The last 2 weeks have been extremely stressful. Finding an apartment in Paris has been more difficult than I expected. No one would rent to me. About a week ago a landlord in Boulogne said I could rent his tiny apartment for 890 euros per month. It’s ridiculously expensive, even for Paris, but in the end I accepted his offer. I had no other choice. It’s in a nice area, it has new flooring and paint, a storeroom, and a car bay. It is too expensive but I’m relieved to finally have a place.

The landlord is very nice and really laid back. I showed him my documents and he accepted them on face value. He trusts me to pay each month and he happily signed the contract. Why couldn’t other landlords be like that? I understand that they are worried the apartment will be damaged or the tenant won’t pay the rent but surely that only happens in a small percentage of cases.

The next step is to organise the move from Montpellier to Paris. I think we’ll do it ourselves because we don’t have too much stuff. I’ll have to rent a van. I hope we can move everything in one trip. We’ll see.

The apartment hunt has been very difficult. No real estate agency will accept me as a tenant as I don’t have someone in France to act as guarantor, someone who will pay my rent if I can’t. I don’t understand why this is so important and surely most people wouldn’t have someone who can do this. How do foreigners rent apartments here, what about French people who don’t have any family or aren’t on good terms with them or whose family are not financially able to guarantee the rent? Do people in their 30s or 40s have to have a guarantor? I can understand for a young student but for anyone else it sounds absurd.

The other option is to pay a ‘caution’ which is kind of like a bond but it is for between 6 and 12 months rent and the money stays in your own bank account. The bank prevents you from accessing that money for the period of the caution. The landlord then has access to this money if the tenant doesn’t pay the rent. I also find this to be absurd. If the rent is 1000 per month then I’m supposed the leave 12,000 euros sitting in the bank for 12 months gaining minimal interest, if any? There are plenty of other things I would rather do with my money than letting it sit in the bank. Are the French not bothered that they can’t invest that money? What a waste.

If you can’t provide either of these then the only option is to rent directly with the landlord, although they can have the same requirements. You just have to get lucky and find a landlord who is willing to be flexible. The best place to find landlords looking to rent apartments is in the weekly paper Particulier a Particulier which comes out every Thursday. You can also try Fusac which has mainly furnished apartments.

The apartment hunt is starting to pick up. I was offered the apartment I saw in Boulogne but at 890 euros per month for a small studio I decided not to accept it. I’m sure I can find a nice 1 bed in Levallois for that price.

Today is a public holiday and Ferbent is working so I’m not doing too much. I went to an Italian art exhibition at the Grand Palais which was probably not worth the 10 euro entrance fee. It’s not the kind of thing I would normally see. It was interesting but there wasn’t enough to see. I then saw La Doublure, a French comedy. I like Daniel Autueil and although it was very light hearted, to say the least, I enjoyed it.

I’m now checking my email and websites but am struggling with the French keyboard (I’m in an internet cafe). It’s driving me crazy!

I have a couple of possiblities for an apartment tomorrow so I hope to get one of them. Fingers crossed – again.

The ‘renovated’ apartment I saw yesterday was pretty mediocre but I’ve decided to take it, if they accept my dossier. It’s only 720 euros per month which isn’t too bad for a 1 bed apartment in Paris. It’s not as nice as I’d hoped but it’s within budget which is the main thing. I won’t find out until Tuesday if they are willing to accept it due the long weekend for Easter.

Real estate agents generally require that your income is 3 times the amount of the monthly rent. The problem is that they won’t accept my Australian income even though I earn around 5 times the monthly rent. I’ve got plenty of proof that I have that income but they’re not interested.

I’m trying to find something direct with the landlord as they can be more flexible but it’s a slow process. Today is Friday and I have some appointments for Tuesday and Wednesday next week. This normally wouldn’t be a problem but I’m paying for a hotel and need to find something quickly.

I’m moving hotels today because after spending 5 nights in a single room with my husband they’ve now decided it’s not allowed for safety reasons. They’ve booked us a room in Levallois where Ferbent works but he doesn’t know it yet. I’ll have to wait until he comes back from work because I can’t move our luggage alone. All these things waste more time and it’s getting frustrating.

Fingers crossed the agent I saw today will accept my dossier and we can get moving.

I’ve been in Paris for a few days looking for a new apartment. I’m on a limited budget of 800 euros a month and so I’m finding it difficult to find what I want. I definitely want a one bed apartment which has been recently renovated. Floorboards and a separate kitchen are preferable and a parking space would be fantastic.

I’ve been looking in the weekly magazine Particulier a Particulier but there is not much for 800, not the areas I want anyway. I’m looking in the centre of Paris, Levallois, and Boulogne Billancourt as this is where Ferbent is working (in 3 different hotels). I’ve also been going to real estate agents in these areas but to no avail. The people managing the rentals are often not there and I’m supposed to call them later. I don’t understand why they don’t take my number and call me. Why do they just let customers walk out the door? It doesn’t make sense to me and I never call these people.

I do have one appointment this afternoon in Levallois, one street from Ferbent’s hotel. It’s a very small one bed at only 32 sqm but it is supposedly renovated. Renovated seems to mean different things to real estate agents and landlords and to me so we’ll see. If its clean and fairly new I’ll take it.

I’ve spent most of the morning preparing my ‘dossier’ so I’ll be prepared for my house hunting in Paris tomorrow. It was difficult to find an apartment here in Montpellier because neither of us had an income in France. I have an income in Australia but most agencies wouldn’t accept that income. I eventually found an excellent agent who was very helpful and accepted it, although I did have to prove that I had a house in my name. This wasn’t essential but it helped things along a bit.

Things are different now because Ferbent has a job here and a decent income. I still need to prove my income but hopefully it won’t be so much of an issue this time.

The documents I need to show are:

Proof of income in France (copy of Ferbent’s work contract).
Proof of income in Australia (letter from my employer).
Bank statements. I only have Australian statements so I hope that will be sufficient.
RIB. This is my French bank account number, although I don’t use that account and therefore don’t have any money in that account.
Proof I own a house in Australia.
Reference from current real estate agent.
Contents insurance.
Copy of both our passports.

I think that’s everything. I hope that’s everything.

Wish me luck.