
It was in the contract but in the very, very small print and they claim, certainly never mentioned verbally to them.

Thanks takeiteasy- the specimen contract does state the deposit of xxxxx is paid and also xxxx for the rental month of and the sum of xxxxx euros to be returned at end of contract period - so they are addressing the point, however the trouble at this stage is the xxxxx could be anything really as it is not our rental contract but a kind of master one, but thanks as it is a point now noted. This may all be worrying about nothing but really more concerned with paying money over and finding nothing comes back in return - oh noooooooooooooooooooo! Hopefully we will be well informed by time the next stage takes place !

[SteveHall]

The contract MUST be in Spanish and you should see it BEFORE you send them a cent.

It's as simple as that - no Spanish contract could cause problems getting on the padrón, getting kids into school etc etc

I am also surprised that they are offering rentals so far in advance. Usually people tend to rent "from now" or "from next month" etc

I may be smelling a rat that isn't there but it's all a bit too fishy to me .....sorry about the mixed metaphor.

[jojo]

When we did this, we were faxed the contract, written in Spanish stating that we would pay one months rent and one months deposit (We negotiated that down from two months deposit when we chose our property). It was signed by all parties there end and faxed to us. We then signed it our end and returned it both by fax and post and sent the money by BACS transfer. We then were given the original contract and signed them properly when we arrived to live here!

Jo

Jo

[helink]

Originally Posted by jojo

When we did this, we were faxed the contract, written in Spanish stating that we would pay one months rent and one months deposit (We negotiated that down from two months deposit when we chose our property). It was signed by all parties there end and faxed to us. We then signed it our end and returned it both by fax and post and sent the money by BACS transfer. We then were given the original contract and signed them properly when we arrived to live here!

Jo

Jo

Hi Jo, and thanks to all- so you did the signing bit - long distance then? But you also did before bacs transfer was made, they are asking for deposit before the contract is drawn up -not sure where to go on this as the house is perfect but wont be perfect at all if we end up with doing things wrong way round!