I recently found an apartment, and since day one it has been nothing but surprises. Now that they have seen my paystub from the US they expect me to pay for things never mentioned previously. I do not know if they were trying to call my bluff or what but today they went to far and I told them enough is enough, I am not interested. Even if it costs me an addition R1.000 to remain where I am at for another two weeks, I refuse to be taken advantage of and tossed around like the ever so holy soccer ball the rules this country.
Be warned and be vigilant especially when it has to do with money. Not all Brazilians are like this but unfortunately there are many that exist.
Reposted from my reply on Expat-blog:
ReplyDeleteHi Matt,
As I've always said, it is much more important for foreigners here in Brazil to acquaint themselves as fully as possible with Brazilian laws, both Civil Code and Penal Code. We need to be much more aware of the laws than Brazilians do, unfortunately.
There will always be individual who see us as easy marks, because they presume (and usually are correct) that we don't know our rights in this country. You can call their bluff - foreigners, even those here in an "irregular migratory condition" have exactly the same rights and constitutional protection as Brazilians have, with the exception of voting and certain rights exclusive to those born in Brazil.
When renting any property, one must understand the rental contract backwards and forwards. It also pays to Google "Novo Lei de Inguilinato" and if you're not fluent in Portuguese at least pass it through Google Translator so you can get the general idea of what it involves. Then at least when someone trys to slip one over on you, you can say, "Minha nossa, isto não é que a Lei de Inguilinato disse!" Another thing, if it's not spelled out clearly in the contract then it simply doesn't exist... you are only bound by the terms of the contract and statute law. Landlords can't change the rules in the middle of the game! Not even here in Brazil.