What to say at a Moscow flat viewing (просмотр)

The listing is on Циан. They want to know whether you will pay a залог and the first month on the day you sign. The visit itself is twenty minutes with a stranger who will decide, in the kitchen, whether you look like someone who stays.

The Russian housing phrase page has the short lines for the door. This is the rest: the message that books the просмотр, the коммуналка that is not the rent, and the fact that the “deposit” is usually an обеспечительный платёж under Civil Code 381.1, not a statutory three-month cap. This is not миграционный учёт. That is the host’s filing after you get the keys.

The message that gets you in

A Moscow ad is a code. 1-к is one room. 2-к is two. Коммуналка включена might mean the building line, not electricity. Без комиссии means the owner is paying the agent — ask anyway. Мебель and техника are listed separately for a reason.

A message that works:

Здравствуйте, я видел объявление на Циан по адресу [район]. Оно ещё свободно? Можно посмотреть квартиру сегодня днём? Меня зовут [имя], я выхожу на работу в Москве весной.

Оно ещё свободно? and Можно посмотреть квартиру сегодня днём? are already on the housing page. Use вы. Чё по хате? is the wrong register.

What you actually ask in the flat

They will say Проходите. You say Спасибо and you walk.

• Коммунальные услуги включены?
• Какой размер залога?
• Когда я мог бы въехать?
• Квартира меблированная?
• Кто платит свет, воду, интернет?
• Можно сделать акт приёма-передачи с фото?
• Хозяин будет ставить на миграционный учёт?

В ванной сырость is already on the housing page. Point, name it, take a photo. Ask each bill by name. Всё включено is a slogan.

If several people already live there, you are interviewing them: how many, the rules, and whose name is on the contract.

Money words that are different in Russia

People say залог. In the code it is usually an обеспечительный платёж. There is no German-style three-month ceiling. The market default is one month, sometimes two if the flat is furnished. Get the return rule in the договор найма — between people it is наём, even if everyone says аренда. A contract of a year or more is supposed to be registered; many short ones are written for eleven months so they are not. Ask Договор на год? and then ask how you leave early.

Other words that show up the day you sign:

• комиссия агента — often a month. Ask who pays it before the second visit.
• акт приёма-передачи — the inventory. Photograph everything on it.
• счётчики — the meters. Photograph the numbers.
• предоплата — rent in advance. Do not send it to a card that is not named in the contract.

If you want it: Квартира подходит. Какие следующие шаги? Do not transfer a deposit to a stranger who will not meet you at the building.

If you do not: Спасибо за просмотр. Я подумаю. You do not owe them a speech about the damp.