[The Return] Finding temporary accommodation in Paris after the Round the World Tour

Today, we are starting a new category [The Return] because this subject is treated rather succinctly on the Round the World blogs, surely by its morose nature and the depression that falls on ex-travellers 😀 But we, we have a lot to say on this subject

Why temporary accommodation?

It is March 27 and the return is scheduled for April 29, 2017. As we returned our apartment before our departure, we will return to France homeless (without a fixed address)

Our project is to stay one month in Paris, the time to settle some administrative details, see friends, our favorite doctors for a quick check-up and eat (lots and lots of sausages, tartars, cheeses etc.). Our families aren’t in Paris, otherwise we would have liked to stay with them for a month
Budget : 1300€ all included. Furnished apartment. Surface 20m2 minimum. Paris intra-muros, close to a subway. The budget is huge, the surface is tiny but it’s the price for “short term rental” in Paris

However, finding accommodation in Paris, whether for temporary or long-term rental, isn’t easy. We went to see several sites/services/agencies

• LODGIS Agency
• Paris Attitude
• Citycosy
• Parisian Home
• My Paris Agency
• Airbnb
• Accommodation (temporary rental section)
• Numerous sublet groups on Facebook
• The Good Corner
• Friends of friends

I will comment on each of the services listed above

• Agency LODGIS: very complete and affordable listing (1100€-1300€/month all inclusive for 25-33m2 depending on the neighborhood). Well arranged apartments. Quick answer by mail. However, the apartments listed on this site aren’t all available. Lodgis does not have an exclusive contract with the owners who tend to rent the apartments on a long term basis. We have short-listed 4 apartments, all of which are unavailable.
• Paris Attitude: very complete and affordable listing (1100€-1300€/month all inclusive for 24-30m2 depending on the neighborhood). Well-appointed apartments. Quick answer by email. However, not all apartments listed on this site are available. We have short-listed 4 apartments. Only one is available and then finally, the owner prefers to rent it to someone else (who stays longer), after asking JB for a copy of his work contract! (great, when you are supposed to pay the whole rent before the keys are handed over + a deposit, why a work contract? It doesn’t make sense. For info, the list of documents to provide depends on the landlord, and this one is particularly expensive)
• Citycosy: the available apartments are too expensive compared to our budget
• My Paris Agency : the available apartments are too expensive compared to our budget
• Parisian Home: more expensive than other agencies but beautiful neighborhoods, well appointed apartments, (1300€-1800€/month all inclusive for 20-24m2). Quick answer by email. We got a discount for our monthly rental (we made a request by mail indicating our budget, we were offered an apartment that appeared more expensive on the site). However, not all the apartments listed on this site are available. We short-listed 3 apartments. Only one is available. The 50% deposit is to be paid, by credit card or bank transfer, as soon as the apartment is booked. The deposit and the rest of the amount to be paid must be paid 15 days before the reception of the keys. No documents related to wages/contract are to be provided. Only an identity document is required.
• Airbnb :
• Apartments indicated as available for a full month are usually not. These are individuals who live in their apartment and are only willing to move for a few days, during which they will stay with their parents.
• However, by choosing the option “show ads with instant bookings” and “entire accommodation”, you have a better chance of finding apartments for temporary rental.
• You can also find apartments from the agencies listed below (usually the title contains a type code XO2288), so we come back to the same problem: apartments that are listed as free, but which aren’t because they are already rented by the owners without informing the agency.
• So, if you go through Airbnb, first send a private message to ask if the apartment is available, before you book and pay immediately.
• Some individuals sublet their apartment also on Airbnb with a minimum stay of 30 days. However, the apartments we found are small (student studios) and not very well arranged for the advertised price.

• Accommodation (temporary rental section): the available apartments are too expensive compared to our budget
• Many subletting groups on Facebook: individuals post their ads on these groups. They aren’t reliable at all. We have 0 return from them, only to say that the apartment has been sublet.
• Le Bon Coin : ads in the category “Rentals – Gîtes” have weekly rates, too expensive. The advertisements “rentals” bof
• Friends of friends: There was indeed a friend of friends who wants to sublet us her studio for 800€ (exactly the same price she pays to the owner) but the studio is much too small for us.

Conclusion

The “friends of friends” option is the best because it is easier to trust each other and the budget will be lower than an agency. The person who sublets the apartment to us knows that we aren’t going to destroy his apartment. We know that they will reserve the apartment for us / return the deposit / will not invent additional costs

The option PAP, Le Bon Coin, Facebook seems to me quite risky, especially from a distance, because we don’t know if the apartment we sublet really corresponds to the photos. The non-serious nature of the people we contacted does not reassure us much. The only time I sublet an apartment on the Internet was in 2008. We called each other on the phone, I visited the apartment a few weeks before and hand-delivered a deposit. I relied on my intuition during this physical meeting to judge the seriousness of the person, which I find very difficult when you do it from abroad – or when you ask a family member to do it for you

The agency option remains the most expensive but safer. We finally chose Parisian Home. Insurance is included. The apartments are designed for temporary rental. They are minimally equipped, but enough to live comfortably for a month or more. The apartments are arranged to offer as much space as possible, but in general, this implies that you must agree to sleep on a convertible sofa