What to check before signing a rental contract

Check who is actually letting to you

Ask for identification and check that whoever signs is the owner or holds authority to act for them. If it is an agency, that should be stated in the contract, along with who the tenancy is really being formed with.

And look the name up before you sign. A landlord’s or agency’s track record — how they handle repairs, whether they return deposits — is information that now exists: you can search it by address or by name on Pinacasa.

Term, renewals and leaving early

In Spain a main-residence tenancy extends up to five years where the landlord is a private individual, and up to seven where it is a company. That is your right and the contract cannot cut it short. After six months you may withdraw with thirty days’ notice, with compensation owed only if the contract expressly provided for it.

In The Netherlands, open-ended contracts became the norm again under the Wet vaste huurcontracten, with fixed-term tenancies restricted to defined exceptions. Be wary of a fixed term offered without a reason.

The deposit, and anything demanded on top

One month in Spain, and in The Netherlands a maximum equivalent to two months of basic rent. Any additional guarantee has to be in writing, and management fees charged to the tenant are prohibited or tightly restricted in both countries.

Ask for proof that the deposit was lodged with the relevant regional housing body. That receipt is what lets you recover it at the end without an argument.

Clauses that should make you stop

• Blanket waivers of the statutory renewal or of rights the law gives you.
• Making you responsible for structural repairs or for maintaining installations.
• Disproportionate penalties for leaving early.
• Property tax or building service charges passed on with no breakdown or express agreement.
• Bans on registering your address at the property.
• Open-ended rent increases, or increases left to the landlord’s discretion.

Document the condition on day one

Before a single box goes in, walk the place filming a video and taking dated photographs: walls, floors, windows, appliances, bathroom and kitchen. Run the taps, switch on the heating, test the sockets.

Draw up a written inventory, sign it with the landlord and keep a copy. That document is precisely what stops a deduction three years later for damage that was already there the day you arrived.