Finding somewhere to live in Rio de Janeiro

The guarantee, and the one-guarantee rule

A Rio landlord will not hand over keys on a deposit alone. The law lets them require one guarantee per contract, and the three common forms are a fiador, a caução and a seguro-fiança. A fiador is a Brazilian guarantor who normally owns property and has to pass the agency's own income test on the monthly total of rent, condomínio and IPTU, which closes the option to most arrivals. A caução in cash is capped at three months' rent by Article 38, sits in a caderneta de poupança for the term, and everything it earns is yours when it is released. Seguro-fiança is the insurance product most foreign arrivals end up using, it is priced by the insurer against your profile, and it is not refundable however perfectly you pay.

• Art. 37 of the Lei do Inquilinato (Lei 8.245/91): one guarantee per contract. A deposit plus a fiador, or a deposit plus seguro-fiança, is not lawful.
• Caução in cash: capped at three months' rent by Art. 38, §2, held in a savings account, and the interest reverts to you on release.
• Seguro-fiança: non-refundable, and priced by the insurer. Get the premium in writing and ask whether it is a one-off for the term or renews each year, because that changes the total several times over.
• Fiador: a property owner in Brazil who must clear the agency's income test on rent plus condomínio plus IPTU. Ask the imobiliária for the exact multiple it applies.

Renting without a Brazilian guarantor

QuintoAndar rents on its own model — no fiador, no caução — and credit-analyses the tenant instead. Its test is declared income of at least two and a half times the total rental package of rent plus IPTU plus condomínio, and up to four people can combine income to reach it, whether or not they will live in the flat. Visits are booked online and the contract is signed digitally, which is why it is the route most newcomers without Brazilian family take. Landlords elsewhere may offer other formats, and some of them tie up more money than a deposit would.

• Título de capitalização: a capitalisation bond bought and frozen for the term.
• An investment fund held in the landlord's name.
• Credit-card guarantee: a sum frozen against your available limit for the whole lease. Ask what multiple of the rent the provider blocks before you apply.
• What an agency charges the tenant on signing — first month, pro-rata, brokerage, vistoria — is not published anywhere reliable. Get the full up-front total in writing before you commit.

Why the contract runs 30 months

The standard residential lease runs 30 months, and the number is not arbitrary. A written contract of 30 months or more ends automatically at term under Articles 46 and 47 of the Lei do Inquilinato, while a shorter one renews automatically instead, so landlords and agencies default to 30. Rent is adjusted once a year by an index named in the contract, either IGP-M or IPCA; IPCA is increasingly the one used, because IGP-M swings violently. Check which index your contract names before you sign, because it is negotiable. You may hand the flat back before the end of the term under Article 4, paying the penalty the contract sets, reduced in proportion to how much of the term you have completed — and the penalty falls away entirely if an employer transfers you out of the area and you give 30 days' written notice.

The three numbers, and who pays what

A listing quotes rent. The monthly cost is rent plus condomínio, the building charge, plus IPTU, the property tax. Article 22, VIII of the statute makes the property taxes the landlord's unless the contract says otherwise, and virtually every Brazilian residential contract says otherwise, so treat IPTU as yours but understand it is a clause rather than an automatic legal duty. Extraordinary condominium expenses, meaning structural works and major upgrades, are not the tenant's however the contract is worded. No reliable published average exists for condomínio in Rio, so ask for the last statement instead of a figure over the phone.

• Ask for rent, condomínio and IPTU as three separate monthly numbers on every flat you compare.
• Ask for the most recent condomínio statement, and whether any obra is currently being levied on top of it.
• Ordinary running costs of the building fall to the tenant. Structural works do not.

Where the listings are

QuintoAndar is the portal that removes the guarantee problem, because it rents direct on its own terms. ZAP Imóveis, VivaReal and OLX carry the classified inventory, where the guarantee is whatever the individual landlord or imobiliária demands. On those, decide what you can actually produce before you call, because it is the first thing you will be asked.

In order

1. 1Get the CPF first. It is free and you can apply from abroad.
2. 2Decide which guarantee you can actually produce, before you start viewing.
3. 3With no Brazilian fiador, look at QuintoAndar first — it rents with no fiador and no caução and credit-analyses you instead.
4. 4On every listing, ask for rent, condomínio and IPTU as three figures, and ask for the last condomínio statement.
5. 5Check the contract names one guarantee only. A deposit alongside a fiador or a seguro-fiança is not lawful under Art. 37.
6. 6Check which index adjusts the rent, IGP-M or IPCA, and negotiate it before signing.
7. 7Read the early-exit clause and how the multa reduces across the 30 months.
8. 8Do the vistoria on handover day, photograph every room, and make sure the written report matches the photographs.
9. 9Keep the signed contract to hand. It is the comprovante de residência every other counter will ask for.