A NEW LEASE ON LIFE
Learning to Say “Inmobiliaria”
On July 19th, we signed a new rental lease. We’d moved into our house on Calle Pages on August first, 2004. As our rental lease was for eleven months, the standard agreement in Spain, we signed almost three weeks after the original lease had expired.
In Spain, almost all rental agreements are handled by a real estate agent. The Spanish word for real estate office, is “inmobiliaria.” These seven syllables: in-mo-bi-li-a-ri-a took me seven months to learn to pronounce without biting my tongue, drooling or babbling. I generally lost my way somewhere around the third “i.” There are many, many inmobiliarias in Granada and I practice saying the word every time we pass one. It helps to see all those letters stretched out on a sign above the entrance.
We received a call from the office of the inmobiliario last week asking us if we planned to stay another eleven months. Most certainly, we replied. I’d tried to explain to our non-English speaking landlady, when she came by in May to collect for the water and electricity, that we hoped to stay. Maybe she got it, maybe she didn’t, maybe she simply wanted it confirmed by our English-speaking agent. At any rate, we got the call and arranged an appointment to meet with her and the agent at his office.
We arrived at the office at the agreed upon time. Guillermo, our agent, was there; Conchita, our landlady, was not. We proceeded. As the only changes necessary to last year’s contract were the dates and our new telephone number, the contract was printed out and ready within minutes. We waited. As we waited, I told Guillermo that I’d repaired the toilet, the chandelier, and replaced a fixture in the tub. We discussed restaurants in our neighborhood, then the heat, a popular topic during the Spanish summer.
After 30 minutes, Guillermo said we’d waited long enough. Maybe she forgot, he said. He had us sign the lease and the inventory, which had not been sighed the previous year. He told us that he would call us after he’d had Conchita sign, and we could drop by and pick up our copies.
But before we signed, he pointed out that our rent remained unchanged: €480 a month (which, due to a stronger dollar, is about $70 a month less than it was six months ago). Kay and I had both considered the possibility that the rent might increase and had hoped that it wouldn’t be much, maybe to €500.
“Conchita call me and say she want to raise your rent and for me to put it in the lease. But I say to her, you have a good family there. They take good care of your house and pay the rent on time every month. If you raise the rent, I will take them to see another house.”
He gave us a big smile. “She say, Okay. The rent is the same.”
Then we gave him two big smiles, shook his hand, and left.Maybe it was the cookies Kay made for him last year. We’ll never know. I do know that saying inmobiliaria is not so hard when your agent such a nice guy.
