The Unique Real Estate Blog

Not all Mexican Landlords, without exception, will do what I have outlined in this story. Some are actually very honest. There are blemishes, however, in the landscape of trying to find housing in Mexico and you need to know them before trying to rent in Mexico.

The Renting in Mexico Facts of Life

If you think you might want to consider living in México for any length of time, the one inextricable fact of life is you will have to find a place to live. This is not as hard as you might think. I wrote about this in my books, Mexican Living: Blogging it from a Third World Country and The Plain Truth about Living in México. Depending on where you live, it will probably be a fairly simple process.

If you expatriate to an American Colony like Puerto Vallarta or San Miguel de Allende, you will not find a language barrier when looking for housing. In my neck of the woods (Guanajuato), you might find that a bit more difficult. You need to speak Spanish (and it is S-P-A-N-I-S-H, not “Mexican” that is spoken here).

Because of the large gringo populations in the resort towns, Guadalajara, and San Miguel de Allende, those locals involved in the service industry have had to develop a high degree of English fluency. In almost any Real Estate or rental agency, most, if not all, of the employees will be bilingual. If you are looking at one of the areas that have large gringo populations, you will have no problem with the language barrier because there isn’t one.

If you are looking in a Traditional Mexican area to find housing, you will find there is a need to speak Spanish. My wife and I live in the Central Mexican town of Guanajuato (the capital of the State of Guanajuato). Here, I cannot imagine a person being able even to stumble on a Real Estate or rental agency where English is widely spoken. In fact, there are no official rental agencies here. This makes finding rental housing even more of a challenge.

Just a word on this issue. We hear all too often from American tourists, “I know they all speak English here and they are pretending they don’t.” Let me assure you that not all Mexicans speak English, nor are they pretending they don’t. If you want to move to Central México, you will either have to speak Spanish or you will end up, as I keep repeating, in the boat of having to trust someone you really do not know to translate and interpret for you.

Unlike the large enclaves where gringos have been living for decades, no rental agencies have sprung up to meet the needs of gringos in Central México. San Miguel de Allende is an exception. This makes it a little difficult simply to waltz into town and pick up a rental that same day if you are Spanish-challenged.

Fact of Life #1

So, having had four years’ experience in living in México and dealing with landlords, I thought I would share with you what it is like to have a Mexican landlord in México. In a dispute with a Mexican landlord, you will find dogs here have more rights than you, as an American, have.

What you will find rather shocking, if not outright appalling, is that once you are locked into a rental contract, your landlord will throw all sorts of fun surprises in your little gringo face when you least expect them.

You will be cruising along with everything going fine, when one day you discover the pipe under the kitchen sink has sprung a leak. Now, this is not something to get into a major tizzy over. These things happen. Pipes do not stay “pipe-worthy” forever. The Law of Entropy tells us this. Things wear out. Call the Landlord.

Just about everyone with whom I have spoken here in Guanajuato who hails from another part of the world agrees that in his country, when something breaks, the landlord comes and fixes it. But remember: México is not the rest of the world.

The Mexican Landlord comes over—very promptly. She has a guy named “Bruja” with her. Now, for those of you who are Spanish challenged, the word “Bruja” means, “witch”. It turned out, however, the wrong person was named Bruja.

Bruja did a wonderful job and fixed the pipe nicely. The catch was, the Landlady held her hand out to me for the money to pay Bruja.

In México, if you are a renter and something, though absolutely no fault of your own, breaks down, then the Landlord holds you absolutely responsible.

Think of this for just a moment. Mexican landlords hold you responsible for something that breaks or wears out for no reason other than it was old, and things that are old break and have to be replaced. Items like pipes, toilet seats, plumbing, and people’s knees.

I know what you are thinking and you are right. A renter in México is seen as a source of income for remodelling someone else’s property.

At the time the kitchen pipe had to be replaced, hot water stopped coming out of the showerhead. That was more than a year ago. My wife and I have had to bathe in booby-shrinking cold water since then. I haven’t told the landlord for fear that she and Bruja will show up with their money-grubbing hands out, and a brand-new shower will be bought and paid for ala Gringo-man Bower.

What all this means, in very practical terms, is if a satellite falls out of orbit and crashes into the roof of your house, the Mexican Landlord will claim most vociferously it was your fault. You are responsible to pay for a new roof. If you want to continue to live there and want a roof over your head, you will have to buy it. No matter what possible disastrous scenario you can possibly conceive, man-made or natural, that damages the house you live in, you will have to pay for it.

Now you could move. But let me assure you of this:

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WILL YOU EVER—IN YOUR LIFETIME—GET YOUR DEPOSIT BACK.

Another thing to watch is that some people will try passing themselves off as the property owners of the place they are trying to rent to you. In reality, they will not be the owners. They will try and talk you into renting the place with an advanced payment of 6-12 months whereupon they will flee with your money and the real owner of the propery will eventually show up when they learn no more rent is coming into their coifers. This happens. I don’t know how often but I know someone it has happened to.

1) Need Help With Spanish Translations of Real Estate or Other Documents

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