Furnished or unfurnished? What a Budapest listing includes

In short: most Budapest flats are let furnished, with a fridge, a washing machine, a hob and an oven; a dryer and a dishwasher are the exception. Whatever the level, get a signed inventory (leltár) with photos on day one. The tenant handles small upkeep, the landlord replaces what wears out.

Unlike much of Western Europe, the Budapest rental market defaults to furnished. Most of the stock is owned by private individuals letting one or two flats, and a furnished flat lets faster to the students, expats and young professionals who make up most of the demand. The words in the listing tell you what to expect, but they are used loosely, so read this and then ask.

What do the three words mean?

Bútorozott (furnished) means you can move in with a suitcase: bed, wardrobe, sofa, table and chairs, kitchen with appliances, usually curtains and lamps, sometimes bedding and pots. Részben bútorozott (partly furnished) means the fixed things are there, above all the kitchen and its appliances and the built-in wardrobes, and the loose furniture may be partly there or missing; it is the vaguest of the three, so ask for a list. Üres (empty, unfurnished) means bare walls, and in Budapest it can mean barer than you think: no light fittings, no curtain rails, sometimes no kitchen cabinets at all in an older flat.

Which appliances are usually included?

In a furnished or partly furnished flat expect a fridge with a freezer compartment, a washing machine (nearly always in the bathroom, Budapest flats rarely have a laundry space), a hob and an oven, and a microwave. Air conditioning is standard in new builds and increasingly retrofitted in the top-floor brick flats that need it most; ask, because a summer under a tin roof without it is long. A gas or electric water heater is part of the flat, not the furnishing.

What is often missing: a tumble dryer (drying racks are the norm), a dishwasher outside new builds, a freezer bigger than a drawer, a second bathroom, and a proper extractor hood. In unfurnished flats the missing list grows: curtains and rails, light fittings (you may find bare wires with a plastic cap), a shower screen, sometimes the kitchen itself. Each of these is a line to negotiate, and a landlord will often install a hood or a light rather than lose a good tenant.

The inventory (leltár) and the photos

The single most useful document after the lease. The leltár lists every item the landlord leaves in the flat with its condition, room by room, and both of you sign it at handover. Walk through it together, note scratches and stains in words, and photograph everything with the date visible, including the meters and the inside of the oven. Send the photos to the landlord the same day so the timestamp is not in dispute. When you leave, the same list is the basis for the deposit: normal wear is not damage, a burnt pan is. Without a leltár the deposit conversation is your word against theirs.

How does furnishing change the rent and the deposit?

A furnished flat asks somewhat more than the same flat empty, though the gap is smaller than the value of the furniture suggests, because most of the demand wants it that way. The deposit is where the level shows: two months for furnished is the Budapest norm, three months at the top of the market or with expensive contents, one to two months for unfurnished. If the landlord quotes three months on a modest flat, offer two and point to the inventory. A landlord who wants to leave family heirlooms in the flat should either take them out or accept that they are at ordinary risk; you do not owe extra deposit for things you did not ask for.

Who repairs what?

Hungarian law puts it in plain terms once you know where to look. Under the Civil Code (Ptk.) and the housing act (Lakástörvény), the landlord must hand over a flat fit to live in and keep the building and its central systems working: roof, walls, pipes, wiring, the heating plant, the lift. Unless the contract says otherwise, the tenant carries the small upkeep of the flat itself (karbantartás): light bulbs, a dripping tap washer, a blocked drain you caused, keeping the place clean and aired. When something wears out and has to be replaced rather than fixed, the boiler, the washing machine, a fridge that dies of old age, that is the landlord's cost (pótlás and csere). Damage you cause is yours to pay for at any level.

The contract can shift these, and many Budapest contracts do, usually in the landlord's favour, so read the section on repairs before you sign and push back on anything that makes you responsible for replacing appliances. Report faults in writing as soon as you notice them; a tenant who sat on a leak for a month owns part of the damage.

What if you do not want the landlord's furniture?

Common, and usually solvable. The landlord can store it in the building's cellar (most brick houses have a tároló per flat), in the flat's own storage room, or take it away; what they cannot do is expect you to store a wardrobe you did not want and be liable for it. Agree in writing what stays, what goes, and who pays to move it. If items stay in the flat at your request, they go on the leltár like everything else.

Pets and smoking

Both are contract matters, not law. Most Budapest listings say no pets by default, but a calm dog or a cat with a slightly larger deposit is negotiable with private landlords far more often than the listing suggests; ask, and offer the extra deposit yourself. Smoking indoors is close to universally banned in the contract and you will be charged for repainting if you ignore it. Balconies are a grey zone; check the building rules (házirend), which can also restrict pets, barbecues and noise after ten.