Looking to rent furnished apartment in Liege

Try airbnb website, apartager website. You're unlikely to have anyone on here looking at this advert from Liege.

Thanks for that.  airbnb is just for nights not longterm and was hoping not to share

Hello maedbh.

You can also try to post an advert in the housing in Liège section. It might help.

Good luck in your research,
Aurélie

airbnb is for any length of time you like.

Furnished accommodation is quite difficult to get hold of. Unfurnished accommodation is the norm.

Short term tends to be either business high end or student with a tendency towards shared - business is not going to be very plentiful in Liege either.

Try Immoweb, try wherever students look in Liege.

Any luck in the end Maedbh? When we moved here we got really lucky to find somewhere by coming over the week before moving and only having a few days to look. I remember there werent many short term contracts about, only 3,5 or even 10 years! Did your company help?

I concur, Immoweb is a very good source. But I have to agree with DrewTheBear, most landlords are asking for rather long rental contract and most apartments are NOT furnished. It is not uncommon to get an apartment with only the kitchen cabinets, without even stove or refrigerator, without a washer or even ceiling lights hung up!

Having said that, with much searching, hopefully you will find. Look for short term, but also on Immoweb you can see sometimes how long an advert has been on and try to get the landlord to agree to a shorter lease.
Consider commuting as well. I am personally not a fan of Liege. So if you have commuting allowance, take advantage of that.
Good luck!

There are 2 types of contract available. FIXED short term contracts, always shorter than 3 years, you cannot break them meaning you pay for the full length of the contract, whether you stay or not, typically 6 months/1/2/3 years, or the breakable 9 year contract, which doesn't mean you have to stay 9 years, you pay 3/2/1 months penalty if you leave in years 1/2/3, after 3 years no penalty for breaking, always 3 calendar months notice to breaking the contract. So FIXED contracts are only advisable for those knowing they will be there a fixed time and knowing they pay for the full term, if circumstances mean leaving early.

Seriously its something they should think about changing, by forcing landlords to limit their contracts, because right now its too much in favour of the landlord and not the tenant. Its definitely a penalty fee just for needing to move within the time period. Especially now when people are likely to need to move for work they get hit for at least three months rent before they can do it. In the uk you loose normally 1.5 months rent if you move within 6 months. Luckily our contract here is ok because we wouldnt incur any penalty if we found tenents to replace us and the landlord agreed to those new tenents.

It's the law and it is unlikely to change. When you come from abroad, you need simply to accept that is the way things are.

Unless it is specifically written into a contract that there is no penalty if the tenant finds replacement tenants, then you will pay any penalties within the time first 3 years of a 9 year contract and you will pay ALL the rent for the WHOLE period of a fixed contract. So I would check this is written in your contract and legally binding too.

I'd never sign a fixed contract of more than 12 months, it is simply too risky. Getting foreigners to sign fixed 3 year contracts is not unheard of here, as landlords know that foreigners are statistically more likely to break contracts and it can be a nice way to earn money, long after foreign tenants have left.

Hi all,

well looks like everyone has had experience with accomodation nightmares.  when i actually went to look for furnished apts there was only one and not suitable.  Of course I was offered studio/ 1 bed apt for up to 1700 a month from short term agencies, which is just crazy.  I finally settled on a collocation in the suburbs, not ideal but very much the best I had seen. 
I do think there is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to invest on short-term furnished accomodation or nice shared rentals, aimed at professionals.  Could be a good business idea for someone. 

Maedbh