Icelandic Facebook Groups: Leiga á Íslandi

So you’re moving to Iceland! Congratulations. You’ve got your visa, you’ve packed your suitcase and you’ve Googled pictures of the Blue Lagoon. You’re halfway there. All you need now is a place to live.

Enter Leiga á Íslandi (Rent in Iceland)—a group that helps wandering vagrants meet their homely match. In comparison to some of the more exhilarating Icelandic Facebook groups, this one is pretty functional. People post their housing needs with their budgets and suitable property owners respond accordingly. Everyone makes themselves look as dull as possible—“I don’t smoke and I hate partying,” (Wow, okay then, laaaaaaaaaaaaaame!)—so they don’t get cast over by a rigged system which disempowers non-property owners, forcing them to act more like a cog in a machine than a real human just so they can keep a roof over their heads.

Nonetheless, despite the group’s utilitarian leanings, it still has its moments, such as when you’re scrolling through the feed, and a frisson of excitement shoots through your spine as you find multiple suitors to an alluring flat, warring with their “PM me” messages in the comment thread. Who will win? Well, who’s the least smokiest non-smoker? Who hates pets more? We’ll never know.

And of course, the insane pricing in downtown Reykjavík means nobody can escape the all-encompassing horror and incredulity you’ll feel rising through your chest and weaving around your bones as you face your new, stupidly expensive life in Iceland. “Looks like my toilet for 90k,” says one member, regarding a tiny flat up for grabs. “PM me,” reads the comment below.