How to find a rental without wasting time (or your sanity)

Flat hunting can be a two-week task or a three-month black hole. The difference is almost never luck: it is turning up prepared. This is the method we recommend.

1. Budget before portals

A widely used rule of thumb: rent should not exceed 30–35% of your net income. It is not law, but it is the threshold many landlords use to assess affordability — and, above all, the one that lets you live without strain. Remember to add utilities and, where applicable, building fees or parking.

2. Choose the area on criteria, not on hope

• Real door-to-door time to work or study, measured at rush hour.
• What you use every week: supermarket, gym, school, transport.
• Visit the area on a Tuesday at 8am and a Friday at 11pm. No listing tells you that.

3. Get your paperwork ready before the first viewing

Good flats go fast. Whoever turns up with ID, employment contract or recent payslips already scanned has the edge over whoever says "I will send it tomorrow". Keep it in a folder on your phone.

4. At the viewing, look at what the photos do not show

• Water pressure and temperature, and the state of windows and blinds.
• Mobile coverage inside the flat and street noise with the window open.
• Damp on ceilings and in corners, and the state of the fuse box.

5. Decide with a list, not under pressure

Before you start looking, write down your three must-haves and your three nice-to-haves. When a flat appears that meets the must-haves at a good price, do not let it go while waiting for the perfect one: it does not exist, and meanwhile the good one gets let.

On Totukeli you can search by city among the listed properties with a free account. The map-based search with advanced filters is one of the pieces we are still building during early access.