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The Trials and Tribulations of Finding a Long Term Apartment in Paris

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We had about two and a half months. Two and a half long summer months to find a long term apartment in Paris. In the meantime, we had rented a temporary apartment through the agency Lodgis to give us some time to find something more suitable for a longer period of time (see previous blog post: “How to Find a Temporary Apartment in Paris”).

In August, I went into a local agency and asked the agent there if it was too early to start looking for an apartment for October. He looked at me with wide eyes like I was crazy and replied with the blunt honesty that I have only yet encountered in France:

“Why of course, it is much too early. Come back in September.”

Although I half-believed him, I casually kept an eye out online for other possibilities. A couple places didn’t work out because the current tenants decided to extend, but one place we were able to visit on September 1st right around the corner from our current apartment that seemed to be exactly what we needed. It was a little more expensive, but seemed worth it. After the visit, we asked the owner if utilities were included in the price. They were not. Our hearts sunk: it was even more expensive than we thought, and we unhappily resigned to the fact that we could not afford the place.

I communicated this information to our agent at Lodgis and asked her if we could extend our current lease for several months. My husband was in a trial period at work which we learned makes renting very difficult, so we thought we should buy ourselves some more time.

I did not hear from our agent for several days. I finally decided to call her, which is how I learned that our landlords had already rented out our apartment to other tenants at the end of our rental period without telling us or asking if we wanted to extend. I was angry first at our agent for not responding to us, and second at our landlords for not asking us if we wanted to extend before renting to other people.

The agent said that the place we thought was too expensive was actually a good deal and that we should ask if it was still available. I panicked of course and wrote right away to the owner, saying we would take it. Unfortunately, it looked like there was another client interested, but he asked us to send our file anyway to be considered. After repeated requests that our agent forward our file to the landlord, I was horrified to see that in her email to him, she wrote that we had thought that the place was too expensive.

Needless to say, we didn’t get the place. Why did this agent seem to hate us? I tried talking to a different agent at Lodgis, but they always referred me back to this horrible woman since we has already worked with her. I would have gone through a different agency, but this one was the only one that had places we could afford, and it was the only one that would accept our file while my husband was in his trial period. Drat.

I started looking everywhere else anyway. I went to every agency on our block, but no one would help someone during their trial period. I felt as if I had an infectious disease each time the door closed in front of me. Pas possible, pas possible, pas possible. And not even ONE desolé. If one person had even acted like they felt sorry for me it would have made me feel much better.

I tried PAP (particulier à particulier) but even places for rent directly through the owners required guarantors, and parents living in another country might as well not exist to them. Basically, to rent a regular long term apartment in Paris, you have to be French.

That’s when I turned to FUSAC, a paper for Anglophones in France that includes housing ads. These people actually wanted to rent to foreigners, probably because many of them were foreigners themselves. For a long time I found nothing in our price and size range, but then one popped up. I called the number immediately, as I had no time to waste. We were going to be kicked out of our rental at the end of the month, which was in just over three weeks. The woman picked up and said I was the first person to call. That must count for something, right? She told me she was arranging visits on Wednesday and I could come in the morning with all my documents.

My husband took the morning off work and we went as early as we could. We were the first people there and talked to her for about 45 minutes. She was a Canadian sculpture artist, pregnant with her second child. They had a house in the suburbs but wanted to keep their Paris studio (yes, we were down to studios). It was a great space in the Marais that got lots of light and had a separate kitchen. We gave her our very complete file and told her we were very eager to move in. Then the next visitor arrived. We should have got our checkbook out right then and there, but we didn’t. We left. You learn a lot in retrospect.

She called that night to tell us that she had rented to someone else who somehow wanted to rent for longer than us. I suppose one year with the possibility to extend was not long enough. Then, she strangely offered me her neighbor’s apartment, which she said was the same price but needed to be completely redone and repainted and they had no idea how long it would take. Apparently the woman’s boyfriend was dying so they were moving to the countryside. Wouldn’t it be just great to swoop in on this chance? I hung up.

We were hopelessly depressed. We were going to be SDFs (homeless) on the street with our 12 pieces of luggage, sitting outside our favorite boulangerie listlessly consuming baguettes. We tried FUSAC one more time, my husband taking time off work again, only to be repulsed by a decaying frat boy crash pad deceptively hidden behind the stone walls of a beautiful street, again, painfully, in the Marais. The owner acted like it was a real gem. We got away as fast as we could.

Like a beaten dog going back to its abusive owner, we crawled back to the horrible Lodgis. Quickly, we located something in our price range that looked decent in the photos and asked for the papers to be drawn up right away. With only two weeks left until our lease was up, we knew from experience that visiting the place would just be a waste of time and someone might take it out from under us if we didn’t act immediately.

It is October now and we have been in our new place for two weeks. It’s a nice space within our budget, a little smaller than we would have liked, but it has a balcony and a cave (storage unit below). We are no longer in the 18th, but our new neighborhood in the 10th is right next to Canal St. Martin and within walking distance to a great covered market as well as parc Buttes Chaumont.  In any case, we have bought ourselves a whole year to forget about the nightmare of apartment hunting and enjoy discovering our new home.

Our studio in the 10th

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our Parisian Balcony

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© 2011 Pasa’s Paris

 

Notre drôle d’appartement (our funny apartment)

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Notre drole d'appartement

Paris apartments seem peculiar to many foreigners. They are often very old, tiny, and oddly-shaped, especially by American standards. For a chambre de bonne, the maid’s quarters at the top of the building, the toilet may be out in the hallway, the roof slanted, and the kitchen just some hot plates, a sink and a mini fridge in the corner.

Our case is not much different. We are in a *cute* (read: tiny) apartment in a 1930s building with a rickety little elevator in a working class area of the 18th arrondissement. We’ve got everything we need here except internet, an oven, and closets. We literally have no closets. There are some mildewy drawers under the bed, which is elevated, and for which we have to use a stool to climb into. The foot of the bed is right next to the sink, in the bedroom. There is a closet in the bathroom, but it’s not deep enough to hang any clothes in. There is a bathtub, but you can’t stand up all the way in it. You can either hunch over or sit down. The owners actually put a corner bar in the entryway and threw in about 10 chairs in the living room, but we are forced to hide our suitcases behind the bar and put clothes and a laundry basket on the chairs instead of using them.

On the subject of not using space well, there are a million tiny drawers and cupboards with narrow shelves, so if you have a lot of small junk you can stuff it inside, but for larger items like clothing, suitcases, and shoes, they have nowhere to hide.

There is a one foot thick wall that separates the dining area and kitchen from the living room. Colorful blown-glass fish line a high-set shelf. Fake flowers decorate small tables. Radiators are hidden inside cabinets. There are 6 small lamps in the living room instead of one overhead light. Why?

The apartment is at least furnished and comes with an equipped kitchen and a good sized dining room table, although strangely we have a dishwasher instead of an oven. There is also a baby TV, hidden inside a cabinet in the living room, so we can watch French news and detective shows after dinner. The large windows look out onto a quiet courtyard, although we are unfortunate enough to witness violent pigeon fights quite often. It’s like Lord of the Flies out there.

The fridge hums, the microwave moans, and the clothes washer jumps up and down. However, it is only when we are sitting quietly on the couch surrounded by silence that our crazy downstairs neighbor takes the elevator up one flight of stairs to ring our doorbell in the evening. Each time he is wearing nothing but an apron and shorts, breathing heavily, and says “I hear a noise/ j’entends un bruit.” Then he stares at us blankly no matter how we answer. According to the landlord he’s harmless, but “Don’t open the door, just shout ‘there’s nothing here! Go home! Il n’y a rien ici, rentrez chez vous!” Luckily my husband seems to have scared him away and he hasn’t bothered us recently.

Across the way, a man washes dishes at his window and bows his head so only his giant bald spot is visible. Below him, a gay couple has a million plants on their balcony that they like to water in their pajamas on the weekend. My husband calls them Siegfried and Roy as they have a giant stuffed panther on their bed.

Our landlords are an old couple from the South. They drove all the way up here to fix a leaky sink, (and now the toilet is leaking, by the way) but they won’t let us change the name on the mailbox. When I mentioned that we might want to extend our lease, they told me to tell the rental agency as soon as possible because the place goes fast. I should have listened, as they rented the place to someone else next month without so much as telling us first. I’m going to take it as a sign that we need to get out of this drôle d’appartement and let someone else deal with it, enfin.

© 2011 Pasa’s Paris

How to Find a Temporary Apartment in Paris

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Paris apartments

After finding a short-term rental recently ourselves, I thought it would be helpful to share the knowledge we accumulated throughout the process…

The fantasy of going to Paris has become a reality at last. Maybe you’re taking that dream vacation or studying abroad. Whatever the reason that takes you to the city of light, it is essential to think about where and how you envision yourself staying there. Travelers stopping only for a short while will most likely opt for a hotel, but those staying for several weeks or months should consider a temporary apartment. It’s a more economical, spacious and homey alternative to the common hotel room. If you’d like to whip up your own breakfast in the morning after scouring the outdoor markets for fresh fruit and bread, if you prefer to bring Mitsy the dog along, or if you plan to have people over for dinner or a few glasses of wine, an apartment may be a good fit for you.

For individuals or families moving to France for longer periods of time, whether for a job or retirement, a temporary apartment can serve as the bridge between arrival and getting settled in. Though some people are comfortable selecting a long-term living arrangement from afar, when it comes to moving to a foreign country, you might feel better choosing a permanent place when you can be there to see it for yourself.

Starting with a short-term apartment can help you to become familiar with certain neighborhoods before so you can make an informed decision about the area best suited to your needs later. Plus, short-term apartments are furnished, unlike many long-term apartments, so you have one less thing to worry about upon arrival. If you enjoy being in the center of the sights and have some money to spend, the seventh arrondissement may be a good fit for you. If you prefer more quiet and spacious surroundings, try the eastern suburbs.

To help you in your quest, check out these websites for temporary apartments:

Lodgis: Has furnished rentals (1 month-2 years) and vacation rentals (less than 6 weeks) with an office in Paris. Searchable by arrondissement and has photos. Requires an agency fee (about half of one month’s rent) and a deposit (one month’s rent). This is the agency we went with because of its superior value/price ratio, although the agents can be a bit difficult:

http://www.lodgis.com/en/paris/

New York Habitat: Has furnished rentals (1 month and up) and vacation rentals (less one month) with an office in New York. Searchable by arrondissement and has photos. Requires an agency fee (about one half of one month’s rent) and a deposit (one month’s rent). Also lists Bed and Breakfast’s:

http://www.nyhabitat.com/paris-apartment.html

Fusac: English language guide for Anglophones in France. In the “small ads” section you can find a list of housing offers in English in Paris and other cities in France. No photos so call the owner or agency to arrange a visit:

http://fusac.fr/en/annonces_categories.php

Craig’s list Paris: Any length of time, with roommates, for singles, families, furnished and unfurnished. Use at your own risk. Recommended to arrive in Paris first and look at the place in person before making a decision or paying any money. Can find good deals:

http://paris.en.craigslist.org/apa/

For long term options à la française

Once you establish yourself in France, have a French bank account and are able to provide paystubs from a French employer, try searching like a local. Be aware that most agencies and owners require that you make at least three times the rent.

Particulier à particulier: These apartments are rented out directly by the owners, so there is no agency fee. There are rarely photos online so it is best to contact the owner to visit in person:

www.Pap.fr

SeLoger: This is an agency (and thus charges a fee) that deals with buying and renting homes and apartments. This site also displays the energy consumption of each place for the conscientious renter:

www.seloger.com

You can also walk into your neighborhood realty office like Foncia, CPH or even Century21. As in the US, there is of course an agency fee.

Take-away tips:

  • Neighborhoods Make a list of priorities for your ideal place and research neighborhoods to find one that matches your requirements. (i.e. quiet, near a park)
  • Size or location? Experiment with different size and price searches to figure out how much space you can get while staying within your budget, and decide if space or location is more important to you. A studio in central Paris is worth a one bedroom in other areas.
  • Consult the Experts Talk to people who have lived in Paris before or find blogs by current residents. You can learn easy lessons from people who have already found out the hard way (i.e. stay away from Chateau Rouge at night).
  • Safety If you are going to put money down for a place before you arrive, go through an agency. The security of knowing you’ll have an apartment when you get there is worth the fee.

© 2011 Pasa’s Paris