When you are in need of accommodation in a big town, then you will learn very fast, that there is a very high demand, but only very little supply which leads to the crazy situation, that totally shitholes are rented out for an enormous amount of money.
In Spain, we lived in a few places and most of the time it was the same issue. If the landlord itself stays in the flat, then most likely he uses to the other room to pay the rent for the complete flat.
As an expat, you are the milk-cow for the locals. they use the situation to their advantage as much as possible.
When we shared a flat in El Raval, the landlord was not only a total Messi, he also had serious mental problems, since combination was somehow “interesting “and led the end to a total escalation.
Here you can see a few pictures from the flat. All of the stuff is the stuff of the landlord and you see that the whole flat is totally filled up with whatever. The kitchen sink is totally dirty, the microwave is broken, the toilet is not working properly, the fridge is filled up with rotten stuff and it’s actually no pleasure to live with this guy.
Our “room” is actually just the divided extension of the living room with no real door, just a sliding one and no window. That is already s***, but if you think it can’t get any worse, you are mistaken. There is another “room”, which is way smaller than ours. We pay 400 freaking Euros, the “Russian guy” 350 and the whole flat is messed up by the landlord.
