Booking Process

STEP 1) SUBMIT DOCUMENTS

Of all interested tenants. Please send them by e-mail here (jordi.mestras@flatzoom.com)

• Students: 2 documents = Passport or DNI copy + University Admittance Letter copy.
• Workers: 2 documents = Passport or DNI copy + copy of document showing income (payrolls of last 3 months or labor contract).
• Companies: 3 documents = last year Benefits & Tax declaration (“Impuesto de Sociedades”) + last four VAT & Taxes declarations (“IVA”) + tenant’s Passport or DNI copy.

(see STEP 1 CONDITIONS here – must read)

STEP 2) CHECK BOOKING DOCUMENTS

We’ll send to you the Booking Request document and the Lease Contract that applies. They will show your booking commitments. Please check them carefully.

(see STEP 2 CONDITIONS here – must read)

STEP 3) PAY BOOKING FEE

Kindly pay the booking request fee = 10% of one year rent + 21% VAT. The payment details are in the Booking Request document.

(see STEP 3 CONDITIONS here – must read)

STEP 4) CONFIRM BOOKING

Once the fee is in our account, the landlord will formally reply to your request. We will inform you.

If he/she accepts, congrats! He/she booked the apartment for you under the conditions of the booking documents. We’ll proceed to step 5.

In case of refusal (typically because he/she booked the apartment in the meantime), we’ll pay you back the full booking fee immediately.

(see STEP 4 CONDITIONS here – must read)

STEP 5) SIGN LEASE CONTRACT & PAY

The landlord and you will be invited to a WhatsApp group altogether with your Flatzoom agent, so you get in touch and ask the landlord whatever you need. Both of you will receive an e-mail with an invitation to sign the lease contract online. Please sign it. In parallel, please pay your first rent + lease deposit + other topics that may apply, to the landlord (see contract for details plus here and here). Once signed, you’ll receive an e-mail with the signed contract.

(see STEP 5 CONDITIONS here – must read)

STEP 6) CHECK IN !

Get in touch with your landlord to coordinate your check-in with him or her. Welcome to your great new home! 🙂

(see STEP 6 CONDITIONS here – must read)

Booking Conditions (Must read if you book)

CONDITIONS Step 1 “YOUR DOCUMENTS”

Your documents are handled with extreme privacy. They are seen only by one person in flatzoom, who manages the booking with you, and by the apartment owner. See Policy here.

Please, excuse us for requesting information that may be a bit personal or sensitive. We understand that in other countries this may be uncommon, but here in Barcelona it’s very usual that landlords request it. They value knowing who will be leasing their apartment and their solvency.

Depending on your profile and the landlord’s criteria, he/she might ask for further documents than those required initially, stated in this webpage.

If you’re living in Barcelona now, you may put us in touch with your current landlord to provide references about you. This greatly increases your chances to get your new apartment.

If the landlord provides any preliminar reply, we’ll let you know. If positive, it is considered as a pre-acceptance to your profile, NOT a full acceptance to the lease because the main conditions have not been set yet. The apartment is NOT blocked for you yet. You must complete the booking process before anybody else books the apartment.

(back to Process Step 1)

CONDITIONS Step 2 “BOOKING DOCUMENT”

The Booking Request document will state:

• the names of ALL adult tenants,
• the Booking Fee amount,
• the payment method details,
• the Booking Conditions, and
• the Cancelation Policy (conditions for reimbursement).

The conditions in the Booking Request document and the Lease Contract supplied are binding. After booking, you cannot withdraw from them.

Tenants. All adult tenants must appear in the booking document. Any adult not shown will not be allowed to rent the flat. If you have a compulsory requirement to change tenants now or in the future (for instance, to add another tenant or to change a flatmate in the future), you must say so in this phase. Only if it’s mandatory for you to book, meaning that you would not book the apartment otherwise. Whatever discussed in this regard during the apartment viewing will not be valid. It must be shared at this step with the flatzoom member with whom you book the apartment with, so the landlord knows and agrees to it. If you don’t tell at this stage, your requirement may not be applied afterwards. If you ask after booking, the owner didn’t accept it and you didn’t rent for this reason, the booking fee will NOT be paid back.

Lease conditions. Whatever may have been explained to you allegedly during the viewing or you may have understood during the viewing about the lease conditions, is not binding. The booking and lease conditions that apply are only those stated in the booking documents provided to you now.

Apartment condition. Whatever may have been explained to you allegedly during the viewing or you may have understood during the viewing regarding future changes in the apartment physical condition, is not binding. Any such change that is relevant to you, should be stated in the Lease Contract. Any change not stated there means no commitment by the apartment owner. You may read more here about the accuracy of the information we provide and our liabilities.

Furnishing. The furnishing present in the apartment when you view is not binding. It may not be the actual one included in the rent, specially if the previous tenant is still living there when you view it, because some existing furnishing may belong to him/her, not to the owner. Please, do not count on any information provided during the viewing by ourselves, the current tenant, etc because it’s verbal and thus, subject to misunderstandings. The formal statement about furnishing content is typically an inventory attached to the Lease Contract.

If you have a compulsory requirement to change, add or remove anything relevant about the physical condition of the apartment or its content as seen in the viewing (for instance, to change a wall painting colour, to remove a furniture item specially fixed ones, etc), you must say so in this phase. Whatever discussed in this regard during the apartment viewing will not be valid. It must be shared at this step with the flatzoom member with whom you book the apartment with, so the landlord knows and agrees to it. If you don’t tell at this stage, your requirement may not be applied afterwards. If you ask after booking, the owner didn’t accept it and you didn’t rent for this reason, the booking fee will NOT be paid back.

Any potential contract discussions will take place in a written manner (WhatsApp mainly), not verbally (meeting, videconference, phone call, etc), unless strictly necessary upon flatzoom criteria. This is meant to make the process smoother and the conditions clearer for you.

(back to Process Step 2)

CONDITIONS Step 3 “BOOKING PAYMENT”

Payment methods allowed:

• Payment origin European Union, Japan, USA and Canada -> instant bank transfer or cash
• Payment origin rest of the world -> credit card or cash. No transfer possible due to international banking restrictions by countries authorities that cause delays or cancelations

At this stage your booking is NOT yet confirmed. It must be confirmed by the landlord (step 4).

If you pay by bank transfer, we’ll request the landlord’s booking confirmation once the money is in our bank account, not before.

We’ve had issues in the past with payments by transfer or card, when a receipt was sent to us but then the payment didn’t reach us due to banking issues or similar. If there is any payment delay, blockage or return, we will not manage it with the banks nor be responsible to pay any cost due to it. We expect you’re ready for smooth transfers from your country since you are coming to live here. You choose the payment way that you want (method, bank, origin country, origin sender, etc), so you are responsible for the consequences. Beware that the banking authorities (worlwide, EU and Spanish) periodically check the ongoing transfers from abroad to avoid money laundering and may ask you or us for documents to validate them before allowing cash in. For instance, if the money sender is different than the tenant, they may block the transfer and ask for documents proving your relationship. We will not handle this type of requests from banks. Bank transfers and credit card payments take at least 24 hours to reach us (and could be more). This may delay your booking chances. We will not be responsible for any delay, whatever the reason.

If you’re in a hurry and want to get a fast booking confirmation, please order an instant transfer.

Do not make a transfer that can be withdrawn. This just complicates things and leads to no benefit to anybody, you included.

If you pay cash, you’ll get our corresponding receipt, hand-signed.

By paying, you commit totally to rent the apartment under the conditions in the Booking Request document and the Lease Contract supplied and you accept ALL the present Terms in this page, without exception. This step is important. You cannot revert it. Act wisely. If you withdraw from renting afterwards due to you, you’ll lose this payment. See our Cancelation Policy below for details.

The booking fee is NOT a guarantee AT ALL by Flatzoom about the apartment condition maintenance in ANY way during the lease, once you’ve checked in. This is guaranteed by the fact of paying the monthtly rent (not the booking fee) to the apartment owner and is guaranteed by him/herself (not Flatzoom) under the terms stated in the Spanish Laws and the lease contract. You pay to Flatzoom for a commercial and booking service, not for a guarantee by us about the apartment condition or the quality of your living there during the lease. Please see here for more details about the flatzoom service you pay for: what is included and what not.

By paying, you accept to use WhatsApp as main communication channel with flatzoom and with the landlord for all topics during the booking process until check-in, including contract discussion and clarification. In particular, you accept that a WhatsApp group is created between you, the landlord and your flatzoom representative for direct communication during the next steps. For given apartments serviced by flatzoom during the lease, as identified in step 2, the landlord will be excluded from such communications.

During this booking process, your fee is kept by flatzoom, not the landlord, for your safety and peace of mind.

This fee equals and will become flatzoom’s fee when you sign the lease with the landlord (step 5). Therefore, when you sign, you’ll pay the full first rent and full lease deposit to the landlord, as well as any other payment agreed in the lease contract.

The booking fee is not related with the first rent to pay nor the lease deposit. You’ll pay the first rent and the lease deposit fully (without discounting the booking fee) when you sign the contract (step 5).

Usually, bookings are not permitted if you haven’t viewed and checked the apartment physically before, in order to avoid later concerns. The landlords want you to be fully aware and responsible for what you book.

Many apartments on offer are occupied by the current tenants and cannot be viewed yet. Some of those may be ‘pre-booked‘ as an additional advantage to you. It means that you may: 1. secure it for you now, 2. view it when you can and 3. claim your payment back if you don’t like it. Flatzoom staff will let you know about these specific cases.

(back to Process Step 3)

CONDITIONS Step 4 “BOOKING CONFIRMATION”

All apartments belong to the landlords, not to flatzoom. For this reason, it’s always the landlord who decides about a booking, not flatzoom.

No formal commitment answer is given by the landlord before your booking payment.

You hold no booking rights before the landlord’s answer at this point, regardless of the landlord’s preliminary reply in step 1 and no matter how long your progress with the apartment has been until now. This is the standard process in Barcelona market, due to its super fast dynamics and competitiveness, with many agents and tenants dealing with the same apartment at the same time. This agreed procedure in the market ensures order and transparency, so everybody involved knows clearly the booking status at each moment.

We flatzoom tell you the booking acceptance on behalf of the landlord. Landlords work with many brokers and agents at the same time, so we flatzoom cannot provide acceptance on our own. After his/her acceptance, the landlord is the only responsible to hold his/her acceptance, not flatzoom.

Our notification of the landlord’s acceptance is not a valid lease contract according to Spanish law, so it does not entitle you to occupy the apartment yet. The lease contract must be signed by the landlord and you (see step 5). The time this takes depends solely on the landlord and you, not on flatzoom.

(back to Proces Step 4)

CONDITIONS Step 5 “SIGN & PAY”

The landlord and you may both be invited to one same WhatsApp group altogether with your Flatzoom agent, to coordinate the contract signature and your payment to the landlord. You will chat directly with the landlord through the group and Flatzoom will assist both of you. Flatzoom will not carry any discussion privately with the owner on your behalf.

For some specific apartments assisted by Flatzoom (as identified in step 2), you will discuss these topics directly with your Flatzoom agent, not the owner. In such case, it will be through WhatsApp, not verbally (meeting, videconference, phone call, etc) unless necessary upon Flatzoom criteria. This makes the process smoother and clearer for you.

The lease contract content cannot be changed since both parties agreed to it when booking (step 2).

The contract may contain a standard English translation of the Spanish or Catalan text. According to Spanish Law, the legal agreements in our country must be in an official language, like Spanish or Catalan. The legally binding text of your contract will be the Spanish or Catalan version. The English version has no legal effects. It’s just meant to guide you about the contract content. We Flatzoom have no liability about the English text provided. If in doubt, please ask for a translation of the Spanish or Catalan text to your own language by your own means before signing.

If the parties wish to add an inventory of items, such as furnishing, kitchen appliances, etc. this will be proposed by the landlord and included in the contract as an annex listing the items. Flatzoom will not issue this inventory nor go to the apartment to check it for you nor translate it. No pictures will be included in the contract nor printed. They may be taken digitally by you or the landlord the check-in day and shared by e-mail between the two parties, as a record of the apartment condition.

If you require after booking, a relevant physical change of the apartment condition or the furnishing included, compared to the condition when you viewed it, the landlord didn’t accept it and you didn’t rent for this reason, your booking fee would NOT be paid back. If such change is a dealbreaker for you, you must let us know it prior to booking.

If you require to change any of the tenants listed in the Booking document, to add one or to remove one, the landlord didn’t accept it and you didn’t rent for this reason, your booking fee would NOT be paid back.

You must sign the lease contract and make your payments to the landlord as soon as possible. In case you can’t, the following deadline applies: within 5 labor days max after receiving the contract for signature or 2 days before the agreed check-in date, whatever happens first. If you don’t meet this deadline, the landlord will have full right to keep your booking payment and to offer the apartment again in the market.

You will sign the lease contract digitally through a certified online service. We will not meet physically for so.

The signed copy of the contract that you will receive through e-mail will be the original version, fully valid for any legal purpose, for instance City Council empadronamiento or NIE.

THE LEASE CONTRACT MUST BE SIGNED by ALL TENANTS TO ALLOW CHECK-IN of any of them, according to Spanish Law and the contract. If you’re several tenants, like a couple or flatmates, just one having signed individually is not enough for checking in. Everybody must have signed to allow any of you to check in, even individually and even those who have signed. Landlords never accept exceptions to this. Our digital signature helps in this regard, allowing all to sign and then everyone to check in individually at different times, if needed.

Flatzoom nor the landlord bear no liability if the booked move-in date is not met because your replies are delayed throughout this discussion process, or if you didn’t read, understand or follow the present booking process. In such case, the first period rent would not be modified.

The payment of the first rent and the deposit must be made by instant bank transfer to the landlord directly. Not to flatzoom, except for specific apartments. Not possible by cash or credit card. It must be made at least two days before check-in. No transfer or payment is permitted on site during check-in at all.

If the apartment is managed by Flatzoom on behalf the landlord, as told to you prior to booking, the initial and monthly payment will be done to Flatzoom, as representant of the landlord.

THE MONEY MUST BE IN THE DESTINY BANK ACCOUNT TO ALLOW CHECK-IN, according to Spanish Law and the contract. You will not be able to check in until it is. Landlords never accept exceptions to this. In case of trouble with your transfer, landlords have no obligation to start any action or query with their bank and not even less, right when checking in. Making sure the money reaches the destiny is fully your liability. You choose your payment method. At the end of the day, you could just go to the landlord’s bank and pay right there, which is 100% safe and instant. If you check in later for this reason, there will be no reduction in the initial rent because of the days passed by. The agreed rent is due. Get ready in advance to make your payment smoothly. You’re the only responsible for this. This is typically the top 1 reason for last-minute check-in delays. Beware. Do not underestimate this topic.

(back to Process Step 5)

CONDITIONS Step 6 “CHECK-IN”

The check-in date is agreed when booking (step 2). All sides (landlord, flatzoom and you) must work proactively and positively through the following steps 3-6 to accomplish it.

Most actions depend on the landlord and mostly yourself. Here’s a guideline:

1. Landlord reply to your documents → pretty fast
2. Booking documents ready → depends on flatzoom, typically fast
3. Your booking payment → depends on YOU, can be slow, see here
4. Landlord booking confirmation → typically fast
5. Contract signature online ready → depends on flatzoom, typically fast
6. Contract signature → depends on landlord and YOU, pretty fast though slow when flatmates
7. Rent+deposit payment to landlord → depends on YOU, potentially slow with unexpected delays. Beware!

The usual time between you submit the booking payment receipt and you actually check in is typically 5 labor days. Less is usually unfeasible and risky for you. DO NOT expect an urgent check-in right after apartment choice. There are many steps, key to you. It concerns your new home and your money. Plan it well. Don’t hurry. Hurrying is your decision, not ours. Bad planning will lead you to concerns such as contract signature pressure, payment issues, overall mistakes, home not clean or ready, complaints to landlord or us (actually due to your own slow progress or poor planning), check-in delay, bad start at your new home and with your new landlord, etc. We know it well. Please, don’t complain to us if so happens.

Rely on flatzoom expert staff and process. We are there to guide and protect you. Our process is designed to make it all work smoothly, built upon years and hundreds of leases same as yours now. Believe in it, stick to it and everything will work. If you try to go a different way, issues will arise.

The booking document states a check-in date based on your requirement PLUS the assumption of an early booking payment on your side, within 24 hours after you receive the document. If you delay your booking payment, you risk missing the stated check-in date.

THE LEASE CONTRACT MUST BE SIGNED by ALL TENANTS TO ALLOW ANY OF THEM TO CHECK IN. No tenant can check in individually until it’s signed by everybody. See step 5 above.

THE FIRST RENT + DEPOSIT MUST BE IN THE OWNER BANK ACCOUNT TO ALLOW CHECK-IN. You will not be able to check in until it is. THIS MATTERS. See step 5 above.

Flatzoom will not be present in the check-in. The landlord will. You’ll schedule the date & time straight with him/her, upon his/her availability. You’ll meet him/her in the apartment and deal with him/her about keys delivery, meter reading and overall apartment explanation.

Flatzoom will only assist for check-in when the landlord cannot. If so, the check-in will be on a labor day (10am-6pm), never on a Holiday. Beware that Saturdays, Sundays, August 15th and September 11st and 24th among others, are Holidays in our country.

Beware: most foreigner tenants arriving in Barcelona tend to underestimate the risks stated above due to novelty and often miss the check-in deadline due to themselves. Landlords and flatzoom are not responsible if so happens.

(back to Process Step 6)

FEE REIMBURSEMENT – BOOKING CANCELATION POLICY

The booking fee is paid back ONLY in the event that the landlord refuses the booking, as explained in step 4 (see here). Once the booking is confirmed by the landlord, the booking fee would be paid back ONLY in the rare event that the landlord decided not to sign the lease contract due to a reason on his/her own, unrelated with you. It is NOT paid back IN ANY other circumstance, like you changing your mind, finding another apartment, not settling in Barcelona, COVID-19, asking for changes in the lease contract, asking to delay your booked initial date (meaning to pay less initial rent), asking for physical changes in the apartment after booking, not signing the contract or not paying to the landlord within 5 calendar days after receiving the contract for signature, concerns within your team of flatmates, one flatmate withdrawing, the apartment condition, the quality of your living in it or any other.

In case an apartment is ‘pre-booked’ (see step 3), you have the right to request the fee back after you have viewed it, if you request it before an agreed deadline. The act and agreement of ‘pre-booking’ is identified by a specific contract that you sign with the landlord. This contract states the specific conditions for the reimbursement.

If paid through credit card, we’ll revert the payment to the same account it was debited to. If paid through bank wire, we’ll wire back to a Spanish national bank account that you instruct us to. It is NEVER paid back through international bank transfer (not even to UE), due to the common risks that they imply, like delays, extracosts or extra management.

In case the landlord finally refused to sign the lease contract after booking due to him/her, your fee is paid back upon above but flatzoom holds no further liability. Therefore, no complaints can be raised towards flatzoom and flatzoom will provide no further compensation beyond full fee payback.

When the lease contract is signed, the fee no longer covers booking as the concept of securing the apartment, because that assurance is replaced (and reinforced legally) by your lease agreement with the owner. The fact of leasing is now fully ensured by the owner by means of the formal lease contract signed. He can’t step down, same as you can’t, and if he did, you could claim your rights facing him/her (basically be allowed into the apartment during the lease period) on your own through the applicable administrative and legal channels.

Once the contract is signed, the fee is fully final and is NOT paid back IN ANY CASE, whatever the reason, because at this point our service has been fully provided and finished. Whatever happens next is within the scope of your agreement with the owner as per the lease contract signed with him/her. Remember that you sign your contract with the owner, not with flatzoom. There is no compensation by flatzoom after contract signature for any reason, such as the apartment condition, the quality of your experience in it, the actual duration of your stay or any other reason. Flatzoom fee is not a guarantee of those topics or of any other agreement between both parties because that is your lease contract with the apartment owner. If you feel that after contract signature, the landlord damages your interests at some point by not complying with the lease contract agreements in any of such topics, you must complain about it to him/her, discuss with him/her, seek a solution with him/her and if you feel, claim a compensation from him/her directly. In such extreme event, please let us know so we consider withdrawing the apartment from our offering to other tenants in the future.

ITP TAX

When you rent an apartment in Barcelona for a temporary stay, you as tenant must pay the ITP tax (Impuesto de Transmisiones Patrimoniales) to the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Public Administration). More information can be found here. If you hear about someone who didn’t pay it, that’s because they signed a different type of contract (regular residence contract).

PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE

To rent an apartment, you must hire an insurance covering the damage to third parties (neighbourgs, building…) due to potential events like a fire or so caused by you, as well as the value of your belongings in the event of a theft. These damages and costs are not covered by the regular home insurance that the landlords typically hire. The landlords’ home insurance covers the damages to the apartment and to third parties if caused accidentally or by the landlord himself, but not tenants. In case of theft, it covers the belongings of the landlord but not the tenant’s. The public liability insurance benefits you, not the landlord. If not hired, you may be liable to pay hundreds of thousand EUR. The price of this insurance is typically 149 €/year. If less than a year lease, it’s the same price. For some specific apartments, we will hire it on your behalf.

Information Accuracy and Liabilities

Information Source

The apartments offered in Flatzoom are not owned by Flatzoom but by independent landlords. All the information provided by Flatzoom, like apartment features, equipment, quality, condition, availability, monthly rent, lease conditions and any other data, depend on the apartment owners.

The information provided about the apartment features, equipment, quality and condition is for information purposes not contractual purposes. It may have improved or worsened after our pictures or video were taken due to tear and wear. It might contain errors occasionally due to unaccuracy of text, human mistake, miscommunication with the landlords, changes in the conditions, etc. You MUST check the actual status by viewing the apartment yourself or refer to the lease contract.

Typically, apartments in Barcelona are let very fast, in an average of 1 week and sometimes in one day or even just hours. Flat hunters in Barcelona typically don’t realise until they start their searching adventure. Also, apartments are typically offered by many agents at once. Therefore, the availability dates of apartments change very fast and in some specific cases it may take some time until one is updated in Flatzoom. This depens on the landlord not on Flatzoom. Flatzoom bears no liability for the accuracy of this information.

Viewings

Most apartments offered in Flatzoom must be viewed physically prior to renting. This is requested by their owners in order to avoid complaints or change requests later on and to let us meet the interested people in advance. In our experience, renting in the distance tends to create trouble later on during the lease for both sides: the owner and you.

In case of apartments suitable to be rented in the distince withour prior viewing, they still should be viewed before. If you request not to, this will have been your choice not ours and thus it will be your entire liability, not the owner’s and not Flatzoom’s. It’s you who benefit from this (money and time savings), not the owner, who on the other side may suffer from trouble like unjustified complaints. We really want you to check the apartment actual status, make sure about it and take your own decision based on it freely. You can always go view it, when not occupied. Nobody prevents you from so. We ease viewings to the max. If you don’t view it because you choose not to, please don’t complain after check-in about the apartment condition, content, etc. If you want to avoid complaints, please go view it. Thanks for your understanding!

Lease Agreement

The tenant signs the lease contract with the apartment landlord, NOT with Flatzoom. You as tenant and the landlord are the only responsible for the lease agreements that you freely reach and sign together. Flatzoom holds no liability for the contract content and terms freely agreed between the two parties. The only legal mean of setting the apartment identification and content leased, is not the advertisement, the pictures nor the videos. It’s the lease contract. The landlord is the only liable to hold his commitments as per the lease contract signed.

Support

Flatzoom does not provide support during your stay in the apartment nor the end of it. Spanish law states that this support is provided by the apartment landlord. Any issue during the lease must be settled with the owner him/herself in the scope of the private lease contract that both parties sign freely and, in case of conflict, solved following the procedures and jurisdiction you both agree per contract. Flatzoom holds no liability for any of such issues and does not get involved in them. If at the end of your stay, you feel that your experience has been bad in the place and want to let us know about it, we’ll be happy to hear so we can consider withdrawing the apartment from our offering to other tenants in the future.