The guide to renting an apartment in Russia
Today, the main difficulty of renting an apartment in Russia is to sort out in a sea of different proposals to choose the best combination of price, location, condition and flat area.
In addition, the term of renting is of great significance. There is a separate sector of the “summer rental” when the hosts during few summer months leave the house and rent it to the guests. These flats are usually 5-20% cheaper than similar flats offered at any other time in the market, but you will not be able to bring your furniture there (usually an apartment for rent is with a host environment), or to make cosmetic repairs to your liking, and in early autumn you will have to move out.
Russian apartments for rent - Interim flats
The cheapest segment of Russian rental market is the one with the rooms in communal apartments. For many students or visitors it is the only way to get a proper living space for a modest fee. These apartments are located primarily in the center of Russian cities, making it geographically convenient. However, to live in a communal, of course, is not easy.
Even if the neighbors behind the wall will not appear noisy and unpleasant, common in all means of this word bathroom can be a challenge. In addition to the variant of renting one or two rooms in a communal apartment the most inexpensive option is to live in the room already rented by someone.
Russian apartments for rent - Cheap flats
Economy class apartments are the most popular ones on Russian renting market. They are located in “ordinary” buildings of Khrushchev or Brezhnev era. The windows of these apartments are often out to busy and noisy street, heating station or plant. For your safety, you should avoid nighttime walks near your home. However, the apartments are not that bad - standard one, two, three living rooms flats. As a rule, they need repairs, but they have kitchen, refrigerator and stove.
It happens that before renting an apartment the owner is doing some cosmetic repairs in a hurry. In such cases, the walls are covered with paperhangings, the floor is covered by linoleum, furniture, if available, is not new and cheap, TV and washing machine are not available. The building is panel or brick, the ceilings are 2,4-2,65 m, combined bathroom, kitchen 6 sq.m. If you are lucky there is also a little balcony.
The yards of these houses are always shared with all the people living there, with most of the area given over to the playground, so the car will have to be put along the sidewalk under the window. There are no garbage disposal systems and elevators in five-story buildings.
Russian apartments for rent - Medium prices flats
The flats of average price level can be rented in various districts of Russian city. They are brick buildings in the center or new buildings on the outskirts. The apartments for rent may be either empty or have new economy class furniture from Ikea or middle 90-ies. Imported refrigerator, washing machine and TV are available.
This is a decent option for those who are looking for a reliable shelter for two or three years. The demand for this category of apartments is steady, but the owners usually pay a lot of attention to the selection of guests - preferably Russians Slavic appearance (except for residents of the western countries), single people or childless couples. The presence of children under 14 and pets greatly complicates the search for an apartment.
Russian apartments for rent - High prices flats
The market for Russian luxury apartments is growing every year - the demand for high-quality and expensive real estate increases in proportion to the welfare of the residents. Therefore, the proposal of so-called elite apartments is huge. They are rented mainly by employees of foreign companies, the offspring of wealthy businessmen, who started an independent life, senior managers.
These apartments have high ceilings (from 2,8 to 3,6 m) and are renovated with full replacement of wiring, pipes and plumbing. Usually there are two bathrooms: the one for guests and the other for the owner with the entrance from the bedroom. The furniture must have a roomy closet and imported kitchen with all necessary appliances.
All these apartments are equipped with internal alarm system. The flats are located in houses with intercom and video surveillance systems. Also there is concierge at the entrance of the building.
Russian apartments for rent - Expensive and very expensive flats
Russian apartments of de luxe class are works of art; each of them is unique and is only for the representatives of creative or financial elite of society. These apartments are located in expensive new club houses or in completely renovated buildings, which can be architectural monuments.
In this segment of real estate there is practically no apartments with a little number of rooms - mostly apartments occupy half or even a whole floor of a building with windows facing in two or three sides of the world, often two-storied, with spectacular views from the windows. There are between two and five bathrooms available together with a special dressing room. Kitchen and bathrooms are equipped with expensive equipment.
Typically, de luxe apartments have imported designer furniture and home theater. Often there are such features as a winter garden, a wall-mounted giant aquarium, a system of “smart home”, exotic and luxurious finishing materials such as gold or leather.
Of course, such apartments are fully insured against accidents or burglary, there are alarm systems and security services. The rental price includes the fee for parking space (one to two places on underground parking under the house or in the case of restored mansions in a closed courtyard).
