Renting an

apartment

SKILLS

LEVEL NUMBER LANGUAGE

Intermediate B1_1054X_EN English
Goals

■ Learn how to negotiate

with a landlord
■ Learn how to make an
enquiry
■ Practise enquiring about
moving in and moving out
from one place to another

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 My dream apartment?

Close to the underground but quiet at

night, a huge terrace, a private pool.
And cheap. Very cheap.

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Preview and warm-up

In this lesson you are going to learn how to talk about renting an apartment and
how to negotiate with a landlord.

Welcome to your new home!

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 landlord/landlady estate agent

A landlord or landlady (we usually use landlord for men and women) is the
person who owns the accommodation you are renting.
An estate agent is the middleman who helps you to find
accommodation.

Our landlord gave us the keys.

Our estate agent gave me loads of great options to look at.

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 tenant sublet

A tenant is a person who is renting a flat from someone and living there.
A sublet is when a person rents a flat, or part of a flat, from someone else
who is renting.

I have very good tenants in my current property.

Subletting is illegal according to my contract.

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Size and type of accommodation

■ Here are some of the ways the size and type of accommodation is described in
adverts.
■ Discuss with your teacher what each of these places would look like.

What type?

a 2 bedroom flat

a studio apartment

a shared flat

with a roommate

a 1 bedroom flat with a balcony

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Location

■ You need to tell the estate agent where you want your accommodation to be.
■ Two examples are shown below.

I would like to rent a flat in the centre

of Soho.

I need a flat close to a train station.

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Explaining what you want

■ You will need to tell your estate agent what you want, or know what you are
looking for in an advert.
■ Have a look at the phrases below for ideas.

a through lounge
a separate kitchen
and kitchen

a separate lounge a study

a patio/terrace a balcony

a bathroom en-suite bathroom

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Budget

■ You need to know what your budget is and how to explain it to your estate
agent.

■ I‘d like to spend up to €1000

per month.

■ I want to spend no more than

€800 per month, including
fees.

■ I have around €500 to spend

per month.

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Fill in the gaps

Fill in the gaps with the words below.

estate agent tenant sublet landlord

1. I am looking for a _______________ who is quiet and

will take care of the property.
2. When something breaks in my apartment I call
my _______________.
3. It is often not legal to _______________ your
apartment.
4. A person who advertises and acts as a go-
between for tenants and landlords is an
_______________.

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Describing

How would you describe these properties?

How much do you think they would cost to rent in your city?

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 Where you live

Describe the place you live now.

Tell your classmates and
teacher about the inside, the
location, and if you found
something on budget.

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Imagine

Imagine you are moving to your dream location.

What would your ideal flat look like?

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Writing

Write a short advert for your dream home.

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Money

■ When you are looking at a flat, it is important to ask about any extra money you
will have to pay in addition to the rent.

■ How much are the bills on average?

■ Is the heating/water/electricity
included?

■ Are there any extra fees to pay?

■ If something breaks, who pays to fix

it?

■ How much is the deposit/bond?

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Services

■ You will also want to know about the services in and around the property.

In the property Around the property

Is there a stable internet How far is it to the nearest underground

connection? station/bus stop?

Does it have central heating? How far is it to the nearest shop?

Are there any restaurants or takeaways in

Does it use ecological heating?
the area?
How often are the appliances
Is there a school/nursery nearby?
changed/maintained?

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Extra questions

■ There are lots of other questions which are important to people with different
needs. Look at two of them below.

Is it noisy at night?

Can I bring a pet?

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Negotiating with the landlord

■ You might want to negotiate certain points with the landlord, or to tell them
what you expect in your apartment.

You should pay the insurance costs.

You should be responsible for maintenance

of appliances.

We will need 3 sets of keys.

We should install recycling bins.

Can I reserve a parking space?

Can I find my own internet provider?

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 Read through the dialogue

Does it have central heating?

Yes. And it is ecological. The bills are about €100 per month
in the winter.

Ok. And who pays for the maintenance of appliances?

I do. You need to call me if something goes wrong. You are

responsible for insurance costs on the flat though.

That seems fair.

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Dialogue

Now practise your own dialogue between a renter and a

landlord. Ask as many questions as you can and remember to
negotiate.

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Negotiating

???? ??? ??? ?

????? ???
?
Did you negotiate

?
with your landlord
when you moved in?

???? ??? ??? ?

????? ???
? What kind of things

?
did you or should
you negotiate
about?

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Deposits

Did you pay a deposit Do you think people

when you moved into usually get their
your flat/house? deposits back?

Why might people not

What can the deposit
get their deposit
be used for?
back?

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What’s important to you?

What would be most important to you when thinking about

renting a flat?

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Asking for help

■ Most people don’t move house all by themselves.

■ Below are some ways we might ask our friends to help us if we want to save
costs on moving.

Hi friends, I’m moving next weekend. Free

pizza for anyone who wants to help!
Any strong guys or girls out there who like
moving furniture?
Hi all, any volunteers to help me pack up
my old apartment?
Free biscuits and cups of tea all weekend –
if you help me move!

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Hiring professionals

■ If you need to hire professionals to help you move you can call a company, or
even donate your old things to charity. The charity will usually come and pick
them up.

■ I would like to rent a moving

van/truck for tomorrow.

■ I would like to book your services to

move my furniture to my new
house.

■ I would like to donate some of my

things to you as I am moving to my
new apartment.

■ Can you come by and pick them up

– there is some large furniture.

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What is happening in these pictures?

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Moving

Did you use a removal company

when you last moved or did your
friends help?

Did you hire a self-drive van or did

the removal firm do everything?

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Donating to charity

Did you donate anything to charity when you moved?

Is that common in your country?
Did you buy anything from a charity shop when you moved?

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Game

■ Think about your classmates or your teacher.

■ Which of these places to live would suit them best and why?
■ Did you guess right?

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Reflect on the goals

Go back to the second slide of the lesson and check

if you have achieved all the goals of the lesson.

yes no

_______________________________ _______________________________
_______________________________ _______________________________

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Reflect on this lesson

Think about everything you have seen in this lesson.

What were the most difficult activities or words? The easiest?

+ _______________________________
_______________________________

+ _______________________________
_______________________________

– _______________________________
_______________________________

– _______________________________
_______________________________
If you have time, go over
the most difficult slides again

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33 www.lingoda.com
Activity p. 11
1. tenant, 2. landlord, 3. sublet, 4. estate agent
Answer key
Homework

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Unscramble

Decide which of these things would be important to you if you were

going to rent an apartment in your city.

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Writing an email

You want to rent an apartment in your city.

Write a short email to an estate agent about what you are
looking for.

– □ ×

To:

Subject:

Dear Mr. Jones,

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