Your child got into a university in Madrid.

You’re proud. Of course you are. But you also have questions: How do they find a safe place to live? What if the bureaucracy is a nightmare?

Most advice online is written for students—where to party, how to make friends, which bars have cheap beer. That’s not what you need.

Here are four things that are helpful to know before your child moves to Madrid to study.

1. The housing market moves fast

• Good apartments in student areas can be reserved in one or two days
• Landlords do not reply to every message
• Some listings stay online even when they are no longer available

If you wait too long to decide, or if you try to compare many options slowly from abroad, it is very common to see good options disappear.

As a parent, it helps to:

• Accept that timing can be tight and that decisions sometimes need to be taken quickly
• Make sure someone you trust can see or verify the apartment in Madrid before any final decision

2. The neighbourhood matters as much as the apartment

On a map, everything in Madrid looks relatively close.

In daily life, the area where your child lives will affect:

• How long it really takes to get to university, door to door
• How safe they feel coming home in the evening
• How easy it is to access supermarkets, pharmacies, cafés and basic services

Red flags in an area mean:

• A long and tiring commute every day
• A street that is very noisy or does not feel comfortable at night
• Fewer young people and less of a student environment

As a parent, it helps to:

• Look at the total time from the apartment to the campus, not just the distance on the map
• Ask people who live in Madrid what the neighbourhood feels like, not only what it looks like online

3. Contracts are in Spanish

Most rental contracts, agency documents and building rules are written in Spanish. Even if someone gives you an informal explanation in English, the version that is legally valid is the Spanish one.

Parents are often surprised by:

• The amount of deposit or guarantees required
• Who is responsible for repairs and small damages
• Conditions for leaving earlier than planned
• Extra fees that did not seem clear at the beginning

Signing something that you and your child do not fully understand can create stress and unexpected costs later.

As a parent, it helps to:

• Take the time to read the contract carefully before signing
• Make sure that someone who understands Spanish and the local rules reviews it with you or with your child

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4. Administrative steps take time

Beyond housing and university, there are practical and legal steps that are part of your child’s first months in Spain. Depending on their situation, this may include:

• Appointments and documents related to their student residence permit
• Registration of their address in the local town hall
• Opening a bank account in Spain to pay rent and bills
• Getting a Spanish phone number that many services require

Some of these processes have limited appointment slots and strict deadlines. If you only start looking at them after your child arrives, it can feel like a race against time.

As a parent, it helps to:

• Make a simple timeline of what they will need in the first weeks.
• Check which steps can be prepared while they are still in your country and which ones must be done in Madrid.

A personal note

I moved to Madrid 17 years ago. Since then, many things in the city and at the universities have changed. New buildings, new programs in English, new services for international students.

But other things still remain the same. The pressure of finding a good place to live, the confusion around local rules and the distance that families feel while they try to support their children from another country.

If you are a parent of a young person who is moving to Madrid to study and you would like to talk to someone who has already gone through this process, I am happy to share what I have learned.

Book a free 15 minute call to discuss my experience, your child’s situation, and how you can prepare for this step in a way that feels calmer for both of you.