Renting a Flat in English: The B1 Words a Landlord Will Use
Finding somewhere to live is the first real test of a language you have only studied. The listing is written in abbreviations, the viewing lasts fifteen minutes and there are four other people waiting outside, and the contract is the one document nobody offers to translate. None of it is difficult English. It is just English that no course covers, because a course is written for a student and this is written for a tenant.
This list sits at B1 for a reason. At A2 you can say that you are looking for a flat and understand a price. At B1 you are expected to ask what is included, to say what you are willing to accept, and to understand a condition attached to an offer. Almost none of the words below are difficult. They are simply specific, and specific words are the ones that never come up in a classroom.
The general layer underneath this one is in the free B1 vocabulary list. What follows is only the part that appears when you are looking for somewhere to live.
Reading the listing
Listings are compressed, and the compression is where the meaning hides. Two flats at the same price can differ by two hundred a month once you read the small words correctly.
- furnished / unfurnished / part furnished
- bills included / excluding bills
- deposit: usually one or two months of rent, held and returned
- available from the first of the month
- long let (a year or more) and short let (a few months)
- ground floor, first floor, top floor, basement
- shared / private bathroom
- no pets, no smokers, professionals only
- council tax band, service charge, ground rent
Words for the state of a place
This is the group that most learners are missing, and it is the group that decides whether you sign. You need adjectives that describe condition rather than size, because size is a number and condition is an opinion you have to express quickly while somebody watches you.
| Word | What it actually means |
|---|---|
| spacious | bigger than the photographs suggest, used by agents about everything |
| cosy | small, said kindly |
| bright | gets real daylight, worth asking about directly |
| damp | there is water in the wall, and it will not go away |
| draughty | cold air comes in around the windows |
| dated | clean but old, usually the kitchen |
| newly refurbished | recently repaired or replaced |
| well maintained | somebody fixes things when they break |
Questions to ask at the viewing
Fifteen minutes is enough for six questions, and asking them in fluent blocks makes you sound like a serious tenant rather than a nervous one. Learn these as whole sentences, not as words to assemble on the spot.
- How much is the deposit, and when is it returned?
- Are the bills included, or do I pay them separately?
- How is the flat heated, and roughly what does that cost in winter?
- Is there any damp anywhere? May I look behind that furniture?
- How long is the contract, and what is the notice period?
- Who do I contact if something breaks?
- Would you accept a slightly lower rent for a longer contract?
- When do you need a decision by?
The contract vocabulary
The contract is where a small misunderstanding becomes expensive. These words are worth learning even at A2, because they are the ones that carry consequences.
| Term | What it commits you to |
|---|---|
| tenancy agreement | the contract itself |
| landlord / tenant | the owner and you |
| notice period | how long before leaving you must tell them |
| break clause | the point at which you may leave early |
| inventory | the list of what is in the flat and its condition |
| wear and tear | normal damage you are not charged for |
| guarantor | somebody who pays if you cannot |
| standing order | the automatic monthly payment of rent |
When something breaks
Most tenancy English happens after you move in, in short messages about things that stopped working. The verbs matter more than the nouns, because a landlord who receives a clear verb acts faster than one who receives an apology.
If you want the wider set of everyday verbs that carry this kind of message, common mistakes at A2 and B1 covers the ones that most often make a request sound weaker than it was meant to be.
- The heating has stopped working.
- There is a leak under the kitchen sink.
- The boiler is making a noise it did not make before.
- The window does not close properly.
- Could somebody come and look at it this week?
- It has been like this since Friday.
- This is getting worse rather than better.
- Please let me know when to expect somebody.
Three sentences worth memorising
Under pressure people fall back on whatever is fully automatic. These three are worth being automatic, because each of them buys you something concrete: time, information, or a lower price.
The first is for the moment you do not understand a number. The second is for the moment you are being rushed. The third is the one almost nobody says, and it works surprisingly often.
- Sorry, could you say that again more slowly? I want to be sure about the amount.
- I am interested, but I would like to read the contract before I decide.
- Would you consider a lower rent if I signed for two years?
Where MindDory fits
The words above are only useful if they are there in the room, which means they have to be met more than once. That is what MindDory does with them: you save the ones you did not know, and they come back on a schedule rather than only when you next happen to need them.
If you are learning English because you live in it rather than because you are studying it, the page for people who moved to a new country explains how the rest of the app is built around that.