Our renting in Valencia guide covers how the process is supposed to work: documents, the LAU, deposits, timelines. This post is the mirror image, what goes wrong in practice. Every mistake below is one we have watched real newcomers make, usually under time pressure in a market where good flats go in days. Read it before you start bidding on listings, not after.
1. Paying three or more months upfront
Spanish law caps the move-in deposit at one month's rent, the fianza, which the landlord must lodge with the regional authority, plus optionally one additional month as garantia adicional. Newcomers, used to other markets, assume big upfront demands are normal here, and landlords or intermediaries sometimes test exactly that assumption. Anyone asking for three or more months upfront is either confused about the law or running a scam.
What to do instead: Expect first month plus fianza plus a limited additional guarantee, and question anything beyond it. Run your numbers with the upfront cost calculator so you know what normal looks like before anyone quotes you.
2. Signing remotely off the photos
Photos lie. Plenty of people have signed from abroad for a sunny corner flat that turned out to face a six-floor wall. Remote signing happens because the market moves fast and applicants panic about losing the listing.
What to do instead: Visit before you sign, or send a third party to walk through it: a friend, a paid local viewer, or our home-finding service, which does exactly this with a structured checklist.
3. Not checking the contract is in Spanish
The lease that binds you is the Spanish one. An English-only contract or side letter is not legally enforceable here, and everything that matters, the deposit terms, the garantia adicional, the exit clauses, lives in the Spanish text.
What to do instead: Insist on a written Spanish contract and have it translated or reviewed before signing, never after. If the landlord resists putting a term in the Spanish contract, that term does not exist.
4. Paying agency fees the landlord owes
On a standard long-term residential contract in Spain, the agency fee is the landlord's to pay by law: the agency works for the landlord. Newcomers pay it anyway, because they do not know and because an invoice presented at signing feels official.
What to do instead: If an agency asks you, the tenant, to pay its fee on a standard long-term residential let, push back or walk. Budget instead for the legitimate costs: first month, fianza, and any agreed additional guarantee.
5. Skipping the noise audit
Ruzafa, El Carmen and Cabanyal are loud at night; that is much of their charm and the whole problem. A flat viewed at 11am on a Tuesday tells you nothing about the same street at 1am on a Saturday.
What to do instead: If you sleep light, walk the street at 11pm and again at 2am on a Friday before signing. Check the glazing, and whether the bedroom faces the street or an interior patio.
6. Assuming the internet will be fine
Movistar, Orange, Vodafone and DIGI run separate fibre networks, and some buildings are only wired for one. 'Fibre installed' on a listing means nothing if it is a dead line from an operator you cannot contract.
What to do instead: Ask which operator the building actually has fibre with, and verify it on that operator's coverage checker before signing, especially if you work remotely.
7. Missing the empadronamiento after moving in
New tenants treat town-hall registration as bureaucracy that can wait, then discover the SIP health card, school enrolment and reduced transport fares all hang off it, and many procedures want a certificate less than three months old.
What to do instead: Book the ayuntamiento appointment as soon as you have a signed contract and keys. Our empadronamiento guide walks through the documents; you can register even from a room rental.
8. Wiring a deposit to 'reserve' a flat you have never seen
The classic listing-site scam: a suspiciously good flat, a landlord conveniently abroad, and a request to wire the deposit to prove you are serious, after which both flat and landlord evaporate. It works because the real market is genuinely competitive, so urgency feels plausible.
What to do instead: Never send money before you have viewed the flat (or had it viewed for you) and hold a signed contract. Our guide to apartment platforms covers the scam patterns portal by portal.
9. Signing a seasonal lease when you need a long-term one
The LAU separates the standard residential lease (arrendamiento de vivienda), with its five-year protection (seven if the landlord is a company), from the seasonal lease (arrendamiento de temporada), which carries no such protections. Some landlords prefer temporada contracts precisely for the flexibility, and newcomers sign without noticing the label.
What to do instead: Check what the contract actually calls itself. A temporada lease is the right tool for a bridge stay, see our monthly rentals guide, but if this is your home, the contract should say vivienda.
None of these mistakes require bad luck, they just require moving fast in an unfamiliar system, which is exactly what a relocation is. Slow down at the signature, and let the speed happen at the search stage instead.
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About the author
Michael Bastin
Founder, ValenciaMove - Valencia since 2016
Michael moved to Valencia in 2016 and has helped dozens of families relocate since. He writes every guide on this site personally and verifies every fact against Spanish government sources before publishing.
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