Student accommodation in Athens: DO's and DONT's

Hello dear Erasmus students,

It’s end of May but we are sure that you are already looking for your potential student accommodation in Athens. After choosing the country and the host university for your exchange experience the accommodation issue is up next on your agenda. Searching from a distance via websites that you cannot easily trust makes the whole procedure even more difficult and anxious for you and your family. For this reason we have some DO’s & DONT’s that is good to have in mind while you are looking for your accommodation in the lovely city of Athens.

So, here we go…

1.  Look for accommodation and secure your booking before your arrival in Athens. The sooner you start looking and book the more choices you'll have to find an accommodation that suits your needs. Apart from Erasmus students, greek students are also looking for flats and if you book late, like the middle of September, then all the good flats will probably not be available anymore. In case you book your flat with an individual seller, the probability of rent price increase is higher as is obvious that you don’t have much time to spare being homeless in the city.

2.  Get recommendations for your potential householder before booking or paying part of the rent. Some websited offer accommodation services without the relevant legal background or approval of greek state have caused troubles to several exchange and local students in the past. A well-built website with nice photos does not necessarily mean a secure choice. Try to get a second advice and recommendations from previous Erasmus students of your home university that have been in Athens for Erasmus in the past.

3.   Look for a provider that is working with your host university. Most of the universities and their international offices can provide you with guidelines on looking for and booking student accommodation in Athens. Don’t hesitate to contact your Erasmus Coordinator from your host university to give you more information.

4.   Be careful and double check on what is included in the price. It is often that you can find a really nice flat on the pictures on a really good price… but what is not mentioned is that the monthly rent that you see is not including heating or air-conditioning expenses, water and electricity bills or any other extra charges.

5.   Check if your householder is trustworthy, easy to reach and willing to answer your questions. Check if you can easily reach your potential householder via email or phone and see if he is eager to send you a copy of your contract beforehand.

Don’t panic and think sensibly as if you were renting a flat in your own city. Rentals in Athens for Erasmus students are a weird story that is why we decided to create StayInAthens! We try to offer you short-term accommodation, furnished and with all bills included so that you don't have to worry about anything during your stay in Athens! So in the prices you will find on our website all bills and costs are included!

All of us in StayInAthens we were students of Athens University of Economics and Business (AUEB) and Erasmus students in the past all around Europe. We know what it feels like to be looking for accommodation and facing difficulties and that’s why we are doing our best to offer accommodation services that matches the needs of Erasmus students.

Moreover as StayInAthens develops is looking for buildings that you can share only with Erasmus students. So far we have added in our list 4 Erasmus Buildings shared only by erasmus students. The buildings are : Sporgilou 3, Asimaki Fotila 28, William King and Kypselis 16.  All these four buildings are close to AUEB and other universities near by.

Within the summer StayInAthens prepares a new Residence Project, the 5th Erasmus Residence, hopefully with an Erasmus Bar - Cafeteria. Very promising project that we try to develop early enough for the Erasmus students of the year 2012-2013.

We are advising you to search, compare and choose StayInAthens for your student accommodation!

Looking forward to meet you in flesh and don’t hesitate to contact us anytime for any question or concern!

Your StayInAthens Team!