What to say at a flat viewing in Spain

You land in March. The listing is on Idealista. The person who posted it expects a message today, not a polished paragraph next week. The visit itself is twenty minutes with a stranger who will decide, on the spot, whether you look like someone who can pay the fianza and sign.

The Spanish housing phrase page has the eight sentences that get you through the door. This is the rest of the conversation: the message that books the visita, the questions you ask while you are standing in the kitchen, and the money words that are different in Spain from the Spanish you learned for Mexico.

The message that gets you a visita

On Idealista and Fotocasa a flat is a piso, not an apartamento. You alquilas it; you do not rentas it. The deposit is la fianza, not el depósito. Write those three words wrong and the casero still understands you — they also clock that you copied a Latin American phrasebook.

A message that works:

Buenos días. He visto su anuncio del piso en [zona]. ¿Sigue disponible? Me gustaría concertar una visita. ¿Cuándo sería posible? Soy [nombre], trabajo en [empresa]. Muchas gracias.

That is the whole job of the first message: name the listing, ask if it is still free, ask for a time, say who you are. Landlords in Madrid and Barcelona get a pile of "Hi is this available??" in English. A short formal note in usted is the filter.

If they call you back, the same three questions:

• ¿Sigue disponible el piso?
• ¿Cuándo puedo ir a verlo?
• ¿Puedo verlo esta tarde?

Use usted. You do not know this person, so ¿Tienes disponibilidad? is the wrong register. ¿Tiene disponibilidad? is the one that belongs on a first call.

Read the ad before you write. Spanish listings are a code. 2 hab. is two bedrooms. Exterior faces the street — more light, more noise. Interior faces the courtyard. Amueblado means furnished; sin amueblar means you are buying a fridge. Gastos incluidos means some bills are in the rent, not all of them. Cuarto piso sin ascensor is the fourth floor and you will walk. Fianza: 2 meses is two months of rent sitting in someone else's account before you get the keys.

A typical Chamberí listing looks like this: "Alquiler piso 3 hab., 75 m², exterior, amueblado, calefacción central, ascensor. Zona Chamberí. 1.200 €/mes + gastos. Fianza: 2 meses." If you can read that without looking anything up, you are ready to book the visit.

What you actually ask in the flat

They will say Pase, le enseño el piso. You say Gracias and you walk. Do not narrate the furniture. Ask the things that cost you money or sleep.

Start with the room you are standing in.

• ¿La cocina está equipada? — fridge, oven, hob, or just a tap.
• ¿Funciona bien la calefacción? — January in Madrid is not a tourist problem.
• ¿Hay buena presión de agua? — fourth floor, old building, ask now.
• ¿Puedo abrir la ventana? — street noise, and whether the window actually seals.
• ¿A qué orientación da? — south gets light all day; north does not.

Then the building.

• ¿Cuánto se paga de comunidad? — the monthly building fee. Often not in the rent.
• ¿Hay normas en el edificio que deba conocer? — quiet hours, bikes in the patio, whether you can hang washing.
• ¿Se admiten mascotas? — if they do not mention it in the ad, assume no until they say yes.
• ¿Qué tal los vecinos? — a soft question. Listen to how fast they answer.

Then the state of the place, out loud, while you are still in it. The housing phrase page already has Hay humedad en el baño — say that one if you see damp.

• ¿Cuánto tiempo lleva vacío?
• ¿Cuándo fue la última reforma?

If you see damp and you stay quiet, you have already accepted it. Point, name it, and take a photo on your phone. You will want that photo the week you move in.

A common split in the kitchen: you ask ¿Y los gastos? ¿Están incluidos en el alquiler? and they say El agua y la comunidad sí. La luz y el gas los paga el inquilino. Water and the comunidad can sit inside the rent. Electricity and gas usually do not. Internet almost never does. Ask ¿Qué servicios están incluidos? and then ask each bill by name: agua, luz, gas, internet.

If it is a piso compartido rather than a whole flat, the questions change. You are interviewing flatmates, not a landlord.

• ¿Cuántas personas vivís en el piso?
• ¿Están incluidos los gastos?
• ¿Hay normas sobre visitas?
• ¿Cómo os organizáis con la limpieza?
• ¿Cuándo me podría mudar?

Compañero de piso, not roommate. The cleaning rota is el turno de limpieza. The shared bits are las zonas comunes.

Money words that are different in Spain

La fianza is the deposit. Spain's Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos, artículo 36 sets one month of rent for a home. Extra months are a garantía adicional, not a bigger fianza, and they cap at two more. Landlords still ask for two. The housing page already has ¿Cuánto es la fianza? Ask it, then ask how you pay it and when it comes back: ¿Cómo se paga la fianza? and ¿Cuándo me devuelven la fianza?

El alquiler is the monthly rent. In Spain la renta is income, the thing on a tax form. In Mexico la renta is the rent. If you say la renta es 800 euros in Chamberí you will be understood and you will sound like you learned the language somewhere else.

Other words that show up on the day you sign:

• ¿Es necesario aval bancario? — a bank guarantee. Common in Madrid. If they want one and you do not have a Spanish bank account yet, that is the end of this flat.
• los suministros — water, gas, electricity. Dar de alta los suministros is putting the bills in your name.
• el inventario — the list of what is in the flat and what is already broken. Photograph everything on it.
• el preaviso — notice. Usually thirty days when you want to leave.
• la agencia inmobiliaria — the agency. For a vivienda habitual, Ley 12/2023 put management and contract fees on the landlord. Some still ask you for a month. That is not yours to pay. Ask before you book the visita.

Before you sign: Antes de firmar, ¿puedo leer el contrato con calma? Then the two questions that decide whether you can leave later:

• ¿Cuál es la duración mínima del contrato?
• ¿Y si necesito irme antes? ¿Cuánto preaviso necesito?

One walkthrough has the casero answer Un año, renovable automáticamente hasta cinco and A partir de seis meses puede irse con 30 días de preaviso. That is the shape. Get it in the contract, not in the hallway.

If you want it — and if you do not

If you want it, say so in the room. Me interesa. ¿Cuáles son los siguientes pasos? Ask whether they need a nómina (payslip), a Spanish NIE, or an aval before they will hold it. Do not transfer a señal to a stranger who will not meet you at the building. The viewing is the filter that works in both directions.

If you do not want it, you still leave cleanly. Gracias por mostrarme el piso. Lo voy a pensar. ¿Le escribo mañana? You do not owe them a speech about the damp.

The phrases above are the ones a landing-in-March viewing actually uses. They are not a kitchen vocabulary drill, and they are not enough to improvise a whole lease negotiation if the casero talks fast. Learn Spanish for a move to Madrid — say the city and the month — and the same situation is a unit you can tap and say back, with audio. Generated lines come from a language model and are usually right, not always; check anything you are about to sign against the contract in front of you.