2 Months For The State Agency...wtf?

[mariano-BCN]

in my search for a place to live for a year I've been contacting owners of flats to rent and they've connected me to state agencies. I don't know if it is because I'm now abroad but they all say I need to pay 5 months before i live one single day: 2 months deposit, 2 months for "the work of the state agency" and one month rent. WTF? 2 months for sending me some crap pictures, answering my emails, eventually opening the door when I arrive?
Do I say I'm stupid? of course I won't pay that.
Is this common?

 

[Farenheit]

I couldn't believe it either when a friend of mine paid 2 months' estate agency fee plus one month's rent upfront and another month's rent deposit when he rented his new place. He had also initially contacted the owner direct (on Argenprop). Sounds nutty to me and worked out more expensive than a tourist rental...

 

[mariano-BCN]

so I'm still looking for a place to rent for one or two years, please let me know if you know, for one person, nearby the subte, in Almagro, San Telmo, Centre, Belgrano, NOT in Palermo or Recoleta. 600 dollars a month max. I'm arriving 2 May

 

[syngirl]

2 months deposit, 2 months commission is standard deal for a long term rental. 1 year rentals don't exist. Standard long term rental contracts are two years with a 20-25% raise in rate for the second year written into the contract. You can break a two year lease at the one year mark, but if you don't have a garanita in capital getting a two year lease will be more difficult anyway. Your alternative is short term contracts, most places will let you sign up to six months contract, so you would pay one month commission at the start of the contract, pay rent for the contract period and then resign a contract for another six months. Most owners/agencies at this renewal date will want another payment of commission even though they aren't doing anything, and they will try to hike your rent, often by up to 20%. In other words, you're screwed either way you do it, but you could luck out and find a decent owner direct deal that instead of a granita asks you to pay X number of months up front.

 

[mariano-BCN]

Thanks x explanation, syngirl. I don't mind to pay several months ahead or to pay in euros or dollars through a foreign bank transfer but I do mind to pay for the shameless "work" of the state agencies. So how do i find an owner who would rent me a flat x 2 years if i dont have a garantia? I looked up to solodueno.com already.

 

[Raymond]

Thanks x explanation, syngirl. I don't mind to pay several months ahead or to pay in euros or dollars through a foreign bank transfer but I do mind to pay for the shameless "work" of the state agencies. So how do i find an owner who would rent me a flat x 2 years if i dont have a garantia? I looked up to solodueno.com already.

People making money for working is not shameless . Or you expect people to lick your feet for a few pesitos ?

 

[Davidglen77]

Real estate agencies used to charge one mont's rent as their fee in low to mid-range neighborhoods and up to 2 month's in high rent districts. But now 2 months has become the norm. Do I think it's right? Not really but in New York City, my home town, if you rent they charge you 15% of the 1st years rent, plus 2 months security and many new buildings require a guarantor if you are in your job for less than 2 years or under 30 years old. Real estate agents make 90% of their income from commissions so they try and max out every transaction.
Also if you don't have a guarantor here in Buenos Aires, you are going to pay A LOT more than the norm, and you have to understand, if they rent to you, and have no recourse if you damage, steal, don´t pay, they are going to charge you more for that risk - it's due to many bad tenants and horrible stories of taking months and lots of money to evict someone who doesn't pay the rent.
It happened to me a few years ago, I had a rental property, rented it to a "friend" he paid me the 1st month's rent and then stopped speaking to me. It cost me $7,000 pesos in lawyer's fees to get him out and he did $10,000 pesos worth of damage to the place - in the 6 months that he was there. Not to mention the loss of income (I had to sign an agreement NOT to sue him for the unpaid rent, in order for him to leave), and the emotional anguish of having to deal with a justice system that sort of laughs in your face when you try to do somebody a favor. So I´m sorry to hear all the money being charged but I would NEVER rent again to someone without a guarantía, 2 months upfront and the real estate agent makes up their mind what to charge in commission - I don't really have a say in that.
Read the "Ley de Alquileres http://infoleg.mecon.gov.ar/infolegInternet/anexos/25000-29999/27287/norma.htm Ley 23.091" and you'll see just how in favor of the tenant things are here.
I am totally neutral on this issue but having dealt with being a landlord here, I understand why there is SO much distrust.
Good luck!

 

[PhilipDT]

People making money for working is not shameless . Or you expect people to lick your feet for a few pesitos ?

People charging 2 months rent for putting an ad on zonaprop and answering 2 phone calls is absurd compensation. Ask most owners and they'll say that the amount of work the Real Estate agents do is nothing compared to their ridiculous fees.

 

[syngirl]

The amount of commission is ridiculous, however, it's standard. And most aren't willing to negotiate it. Right now there is high edemand for rentals and it's pretty hard to ev en get them to budge a couple hundred pesos on the monthly price. Also remember that by law commissions on sales of real estate are supposed to be 2 or 3%, can't remember which. However they routinely charge 4-5% and will not negotiate on that -- and non one steps into negotiate it. Yes the whole situation of commissions etc sucks, but it is what it is. Maybe you'll get lucky and get around it, but frankly, it's doubtful. The only way round is indeed direct from owner rentals -- these tend to come in two forms, super expensive via craigslist, or via solo duenos. And on soloduenos they usually want the garantia. You can search on the forum about getting garantias from banks, but you'll have to have a proper DNI and a job before you can go that route. Otherwise the only way most owners will rent without a garantia is by you paying a large chunk of the rent up front(3-6mos is common). Otherwise, after all of this if you don't like the options, the best I can recommend you is to rent something off of bytargentina.com or the like -- you can get a short term lease of 6 months that will include all the expenses and internet in the price, but you will have to pay some commission -- not sure how much they ask now. At the end of the initial 6mos expect them to both increase your rent and charge you another commission. That is the negative of renting furnished short term places, and usually the reason most people try to get out of them eventually, over the longterm you end up seeing your rent get hiked every 6 mos instead of 1 year, and because it is end of a contract they can hike it as much as they like really. It's a bit of a grin and bear it situation. Calculate the one month commission (or whatever they are charging) into your rent budget.

 

[Davidglen77]

People charging 2 months rent for putting an ad on zonaprop and answering 2 phone calls is absurd compensation. Ask most owners and they'll say that the amount of work the Real Estate agents do is nothing compared to their ridiculous fees.

I think in the case of a low rent apartment, like $2000 pesos per month, 2 months is not that unreasonable, because the agent has to split that with the agency, and certainly here, the agency keeps most of it, not the agent. But on high end apartments, let's say $5000 and up, I think the fee should be negotiable.
Most people don't know this, but here when you have employees even in a real estate agency, you have to pay them a base salary, vacation, overtime plus social security taxes and basic health insurance. Running a small business here costs a fortune and especially now with the real estate market being on thin ice, agencies are going to charge higher commissions than ever.