Renting a property in Tenerife

It can be difficult to get advice about rental, and rental agents can be biased in their advice.  Some types of lease that are designed for holiday rentals are used for long term rentals in Tenerife, which will affect your rights.  Tenerife Lifeline explains the different types of rental contracts as well as your rights as a tenant. 

If you are thinking of renting a property in Tenerife, then you will find Tenerife Lifeline a very useful book.  From the financial perspective, you can find out about rental assistance and resources for renting on a budget, if your income is low.  You can also find out about tax rebates that you may qualify for under recent changes to the tax system.
 

Is renting first a good idea?

Most people would advise that it is a good idea to rent before you buy.  It is a good way to ensure that you like living in Tenerife, and that the area you have chosen suits you.  Renting first can be a way of minimising risk because it is easier to move out of a rental home than have to sell a property that you have purchased.

Therefore, most people will see rental as a short term measure.  When they have decided that they are willing to commit to living in Tenerife, they plan to purchase a property.

Although this strategy seems like perfect common sense, the plan will often fall down when it comes to purchasing the property.  Qualifying for a mortgage may be much more difficult, if not impossible, after you have made the move.

So although common sense advises renting first, practicality may dictate that you should purchase your property while you can still base your mortgage application on your earnings and credit history before moving. 

Weighing up the pros and cons of either strategy is a subject of some debate amongst expatriates, and in truth, there is no right answer.  Much depends on your individual circumstances, how important owning your own home is to you and also factors that you probably can’t predict, such as your level of your earnings when you move to Tenerife.

The recent availability of increasing numbers of bargains on Tenerife’s property market, may start to sway the consensus of opinion towards buying a property first.
 

Links about renting a property in Tenerife

These sites are both only in Spanish, but there is more information about them in the Tenerife Lifeline book.  The application for Young Person’s rental Assistance is available here and to find rental properties from the  Sociedad Publica de Alquiler, click here.