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When you arrive in Spain, the entity or company that has invited you will probably have already arranged accommodations for you. If that is not the case, or if you are dissatisfied with where you are staying, the following basic information will help you understand the accommodation and housing system in Spain.
Spain is major tourist country, so the hotel and hostel offer is extremely varied, both in quality and in price. The official Spanish Tourism page http://www.spain.info/ will help you select accommodation in any province in Spain. There are a number of Web pages that offer hotel searches by city and category, such as www.redhoteles.com, a portal with over 3,000 online establishments, www.viajarbajoprecio.com, which offers affordable hotels, www.viajar.com, with a hotel offer primarily in the tourist areas, or www.hospedarse.com, with popular low-cost hotels. NH and AC hotels are urban hotels with a vary good quality-to-price ratio. If you will be staying in the country for several months, the aparthotel option is the most convenient and practical. The Tourism Office in the town or city in which you will be staying can provide you with a list of accommodations available in the short-to-medium term.
If you will be living in Spain for over a year, the best option is to rent a furnished or unfurnished apartment.
In 2006, the public administration opened the Public Rental Office (www.spaviv.es), part of the Ministry of Housing, to help citizens access rental housing. It is an exchange with homes available for rent around all of Spain. To register and apply for a home, you must have a foreigner's identification number (NIE).
The Ministry of Housing has also set up renting aid especially designed to benefit young renters. To find out if you are eligible to apply for this aid, visit www.mviv.es.
However, in most cases, private offers, by individuals and specialized companies, continue to be the main way of finding rental accommodation. Searching for an apartment on the Internet is especially useful, the most important websites are: www.idealista.com, www.fotocasa.es, http://www.segundamano.es. The segundamano option is also available in newspaper format.
On the other hand, both the local press and national newspapers have a section dedicated to real estate. For a list of the leading national newspapers, see the "Finding work in Spain" chapter. Bulletin boards on university campuses are also a good source of information, especially if you want to share an apartment and expenses.
Most real estate agencies offer apartments for rent. The Yellow Pages, both the printed Phone Book and the electronic edition (www.paginas-amarillas.es) include a long list of realtors. Most realtors charge a month's worth of rent in advance while they look for the apartment and an agency fee, in the amount of another month's rent, once they have found an apartment. If you rent the apartment directly from the owner, you are normally required to pay one month's rent in advance as a deposit (although, in some cases, two month's rent may be required). Sometimes (especially if it is a new home), the owner may request a copy of your pay slip or a bank guarantee.
It is recommendable to establish a lease contract with the owner, which may be verbal but should preferably be in writing. You can obtain the standard contract at estancos (tobacco and stamp shops). When you sign the contract, it is important to determine whether the community expenses (caretaker, cleaning, etc.) are paid by the owner or the leaseholder (the tenant), although it is normally the former.
The National Consumer Affairs Institute website (http://www.consumo-inc.es/GuiaCons/vivienda/arrendamiento/home.htm) provides legal and practical information on housing, especially on renting apartments (contracts, deposits, types of rent, etc.). You can also contact your local housing office, where they will advise you on the procedures to be carried out.
If you have any problem with the lease, you can contact the Municipal Consumer Information Office, Consumers and Users Associations or Consumer Arbitration Boards. The National Consumer Affairs Institute website (http://consumo-inc.es/directorio/direc.htm) provides a list of these offices at the local level.
If you will be spending a long or indefinite amount of time in Spain, you might be interested in buying a home. Homes for sale are advertised in the same ways as apartments for rent (see the section above).
The process of buying a home, from finding it until you move in, involves expenses, as well as certain formalities and documents that must be taken into account, both by the buyer and the seller. Even before you buy the home, you may have to pay out a certain amount of money to secure the purchase or to determine the home's legal status. Once the search is over and you have decided on the home you want to buy, whether new or second-hand, you must follow a series of steps.
Before the purchase, you should determine the status of the home through a "Nota Simple Informativa" (a summary of the title for information purposes) or secure the home with a Purchase Option.
In the purchase itself, the most important part is the Mortgage, which involves certain expenses before and after it is granted. Other important expenses include signing the Public Deed before a notary public, registering with the Housing Property Registry or expenses related to Processing.
The website of the General Council of Notaries Public in Spain (https://www.notariado.org/inf_jur/) offers practical legal information on all the formalities to be completed. Specifically, it provides a practical buyer's guide and highly recommendable information on mortgages, although it is only available in Spanish. A brief summary is available in English (https://www.notariado.org/english/eng_buying.htm).
Finally, after the purchase, there are other expenses that you need to take into account. In a new home, you must contract basic supplies such as, gas, electricity, water, etc., as well as pay the expenses related to the Home Owners' Association. In the case of a second-hand home, you may need to take out a new contract for some of the basic supplies or carry out the formalities necessary to transfer ownership of the supply contracts.
If there is no telephone installed in your home, see the following list of the major telephone companies in Spain. It normally takes between a week and 15 days for the equipment to be installed, which may be purchased or rented. If you will only be making local calls, it is best to contract a cellular phone. However, if you will be making frequent calls abroad or using the Internet, it is better to get a landline phone with ADSL or cable connection. The major companies offering these services are:
In any case, it is a good idea to ensure that the selected company provides service in your area beforehand.
The electricity sector was recently deregulated, so your electric company will depend on where you will be living. The largest are Iberdrola (www.iberdrola.com, Tel.: 901 202 020), Endesa (www.endesaonline.com), Unión Fenosa (www.unionfenosa.es) and Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico (www.h-c.es). Your building is likely to have residents who have already contracted services with an electric company, so those best positioned to offer advice on obtaining service will be the homeowner or your neighbors.
The wide range of temperatures in most Spanish regions making heating a must. Natural gas and electric heating are the systems most often used; the same company generally serves the entire housing group -(www.gasnatural.es; www.endesaonline.com, (www.unionfenosa.es)-, so, as with electricity, the owner, your neighbors or the caretaker will be best able to provide you with information on which company provides service in your building. Bottled butane gas is still quite common in some city districts. Electric heating is the most expensive, although night-time accumulators make it possible to save energy and money. Gas is paid for by reading meters installed in the homes.
Water is a relatively inexpensive resources, despite the periodic droughts that affect this country. It is especially important in the summer to use water wisely, since the intense heat and waste can deplete reserves very quickly. The water distribution companies are generally local. Canal de Isabel II (www.cyii.es, Tel.: 901 516 516) and Aguas de Barcelona (www.agbar.es) are the largest. All of the services indicated above send out bills once every two months. Failure to pay the bill on time could lead to the service being shut off.
It is not difficult to find domestic service at reasonable prices. This type of work is normally paid by the hour. Frequency and rates are negotiated in advance, and there are no set guidelines. Some people who provide domestic services also take care of children and the elderly.
Furniture and personal belongings from EU countries are exempt from paying customs. For more information on importing household goods to Spain, contact the Spanish consulate in your country.
