Renting a Dacha

HOW TO RENT A DACHA

It is best to start looking for a dacha in late winter/ early spring, when the offers are still plentiful on the dacha market. By May, your choices will be more limited and the best deals long gone. The easiest way to rent a dacha is probably through a real estate agency. The latter will offer you different options, draft a competent contract and will ensure that everything is in order at your temporary summer home, so that you do not experience any conflicts with the owner when moving in or out. The realtor will charge a commission, usually equal to a month’s rent. A private broker will ask about half that.

If you want to avoid paying the commission and feel confident about dealing with the dacha owner directly or have local friends who can help, you can try looking for a dacha through newspapers. Iz Ruk v Ruki (From Hand to Hand) has a huge dacha rental section. Their web site with ads (only in Russian) is at www.win.izrukvruki.ru.

Other methods of independent dacha searching include asking friends to find one through their friends or even, for particularly adventurous dacha seekers, traveling to the place where you want to rent one and asking around or looking at ads glued to lampposts and busstops. However, this can be risky and even downright dangerous. We recommend sticking with an agency like those listed below.

Dachas start at about $200 a month in summer in the less prestigious regions. For this sum you can rent a modest dacha or part of a dacha (the other part being occupied by the owner) with about 600 square meters of space, plus an outhouse. A dacha entirely at you disposal within 50 kilometers of Moscow will cost between $500-1,500, depending on the location, facilities and size. A fully-equipped modern kottedzh with yevroremont (European style renovation), garage, a direct Moscow phone number, fireplace and other luxuries will cost $2,500 or more.

If you are out for a real New Russian experience, you can easily spend up to $25,000 a month on a guarded, multi-storey chateau on the very prestigious Rublyovo-Uspenskoye Shosse, furnished by a designer with expensive paintings and antiquities, equipped with a sauna, jacuzzi, heated floors, a gym and other accessories.

Penny Lane Realty

www.realtor.ru

Phone: +7-095-232-0099

MIAN

www.mian.ru

Phone: +7-095-974-6207

Evans Property Services

www.evans.ru

Phone:+7-095-232-6703

Green & Green Realty

www.moscowrealty.org Phone:+7-095-254-2876