Finding accommodation in Prague

Finding accommodation is just the same as in the UK. You can browse the internet for vacant properties, we chose to rent first as it seems like a sensible option, on estate agency's websites or through a website similar to gumtree, called seznam.

We chose to search for our property via a website called www.bezrealitky.cz This website is designed to rent or buy property directly from the individual..translated as "without agent". This is ideal if you want to save some money due to the way the renting process works here.

When searching for a property it is quite different in terms of description. Instead of the standard "One bedroom, Two bedroom etc" you instead search for "2+kk, 3+1 etc". The first number means the number of rooms (living room + bedrooms) and the kk stands for kitchen/diner type and the second number means the kitchen is a separate room. For example, a 2+kk is a One bedroom flat with a toilet/bathroom, with a combined living room and kitchen. A 3+1 is a Two bedroom flat, toilet/bathroom with a separate kitchen.

Most of the flats here in Prague have a lift and secure buzzer system, so it is not so bad whether you live on the 2nd floor or the 12th floor.

Just as in the UK, you must pay 1 month rent and 1 month rent as deposit. However, if you decide to go through an agent you must pay for the agent's fee rather than the landlord, this is commonly 1 month rent as well. The costs soon mount up and can surprise you unless you are financially prepared.

So that is the base rent, purely for the property. Then, you must pay "poplatky" which is basically council tax but is paid to the landlord too. It covers things like rubbish collection, water and sewage. The poplatky can vary, I'm not exactly sure what it depends on as every property I have looked at seems to have a different value, but I would pay no more than 2500Kc on a property of around 50 square metres.

After the rent, deposit and plopatky, you must then pay the gas and electricity, which normally gets transferred to your name from the landlord/agency within the first month or so. The landlord sets a flat rate and that you must pay each month and then the difference will be transferred back to you or you will pay extra depending on your usage.

Our friendly pigeon/holub neighbours...

So that's about it for essential bills, now you must think about Television, Wifi etc. The flat that we are currently staying only has possibility to connect to UPC; a bit like Czech's version of Sky except not really as good and much more difficult to understand...although some channels are in English.

The annoying thing here for me, is that everything is usually billed to the 15th of each month. For example, we started renting the in late August so we must pay one month and a bit, the same for the UPC. And everything is paid one month in advance which can make some cash flow issues arise, again if you are not financially prepared.

Anyway, that is all the serious talk out of the way...

Like I mentioned before in the blog, we had arranged some viewing before we left the UK and luckily enough the first flat we saw was nice, so we took it. :)