There is nothing more daunting in this world than moving to a new place, let alone a completely new country. It is especially nerve-wracking when you do not particularly understand the culture or the language yet. New people, new food, a different culture, a completely new society! While all of it is a fairly exciting prospect, it is also subject to how we adapt to these situations.
The most daunting of these changes however, can be finding a place to live in. Accommodation is a basic necessity that entails a lot of stress irrespective of where we move to. Our aim at SearchMyCareer is to simplify this transition that you make when you move out of your home country to go to university in a completely new country. Here are some tips that can make the process of house-hunting a lot easier when you move to Italy.
- Contact your University’s international office. They will be able to inform you of either on-campus housing facilities or help you with off-campus accomodations. Most Universities do not have on-campus housing however, you might get lucky!
- Do it the old-fashioned way by talking to students on campus, especially seniors. Ask them if they are looking for roommates or leaving their current accommodations. They can put you in touch with their landlords.
- Join the Affitti Studenti or any other Facebook Groups. They are categorized by city names and have a lot of accommodation listings at all times.
- Use websites like subito, easystanza, bakeca, and kijiji to look for rental accommodations. They are widely used and mostly reliable.
- Always prioritize looking for accomodation that is closer to your university or center. It saves you the hassle of conveyance. You can always move farther away after the first year once you’ve acquainted yourself with the transportation system, to save some rent.
- Housing contracts are either six months long or one-year long that require a deposit of 2 months worth of rent. Remember to always bring along an Italian-speaking acquaintance so that they can read through the contract and make sure that you do not sign a contract with unfair terms.
- Most students are unaware of this but there exists a special type of contract called the “Cedolare Secca” which is exclusively for students. This contract can be drawn up for free without the additional contract registration charges of 60 Euros which is generally split up between the tenant and the landlord. The “Cedolare Secca” type of contract does not require any of the parties to pay money for registration.
Now that you are armed with some basic tips on how to find and finalize accommodation when you move to Italy, it should be smooth sailing from here on out. Leave us any other questions related to housing and we will try to answer them. Good luck!
– By Rubaiya Karim