By Ken, Teacher in Warsaw
Congratulations! You’ve managed to seal the deal in finding a job and you can’t wait to get started in the pierogi paradise that is Poland. But wait! You need to find somewhere to stay as sleeping outside Zlote Tarasy (a major shopping centre in the centre of Warsaw) every night probably won’t be a good idea in the long run. In this blog I will be sharing with you some things I found useful when finding affordable accommodation in Poland which, surprise surprise, doesn’t include estate agents. So pack your bags and come with me!
OLX and Facebook
Yeah, I don’t like Facebook either, BUT it is good for potentially finding more affordable housing for foreigners. There are many expat groups where Polish landlords will advertise housing and also other groups that specialise in finding foreigners accommodation also. Just be careful of scams as I mentioned in another blog which of course you should read!
OLX is like the Amazon of Poland where you can (almost) buy anything including finding accommodation. The only downside is that it’s in Polish and as far as I can see there isn’t an English version but there are English apartment listings. Google translate, hello! But here are some simple words and phrases to get you started:
- Mieszkanie – Apartment, flat
- Kawalerka – Studio apartment
- Bez prowizji – Without commission
- Czynsz – Rent
- Właściciel – Landlord
Gone in 60 seconds
Listings on OLX and Facebook and many other websites go REALLY quick, so it’s best to have notifications set up. You can set up email notifications on many websites so that whenever a listing that matches your specifications is posted you will immediately get a notification about it. If you see any postings that are more than 2-3 weeks old, they’re likely gone already especially if they’re advertising a really nice and affordable apartment. So think like the roadrunner and not the coyote! Always be ahead! The early bird catches the nest!
Try, try, try again. And think outside the box
Don’t take it personally if landlords don’t message you back. Unfortunately, some Polish landlords would rather just rent to Polish people and the likelihood is that a lot of adverts get 10s of not 100s of enquiries. So like I said, be quick!
It’s easy to get dispirited especially when you feel that you’ve exhausted all of your options and you feel like you’re getting nowhere, which is kind of how I felt when searching. Mind you, I am quite a picky person! I didn’t actually get my apartment through a direct listing which brings me to my next point. Be savvy.
A good rule of thumb is to message any listing that is in English, especially on OLX where most things are in Polish. A lot of Polish landlords won’t be comfortable speaking English so will therefore reject/ignore your enquiry. But don’t just message landlords about the current apartment listing, no no no! Ask them if they have any other apartments available. Dig a little deeper. I remember when I messaged my current landlord on OLX about his listing and he said that he had already agreed to rent the apartment to someone else. I then asked if he had any other apartments that would be available in the future, and to my surprise he did and he hadn’t yet listed them on OLX. And the rest is history! So think outside the box! If I hadn’t asked him about any future apartments I’d probably still be looking.
Expat groups
As I mentioned earlier, Facebook is a really good place to ask for accommodation.
If you post in any expat groups on Facebook, chances are that you will get some people that have accommodation suited to your needs. Just be wary of any dodgy deals, but if you read my other blog about scams you’d know what to avoid! Okay, enough plugging my own blogs, but on a serious note there are a lot of scams out there, so be careful! Never give out any personal info and definitely don’t send any money without seeing the apartment and a legitimate contract.
Final thoughts
Hopefully these tips will make your apartment searching a lot easier. I’m not going to sugarcoat it – It can be a very arduous and trying experience! It can also depend on the time of year, so for example in August/September it tends to be more difficult to find an apartment as this is when University students are also looking for accommodation.
As long as you are enquiring about listings that are less than a week old and you are proactively searching for apartments and messaging a ton of landlords then you should get an apartment relatively soon. The good news is that things have calmed down since the start of the war in Ukraine and inflation has decreased back to normal levels so rent shouldn’t be going up again in the near future, but who knows…….
However if you’re looking for a teaching role in the near future, why not click here?
