the puzzle for students to find a rental as the start of the new school year approaches

2023-08-23 06:40:05

Margaux Fodéré, edited by Loane Nader // photo credit: Magali Cohen / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
8:40 a.m., August 23, 2023

The start of the new school year is fast approaching and on different dates depending on the university. And for students, it’s the home stretch to find an apartment. If the task is, at first glance, already complicated, it is even more so in the capital. Few offers are put on the market there and when they are, the price is often too high compared to too small a surface.

To better understand the situation, Europe 1 put itself in the shoes of the students, with a hidden microphone. The words “I’m a student and I…” barely uttered, a real estate agent responds instantly, “we don’t have any apartments for rent”. And it’s the same thing with other agencies: “We only have a five-room apartment left”, or “I have nothing left, sorry”. And when you try your luck on an ad site, you find a rental offer for a T2 bis, in eastern Paris this time, at 1,190 euros per month. But arrived on the spot, it is the disillusion, because four other people are also there.

Tough competition

Théophane, a third-year undergraduate student, is looking for an apartment to share. “I had very few visits and it’s especially that when you’re a student, it’s very complicated.” Once you have entered the building to go to the landing, it is still a bad surprise since two other people are also waiting to see the owner. And then there is the apartment, with windows hidden by scaffolding on the outside. The owner therefore agrees to make a gesture. “I am ready to reduce the rent to 700 euros per month until the work is finished.”

The price drops for a few months, but this does not solve the problem of the number of applicants. Théophane leaves his file and informs the lessor of his work-study status, after the latter has asked him for his profession. The student also puts a lot of hope in this apartment. “I lived in a boarding school for seven years. So no, I’m fine, it suits me very well,” he says. But the competition is fierce, because many young active people are in the same situation, not to mention the other visits still planned.

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