How to rent an apartment for your Hungarian residency?

Accommodation and residency

For your residency application, you can use a booking confirmation from a hotel, but a hotel cannot be used as a registered address. In turn, this will cause a delay of weeks in your employment, because you will not get a social security number (TAJ number), without which you will not be able to start working and generate an income. Without a registered address, you cannot open a local retail bank account either.

As a result, you should start looking into housing options well before you leave for Hungary, and submit documentation to the Immigration Office in line with the type of long-term accommodation you find.

• You can move in with a local friend for free – in this case you will need a courtesy agreement.
• You can rent an apartment – you will need to submit the rental agreement.
• You can buy a place of your own – you will need to submit a purchase agreement.

Find an apartment to rent

These days renting an apartment can be arranged online, as most of the relevant information about rentals is available on the internet. You can also email or call the landlord from abroad for additional details and to negotiate.

For the residence permit, you will need to be registered at the apartment, which will require the explicit permission of the owner as well as a written contract. Make sure you rent an apartment where the landlord allows you to register your address: ask about this explicitly. (Landlords sometimes avoid paying taxes by not registering tenants. As a resident-to-be, you cannot accept such a deal because you do need a registered address.)

Other aspects to consider:

• Location: how far the apartment is from your workplace, how you will get to work every day. Public transport in Budapest is excellent, but the farther you move from hubs, the more the coverage dwindles.
  
  
• Furniture and equipment: as you are arriving from abroad, you should probably look for a place that is furnished and equipped. Hungarian tenants often take their own furniture when they move around, so many apartments are rented out without that. Pictures of the flat may have furniture in them, but that might be only for promotion. Make sure to check the listing concerning this.
  
  
• Additional permissions: not every landlord allows smoking, pets, or even small children. If any of this is relevant to you and is not indicated in the listing, ask about it in time.
  
  
• Rental period: rental agreements are usually for a fixed term, but indefinite-term contracts are also possible. Most contracts are for one year. For your residency application, you can have a fixed-term agreement if it says that it may be extended upon expiry (which is normally the case anyway).
  
  
• Costs: the monthly rent may or may not include utilities; this can depend on various factors, and it is sometimes negotiable. A common scenario is when the rent includes the common costs for the building, while water, gas, electricity, and heating must be paid monthly – either by the landlord and you will get a separate bill for them, or by you, in which case you will be asked to submit proof of payment for each. TV, phone, and internet access are often left in the hands of the tenant.
  
  
• Deposit: Landlords often ask for a deposit before you can move in, which will be the equivalent of 2-3 months of rent. The deposit is to be paid back after you move out, and it is supposed to cover the cost of repair for any damage you might have caused. You cannot decide to live off the deposit and not pay rent during the last 2-3 months of your stay. When making the contract, make sure to set clear conditions for when and how the deposit can be used, topped up, adjusted, or retained.

In Hungary, rent is usually paid in advance, utilities later. Your deposit will be withheld for some time after you move out so the landlord can make sure all your bills that were generated while you were still living at the apartment but sent after you moved out can get paid.

If you pay in cash, ask for a receipt each time.

Rental agreement for registering your Hungarian address

To register your address with the Immigration Office, you will need to submit the rental agreement as proof of accommodation. If you are moving to Hungary with your family, all your family members living at the apartment should be listed in the contract as tenants, even if you are the only person listed as the contracting party and the payer.

The contract should be in Hungarian to be accepted by the Immigration Office, although it can also be bilingual (in Hungarian and in English or your language of choice – you will need to discuss translation costs with the landlord). If the contract is only in Hungarian, make sure you have a trusted associate or a lawyer of your own who can explain the terms to you. Sign the contract only if you understand it.

To avoid rental fraud, you can get the deed from the Land Registry to check if you are indeed in contact with the owner of the property. You can do this for free at the local Land Registry, or online (free of charge twice a year).

For the contract to be binding, it needs some form of attestation. Attestation can be provided by two witnesses, by a lawyer, or by a notary. If you choose a lawyer or a notary, costs are normally split between the landlord and the tenant.

Rent an apartment for immigration

To finalize your Hungarian residency, you will need a Hungarian registered address at a residential property, for which it might be best to rent an apartment. However, this doesn’t mean that you have to stay at the same place for your entire Hungarian stay. If you find a better apartment or a better solution, you can simply move out (in line with the notice period indicated in your rental agreement) and update your address with the Immigration Office.

Here at Helpers, we work on making life easier for people coming to live, study, work, or do business in Hungary. Our main focus is assistance with residency application and business setup. If you need help with either, feel free to reach out to us.