Apartment hunting.
Next week we'll find ourselves in Vienna, looking for that perfect apartment. So far we have a few to visit, all found by our tame estate agent (or Makler) Wolfgang Gerzabek. He's been sending a steady stream of apartments though for us to consider. We'll take what we can, so we're not that fussy right now.
Getting an apartment isn't as easy as it sounds. In theory, we go see an apartment, like it, agree to pay the requested rent, pay our deposit, sign the paperwork and we're done. In reality though, it's a bit more complicated. The first hurdle is convincing the landlord that we're worthy of the apartment. tenants in Vienna are protected by plenty of laws, so the landlord wants to make sure you'll pay the rent and not cause any trouble. If you're self employed, things are a little more difficult. We'll find out how much more difficult next week.
The next issue is that the rent as defined in the advert is a little more 'fluid' than you think. As a plus this allows you to negotiate a discount or a months free rent if you need to do any work. As a minus, other parties interested in the same apartment can offer to pay more than the specified rent, leaving you in a bidding war if you're not careful, and without an apartment if you don't want to play the game.
Third up is the commission. Wolfgang is entitled to two months rent plus 20% for his trouble. You can of course find apartments that are 'provisionfrei' with no commission, but you have to be fast to find them. They'll often go within a day of hitting the market. Using a estate agent is costly, but worth it, we hope! Commission isn't the big issue though, it's the deposit. Some apartments ask for two months rent as a deposit whilst others ask for up to six months. There's no hard and fast rule, but the deposit has to be listed in the listing.
If we're lucky, we'll get a place, sign the paperwork and be back in the UK in time for next weekend. If we're unlucky, well it's going to be a long week ahead.
The Brexit factor.
The EU referendum is a very complicating factor right now. It's possible that if the leave side win, we could see an immediate closing of the border on June 24th. It's just one of the possibilities that are doing the rounds here. Most agree that invoking article 50 of the Lisbon treaty would lead to two years negotiation on the UK's withdrawal. In that time, the current rules would remain in place, meaning we could move and hope the politicians sort out what they need to. It's not ideal and it does come with the risk of having to leave Austria after that two years. But there's also the option of leaving immediately. Much like ripping a plaster off, the idea is that the short term disruption will be a small price to pay to begin again. If that happens, we could find ourselves out of pocket, loosing our deposit and needing a plan B as we still have to move come July 30th. Worse, the 2 million Brits who live abroad and let's be honest, haven't really been thought about by the leave campaign at all really, could find themselves forced to return to the UK, horrendously out of pocket. Will the government pay to help with they're relocation? I'm guessing not.
Now in theory, the aptly named Vienna convention could protect the many Ex pats. It basically says that people can't be affected by changes such as the removal of free movement as the previous treaty agreement will stay in force. That'll protect those living abroad, but not those who have yet to move.
In 24 days, we'll find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment