Erasmus · shared flats · September and June
One room, four floors, no lift and a staircase built in 1950. It is the job I do most in September, and the one taxis and rental vans handle worst.
From €60
VAT not included. Split between flatmates it usually works out cheaper per person than a rental van once you count the deposit and the fuel.
Madrid changes flat twice a year and both times happen in the same fortnight. In those two weeks every van in the city is booked, staircases are full of other people's mattresses and there is no slack in the day. Book earlier than feels necessary — a week ahead in September is not early, it is normal.
Two jobs usually, not one. First the luggage from Barajas, which is its own problem if you arrived with three big cases and a rucksack — seeairport luggage transfer. Then a bed, a desk and a wardrobe into a room that came unfurnished, usually bought second hand on Wallapop from someone across the city.
The reverse, plus one thing nobody plans for: what happens to the furniture you bought. You cannot leave a mattress on the pavement in Madrid — it is banned under article 9 of the city cleaning bylaw and the fine goes to whoever left it. Either sell it, or I take it to a charity or the municipal tip. Seejunk and furniture removal.
Sometimes you should, and if you have a licence, a friend who actually turns up and a lift at both ends, renting is cheaper. It stops being cheaper the moment there is no lift, or the wardrobe does not fit through the door, or you count the deposit held on your card, the insurance excess and the Saturday it takes.
From €60 for a room with boxes and a few pieces, €100–160 if it includes a bed, a desk and a wardrobe. Stairs add €5 per floor, which matters in the old buildings where most student flats are.
Yes, and it is usually two jobs: the luggage from Barajas, then furniture into the room. Message me a few days before you land with your flight and your address and I will hold the slot.
Yes, and it is the cheapest way to do it. If three of you are moving the same weekend within Madrid, tell me and I will price it as one job instead of three.
Sell it, give it away, or I take it. What you cannot do is leave it in the street: that is fly-tipping under Madrid's cleaning bylaw and the fine follows the person who left it.
Someone does, at both ends, to open the door and say where things go. It does not have to be you — a flatmate with a key works fine.