Hi Everybody! Me and the wife are moving over to Madrid soon and have been looking at apartments in all the usual places. I was wondering if you are renting from an owner is the price advertised the price you pay or can you haggle?

I think the longer the rental agreement the better your chances of getting the apartment at a lower monthly rate. Other dependent factors might include location and asking price. If the apartment is already cheap in a lower-class neighborhood then I doubt the owner will lower the rent. If the apartment is located in, say, Barrio Salamanca and the rent is high, I'd doubt the owner would lower the rent.

If you have a "line" on a particular neighborhood or particular apartment and would like to give us its address and asking price we can do our best to give you our opinions about its worth/location.

Stay warm, eskimo joe!

Saludos, MadridMan

Its part of negotiations, demand/supply chain. You can try but as MadridMan said, something last bottom price or high up areas like Salamanca the chances of negotiations are slim.
Never hurt to try thus.

Thanks , it was actually in Salamanca I was looking at . Im not coming over till the begining of April so Im just looking at the m oment until I get over there

eskimo joe did you end up finding a place?

I have a friend looking for an apartment in the city and she's getting rather discouraged at the rents. Says that she can't find anything decent (as in something clean and reasonably new) for under a 1000 a month. Most places she's seen are real dives! The other concern is the rent escalator, I've heard stories that most landlords try and raise the rent 50 euros a year (which is above the legal limit. That is more of a concern to me, that means are rent will be 1500 a month in five years, more than I make teaching english.