Finding an apartment or a room to rent
Fiding a rent in Spain might not be as easy as you expect. If you want to rent an apartment on your own they will probally require for you to have a work contract but if you just need a room in a shared appartnent they would not ask you any financial information but before moving in you will need to pay a month of deposit plus the rent for the current month.
In the next link are a couple of videos on how to use the main real estate portal to find apartments and rooms in Spain: https://gethomeinspain.com/buying-in-spain/using-idealista-the-main-real-estate-portal-in-spain/
Registering your address (Empadronamiento or Padron)
After finding housing the next step is to book the appointment to get an “empadronamiento” (registration of your address with the city hall). The information that you provide in the process will be protected by the Europeann data-protection law.
To get an appointment for your Padron, you can dial 010 which will connect you to the office. The only language spoken is Spanish (also Catalan if you are in Cataluña county)
If you are finding housing through an agency, please remember that you must show the original handwritten signatures of your contract at the city hall for your Padron (just a photocopy of your contract is not valid).
If you do not have a contract, the other option is to have your landlord provide the following things to you: a written letter in Spanish (or Catalan if you are in Cataluña) stating that the landlord authorises you to live in his or her flat at this address. The letter needs to have the landlord’s name, address, rent payment and the date of move in. The landlord also needs to provide a photocopy of her ID (DNI) as well.
If the landlord does not want to go through the documents, try to have him or her accompany you to the office where he or she will just show the ID and sign some papers.
They will give you the Padron certificate and this document will be valid for 3 months.
