Do I need a guarantor to rent in Santiago

[BigH55]

Hello everyone. I am an American retiree living in Panama. I am planning an exploratory trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic in the next few months. If all goes well, I will probably obtain the needed retirement document and move to Santiago.

It is always recommended that a new person should rent for at least six months. I plan to rent long-term and I have no plans to buy at any time. However, I have read that a renter must have a “Guarantor”. Is this a real requirement? If so, how do the many expats that live and rent in the DR work around such a requirement?

Thanks guys

[gdogg]

Hello everyone. I am an American retiree living in Panama. I am planning an exploratory trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic in the next few months. If all goes well, I will probably obtain the needed retirement document and move to Santiago.

It is always recommended that a new person should rent for at least six months. I plan to rent long-term and I have no plans to buy at any time. However, I have read that a renter must have a “Guarantor”. Is this a real requirement? If so, how do the many expats that live and rent in the DR work around such a requirement?

Thanks guys

I had a friend who rented for a year in Santiago and didn't need one. You may want to go over to DR1 and ask Hillbilly.

[Apos]

All you should need is to pay 3-4 months rent including deposit. Santiago is no different than Sosua or Santo Domingo as far as renting is concerned. I believe the law is for 3 months max but that may have changed.

If you have the $$$ that's all most people care about.

[jcrew2020]

Most apartments do not require a guarantor but you will be required to pay 1 st month, 1 month deposit and 1 commission (equal to 1 month rent)

[tdelpiero]

hey guy ... how is it in panama, how long did you live there? i've visited both places ... panama & dr that is.
i imagine if you find a nice spot in santiago it should be fun. like one of the other guys said "do your research". probably the best thing like you mentioned is your exploratory trip to gather all your info.

[BrooklynBeas]

There was a guy I met on my last trip that was thinking about moving to DR when he retires.. He took a 40 day vacation there to see if it's for him.. I definitely think thats a good idea before renting... I'm guessing you speak Spanish if you lived in Panama and wanna move to Santiago.. If not, it may be hard... But then again ohmmm has a hotel in DR and can't speak Spanish to save his life lol.. Good luck!

[TonyT]

But then again ohmmm has a hotel in DR and can't speak Spanish to save his life lol.. Good luck!

Oh shit, I thought he was kidding about that! Spanish is sort of a required skill since while the people look Mexican you can't beat English into them...take that with a grain of salt and two grains of sarcasm.

[MrHappy]

Hello everyone. I am an American retiree living in Panama. I am planning an exploratory trip to Santiago, Dominican Republic in the next few months. If all goes well, I will probably obtain the needed retirement document and move to Santiago.

It is always recommended that a new person should rent for at least six months. I plan to rent long-term and I have no plans to buy at any time. However, I have read that a renter must have a “Guarantor”. Is this a real requirement? If so, how do the many expats that live and rent in the DR work around such a requirement?

Thanks guys

Generally speaking, most landlords will require a Guarantor (or fiador), but it's at their discretion. I just rented a new place, and I had an employee of mine sign as my fiador.(that should make you laugh)

Most ask for 3 months rent up front; two are the deposit, the third is a non refundable Lawyers fee.

The rent is paid at the end of the month, not at the beginning. (so in effect, you've already consumed one month of your paid out deposit at the end of the month)

As an example: You rent on Jan. 1. You pay two months rent(refundable), one months lawyer fee, and you move in. On Jan 31, you pay the rent for January.

[weyland]

I didn't pay any deposit up front. I paid both parties' legal fees. No guarantor. The first month was rent-free to allow me a month to refurbish the place. So I occupied the place on 17th October and paid my first month's rent on 17th December.

However I paid a lot of money up front to refurbish the place to gringo standards. About half of that is being refunded as a rent rebate but the other half I will have to write off, if and when I move out (which I have no plans to do, but you never know). I can accept that because the rent is lowish/reasonable anyway, and with steady inflation is looking lower each year.

Now the above is obviously a non-typical situation but I am only posting to show there is no hard and fast system and it depends on the parties involved. What made my situation easier is that both the landlady and myself already knew and trusted the lawyer so he was, in effect, the guarantor. My landlady is "old money" and just wanted someone reliable living in her apartment after the previous tenant (a member of her family) trashed the place, not to gouge every last peso she could get like some property shark.