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ECTS Guide

Milan Campus

Formalities in your host country
When you arrive
Cost of living
Accommodation
Healthcare and Health Insurance
Study Facilities at the University
Other Useful Information
Extra-curricular and Leisure Activities
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Accommodation
Milan Campus

Finding accommodation before you arrive

  • Erasmus students who stayed in Milan the academic year before yours can be a useful source of information. Try to contact them through your university: they can give you valuable tips and useful advice.
  • Also try to contact students from Milan who are studying at your university. They might be able to help you when you arrive in Milan.

Things to ask when you go to see a flat or a room

  1. Is there a contract? If there's just a spoken agreement (this happens, unfortunately: some landlords like to avoid paying tax on rental income), ask if you can have a written receipt for the money you pay.

  2. Find out how much you will have to pay each month on bills (electricity, gas, water, etc.). Unfortunately, many students often don't really know what they should be paying.

  3. Ask about the kind of heating. Milan is a chilly place in winter, and heating bills can be a major expense. Is the heating central or independent?

  4. Deposit. Will you have to find someone to take over the flat from you in order to get your deposit back at the end of your tenancy?

  5. Do you have to give notice if you intend to leave the flat before the date agreed on at the start of your tenancy, or do you just have to find someone to take your place?


USEFUL INFORMATION

A brief glossary of some of the words you will meet with when you start looking for accommodation.

Agenzia immobiliare: estate agency. The normal commission ("provvigione") for services is a minimum of one month's rent + VAT. Going to an estate agent isn't usually the best way for a foreign student to find accommodation because rent contracts are for a mimimum of 12 months. You will find a list of estate agents in the Yellow Pages.
Banca dati: accommodation agency. You pay to receive accommodation lists for an agreed period for time. We don't normally recommend these agencies because you can't always be sure that all the accommodation on offer is really available, or that all landlords accept foreign students.
Bollette: utility bills (electricity, gas, water, telephone, etc.)
Caparra: see "cauzione".
Cauzione: deposit. This may be equivalent to one, two, or three months' rent and is normally paid back at the end of the rental period if you haven't damaged the flat (haven't left unpaid bills behind, etc.).
Centro storico: (old) city centre. The area inside the inner ring road ("cerchio dei navigli").
Codice Fiscale: personal tax code. You will need one to do official things like opening a bank account and getting a telephone installed in your name. Sometimes you need to give your tax code to get a rent contract. If you are an EU student, all you have to do to get a tax code is go with a valid identity document to one of the city's four "Uffici delle Entrate" (Tax Offices).
Cucinotto: kitchenette. Big enough to cook in, but not to eat in.
Deposito: see "cauzione", "caparra".
Locazione (contratto di): rent contract.
Matricole: first-year university students.
Media periferia: inner suburbs. No more than 20 minutes by bike or public transport from the city centre.
Monolocale: bedsitter.
Periferia: outer suburbs. 30-50 minutes by public transport from the city centre.
Provvigione: the commission you pay an estate agency for its services.
Riscaldamento autonomo: independent heating for an individual flat, not the entire building. The advantage is that you can use it as and when you like, unlike "riscaldamento centralizzato".
Riscaldamento centralizzato: central heating for an entire building. The heating in individual flats can't be adjusted independently.
Servizio/i: bathroom/s.
Settimana corta: five-day week. In a rent agreement, "solo settimana corta" means you can live there only from Monday to Friday. Some landlords prefer to rent flats or single rooms to students who don't live far from Milan and go home at weekends.
Spese condominiali: condominium expenses shared by everyone living in the building as owner-occupiers or tenants. They are for such things as cleaning stairs and courtyards, the cost of lifts, lighting in communcal areas, etc.
Spese di registrazione: the fee for officially registering a rent contract at the "Ufficio del Registro" (Registry Office). Payment of the fee is usually divided equally between the tenant and landlord.
Tinello: dinette.
Utenze: utilities (see "bollette").
Vani: rooms.

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