So many people asked me for suggestions/help on this hot topic in Italy.
Intro
Finding a place to rent in a city in Italy, sadly, it’s pretty hard for a combination of reasons:
- There are some urban regulations that prevent building ugly tall skyscrapers in the middle of historical centers. So cities can’t develop in height too much, getting too dense, but the indirect result is that housing availability can’t grow much, it is basically limited.
- Universities at the beginning were only for elite people, so buildings/facilities are historical and pretty, but not conceived to host a large number of students. There are new dorms, but majority of students look for rent as well on the housing market, making it harder. There have been many protests regarding this in Padova, Milan and other cities.
- Many rental agencies told me that, during Covid, people who had an empty house for rent sold it, so there is a renting shortage now.
All this intro is to panic you, if you are not, and to convince you to be pretty aggressive in your house hunting and not wait too much time.
My Suggestions
The obvious ones are:
- Look for housing on time (everyone says that, duh), but if you are here now you can’t go back in time, so we will try to make the most of the time you have in front of you. The real suggestion is: If you didn’t start, Start now, don’t wait.
- Be aggressive in the hunting, I have many friends that wait for a reply at the time, NO. Write to multiple people at the same time, don’t stop till you have the keys. Better to say no last moment to a landlord (who will easily find someone else) cause you have many offers, than to sleep under a bridge.
- Be fast, as explained before, there is high-competition: rental agencies told me they receive 100 messages on the first day they put the place online. Check often, write immediately and close the deal asap (possibly visiting the place in person)
The practical ones, also considering that you are probably doing this remotely:
- If you are there in person, or when you arrive, visit or call all the rental agencies on Google Maps in a short time, take notes of their offers, go fast for the one that you prefer after checking out a few places. They will probably ask for a month of rent for themselves. But it’s a lot less stressful.
- If you are a student looking for a room, go to universities and check the billboards, sometimes someone is looking for flatmates. If you are courageous (or desperate), ask where are the student club rooms, go there, say that you are a foreign student and looking for a place to stay, if someone is looking for a flatmate or have any suggestion.
- Check Subito.it, Facebook Marketplace and casa.it** Idealista** and Bakeca**. Filter by “rent”, “budget”, “distance from point” then activate notifications, it will help write immediately if someone uploads an offer. Don’t believe the agencies that ask a fee before showing you the places, some fake agencies put images of the flats/rooms without specifying where they are and ask for a fee to put you in contact with the landlords. They don’t have a real-life office, they put outdated or not existing flats pictures and then they give you a bunch of contacts that are useless cause not available anymore.
- Try to find a friend or a trusted person who can check out the places in person for you, would be optimal. Still ask if they can show the place in person faking that you have a friend there, it’s a good indicator if it’s a scam.
- Check the Facebook groups “name_of_your_city Affitti” or the website billboard of your municipality. Try to check the places in person, but if you are remote, at least ask for a videocall, where you can see them and the place. Some people ask for a “deposit” to lock the flat, could be legit, BUT:
- They are abroad and can’t show you the place: sus(pect).
- They will email you the keys, and none in the city can show you the place/open the door: double sus.
- They send you a document: can be of another person, that’s why it’s better to videocall them even abroad and see if their face matches. Usually, if it’s a scam they stop replying at this point. Google the name/surname, maybe someone got scammed before and puts a warning on some sites. Or you can see their facebook profile, maybe their pics. But remember, it can be the ID of another person, so don’t rely only on a Whatsapp number.
If you have any correction/suggestion, I’m happy if you contact me.