Moving into my apartment

Hola! I am back with another post for the Barcelona diary. This time it is about what it was like to move into my first apartment in Barcelona. 🙂

So in my previous post I said that I found an apartment, but it was kind of risky, and that I definitely don’t recommend the agency where I rented the apartment. Read on to find out why.

It was finally the 4th of August 2022, moving day! But first things first, I stayed at a hotel in the neighborhood of Eixample and started training for my new job on the 2nd of August. As this was also a workday, I had to do my training today as well, but luckily I arranged that I could leave earlier so I could move into my new apartment.

I also got a computer from my job so I could work from home, but unfortunately something went wrong and it got sent to the Airbnb where I stayed before the hotel. So I had to pick that up first. After that, it was time to check out and start moving.

First, I had to pick up my key at the office of the agency. When I got there, they told me some bad news… Like I told you before, I had never seen the apartment, only the pictures online. Well, the guy that I had the appointment with told me that the person who lived there before me didn’t really take care of the apartment. In other words, the apartment was in bad shape. Great…. Now I was kind of scared and nervous about what kind of state the apartment would be in when I arrived.

He told me the microwave, TV, and couch would be replaced because they were in no state to use anymore. Which made me think about what the previous tenant had done to the apartment… But I tried to stay positive. At least they would replace some stuff, right? Even though I hadn’t seen the apartment, especially now that he said it didn’t look like the pictures anymore, I still had to sign the contract there at the office.

On my way to the apartment I was thinking about how bad it could be. I would meet another employee from the agency there. She was already there to see what exactly needed to be replaced.

When I arrived, I saw that the apartment indeed didn’t look like the pictures anymore. It was soooo disgusting. The walls weren’t white anymore; there were all kinds of spots on them. The couch was supposed to be beige, but instead it was kind of yellow with burned holes that were probably caused by cigarettes.

I was kind of in shock, and I think the employee saw that on my face because she immediately offered to look for other apartments that were available. I agreed to that. Because she needed to do something at the office first, we made an appointment for later that day. Not exactly how I imagined my moving day would be, but let’s see what the other apartments are like.

Later that day I met her at the address of another apartment, which was located in Barri Gòtic. Not my favorite neighborhood to live in, but at that moment I was open to anything.

However, when I saw the apartment, it was even worse than the first one. It was also kind of dirty and way smaller than the one I had, but the price was the same. Eventually I decided I would just take the first apartment, the one I was originally going to get. She told me that cleaners would be there until the end of the day, and then I would be able to move into my new apartment. I also made a mental note that I would probably have to clean a lot during the first few days.

I was by myself in Barcelona, and because I had only been there for two weeks, I didn’t really know anyone yet. So I had to move all my stuff by myself. I had four suitcases, two bags, and the boxes with my computer, so there was no way I could bring it all at once.

I decided to take a taxi from the hotel to my apartment and then go back by metro to the hotel to pick up the rest of my stuff. In the end I had to go back and forth three times before I had moved everything.

Once I moved everything, I suddenly realized that I didn’t have any towels yet to take a shower. It was already 9 in the evening and the stores would close at 9:30 PM, so I raced to H&M to quickly get some towels.

After that I called it a day and got ready to go to bed. When I wanted to make my bed, I noticed that the mattress cover, duvet, and pillows were really dirty as well. So I made another mental note for the next day to shop for bedding. Oh, and the cleaning service was crap, so I definitely had to properly clean the apartment over the next few days.

So this was my moving day. It didn’t really turn out how I expected. But I took a risk and knew it could end badly. However, I tried to stay positive. I had an apartment for the next 11 months and would try to make it my own. Eventually I would look for another apartment.

I think you can see why I would not recommend the agency. Even if the story about the previous tenant was true or not, the communication was really bad. The fact that they only told me about it when I was about to move in and pick up the keys was not professional. When I got the message that I got the apartment, they told me I couldn’t move in right away because they had to get the apartment ready. So they definitely already knew before I was supposed to move in that the apartment didn’t look the same as the pictures online.

What did you learn from my mistakes?

Make sure you have enough time to look for an apartment. Book accommodation for a longer period and respond to as many apartments as possible.
Don’t rent an apartment through SH Barcelona.
Make sure you see the apartment before signing anything.

Stay tuned for the next post! It will be about my first week in my new apartment. 🙂