Furnished Apartment: Buenos Aires

25
Apr

Posted by Lea Woodward 25 April, 2007

The furnished apartment we rented from Buenos Aires Habitat was a 1 bed-room apartment in Las Canitas - a part of town in Palermo.

The apartment was fine and not the reason we left BA early specifically, although in all honesty, it wasn’t the ideal place for us. It’s a very new apartment and we were the 2nd tenants ever apparently. This is evident in some of the finer details (such as the plastic-handled cutlery) and the lack of hooks for towels in the bathroom.

Pablo, from Buenos Aires Habitat, is aware of this however and they’re advising the landlords how to improve the overall facilities for future tenants.

1) Landlords & Letting Company
The letting company, Buenos Aires Habitat, were great. Run by a young-ish couple like ourselves - Pablo (Argentinian) and Tina (German), they’re well organised, responsive and seem to know what they’re doing.

They responded quickly to emails both before & after we arrived - although their hours seemed somewhat erratic and they often didn’t get into the office till later in the afternoon. Pablo met us on our arrival and was exceptionally helpful - giving us recommendations for places to eat, drink & see. He also gave us tips for getting taxis etc. and the vital things we wanted to know - this was about 10pm at night, and although we’d paid for an out of hours arrival, it was a great service.

2) Location & Amenities
The apartment is in the heart of Las Canitas - a very nice, quiet, , pretty, residential neighbourhood. There are plenty of great restaurants, cafes, shops, a larger supermarket (Cotto) & a lovely mall all within about 10 minutes walk or less of the apartment. The only downside of the areas is the dog poo on the streets - which I guess is the quid pro quo for being in a quieter, residential area where locals live. There’s a cafe right on the corner, 2-3 doors down from the apartment as well as a great Japanese restaurant (Moshi Moshi) who also deliver.

3) Apartment Fixtures, Fittings & Services
The fittings in the apartment are fine - they look nice but aren’t of the highest quality. A bit Ikea-like, in that they do look good but there’s a bit of a cheaper feeling to them. The apartment is similarly furnished - looks nice, clean & modern but not with the highest quality furniture. The kitchen is lacking slightly in equipment. The cutlery has plastic orange handles and there are only 3 pots/pans.

The bathroom is very small - the shower took a long time to heat up and although Jonathan said he couldn’t smell it, it did have a funny smell to it..nothing really offensive, just some kind of smell to which my nose was very sensitive! The bedroom was a reasonable size with good cupboard storage space. The bed however was small (normal, double size) and quite uncomfortable.

There is adequate storage space in the apartment - more than you need as a L.I.P really. The apartment has a high speed, wireless internet connection which worked well.

4) Added Extras
There is a decent-sized balcony - but we were unable to enjoy it due to the mosquito invasion at the time.

There’s also a small pool on the ground floor - looks nice but we didn’t try it. There is a very small gym with a small treadmill, a multigym and an exercise bike on the top floor. There’s also a laundry room (washing machine & dryer aren’t in the actual apartment) and a rooftop terrace with grill which is available for your use (although we didn’t).

4) Value for money
The apartment was generally good value for money, given the location & amenities. However, I do believe you are paying extra for the modern, minimal look and can get a more comfortable apartment for quite a bit less than this.

5) Photos

The kitchen