How To Rent an Apartment in Buenos Aires
Are you moving to Buenos Aires and you’re not exactly sure how to go about renting an apartment? And you’re wondering what is the actual rental process? We’ve rented 2 apartments in the last 3 years while living in Buenos Aires and we’re here to help you!
Prefer watching to reading? Check out our YouTube video on this same topic!-->
Moving to or visiting Buenos Aires? Be sure to check out this activity list I created with over 50 things you have to do when you’re in Buenos Aires!
To round out our series on apartment hunting in Buenos Aires, this post will walk you through the rental process and will serve as your go-to step-by-step guide!
Alright, let’s rent the perfect Buenos Aires apartment for you!
Step #1 - Look for an Apartment
Our favorite way to look for an apartment is on ZonaProp. The ZonaProp site works similar to Zillow for those of you in the United States.
If you already live in Buenos Aires you can also walk around the neighborhood you’re interested in and search for “Alquilar” signs. When an apartment is for sale or rent, they will hang a banner from the balcony to generate interest. But an online search will have more inventory (and takes less time).
I’ve also seen people list apartments in Facebook groups. So, that could be a resource too; it’s usually people trying to get someone to take over their lease.
Step #2 - Contact
When you find something you’re interested in, contact the listing agent. WhatsApp is the main form of communication here in Buenos Aires. In fact, if you don’t already have the app, download it now and get familiar with it because you will be using it a lot when you’re living in Buenos Aires. So, I would WhatsApp the realtor listed and tell them you’re interested in their apartment and that you would like to look at it.
I would also ask if they speak English. They may not but at least they’ll be aware up front your Spanish may be limited. The listing agent may also bring an english-speaking colleague with them to help translate.
Don’t worry, it’s still possible to rent an apartment without speaking Spanish. I did a tour of an apartment by myself once with my minimum Spanish skills and the realtor didn’t speak any English. But we got through it and it wasn’t too bad. On the positive side, you will learn many new Spanish words relating to real estate!
Step #3 - Touring the Apartment
This is the fun part! During your tour, you’ll also want to take note of anything you want changed. Maybe the wall color in a bedroom is too bright and you want them to paint it white. Or there’s a broken board on the balcony that should be replaced. Maybe the kitchen faucet is rusty and it needs to be replaced. These are all examples of things you'll want to make a note of.
When you’re touring the apartment, you also need to carefully check out the surrounding area on the street. What’s below the apartment? What’s across the street? How well do the windows work? Street and city noise is no joke here in Buenos Aires. If you’re sensitive to noise (like me) then you’ll want to make sure you’re in as quiet an area as possible. Not on a four-lane street or in front of a bus stop.
Okay, so you’ve toured the apartment and you’re sure this is where you want to live. Now you’ll let the listing agent know you’re interested in moving forward with the contract.
Step #4 - Offer to Rent Contract Negotiating & Signing
During this step, you’ll meet with the listing agent to determine what will go in the offer to rent.
In the Offer to Rent you will negotiate and agree upon:
Rental amount
Deposit amount
How Rent will be paid each month
Repairs to be made
Move-in date
Rental Price - You’re probably saying, “There was a rental price listed on ZonaProp, why are we negotiating the price?”. Well, there was a price listed however in Argentina, it’s customary to negotiate the rental price. For example, if the apartment is listed at $1,000 USD/month I would start an offer at $600 USD/month and after negotiations, you will likely end up around $800 USD/month. Don’t worry, you’re not being cheap….this is normal here. You have to negotiate or you could be taken advantage of.
Deposit - The deposit will hold the apartment for you until you move in. Legally the listing agent is not allowed to show the apartment to anyone else once this is paid. The deposit is normally one months rent to be paid in cash but this is also something you can negotiate.
How Rent is Paid - There are many ways you can pay your rent here. You’ll need to agree on currency and method. Will it be a wire transfer? To an Argentine account or offshore? Will you pay in cash each month?
I had a friend that had to pay her rent in cash pesos each month (equivalent of $3,500 USD so it was a lot of cash!) and the landlady would go to her apartment and count it out in front of her. So make sure the payment method is clear from the start to avoid confusion later!
Repairs - When you were touring the apartment you should have made notes of anything that needed to be repaired. This is when you ask the owner to make the repairs/updates necessary. They won’t necessarily agree to everything you ask but they will be open. Repairs/updates we asked for (and were agreed to!) in the past include - painting walls, adding chicken wire to the balcony, fixing a hole in the closet and repairing the AC.
Move-in Date - This can vary depending on the extent of the repairs agreed to - more repairs means more time before you can move in. But the typical waiting period is 2-4 weeks.
For our first apartment, we set a date 6 weeks out because we had to finalize our visas in the US before moving. And for our second apartment we only needed 10 days because no repairs were needed and we were ready to move ASAP!
After all your requests are written in the Offer to Rent contract, the listing agent will take your terms to the landlord to see if they agree. They may or may not want to fix the items you requested. And then there’s usually a price negotiation too. Expect negotiations to take a few days.
Once you go back and forth and everyone has agreed to the terms, the landlord will begin the required repairs. And you’ll wait for the move-in date.
Step #5 - Walk-through
The last thing you need to do before signing the rental lease is a walk-through of the apartment. This is crucial to make sure everything that was agreed to has been completed.
Trust us, this step is necessary. In one of our apartments there were several outstanding things to be done so before we signed the lease we wrote on the contract the things that still needed to be completed within 1 month of us moving in.
But hopefully you’ll have a great landlord and your walk-thru will go smoothly and everything will be done.
Step #6 - Signing & Move-in
The final step before you get your apartment keys is to sign the rental lease. You’ll need to show up with all your documents, such as your local DNI (equivalent of a driver's license), passport and any money that should be paid.
This part is probably the easiest. You’ll go in, review everything (carefully!) and then sign the lease. You’ll get your keys and then you can start moving in!
Yay! Congratulations! You’re officially a renter in Buenos Aires!
If you’re wondering which Buenos Aires neighborhoods you should begin your search in, check out this post which included a neighborhood review of the 5 most popular areas for expats!
And check out this activity list with over 50 things you have to do while in Buenos Aires, Argentina!
