Asking simply is the 18th's great lesson, and hunting a flatshare apartment up there follows in a queen's footsteps: in 1133, Louis VI founded the abbey of Montmartre at the request of Adélaïde de Savoie; on Easter Monday 1147, pope Eugene III climbed the Butte himself to consecrate Saint-Pierre, Bernard de Clairvaux at his side — and in 1153 the queen, who could demand anything of the kingdom, asked for the one thing she lacked: a place among the nuns of the summit. She died there the following year, buried before the high altar. The Butte gladly grants what is asked of it without ceremony.
On the Butte as on the Simplon flats, envelopes are announced without polish: €1,700 to €2,200 monthly — charges follow —, a three-bedroom flatshare apartment running from the Abbesses to the Goutte-d'Or, an honest date and guarantees laid out plainly. The neighbours receive the same clear vows: requests turned towards the 19th arrondissement follow the canal up to the Buttes-Chaumont, those for the 10th head back down towards the stations and the quays.
Owner of a faubourg flat by Lamarck or a glass-roofed studio near the Abbesses? Receive the requests the way the Butte received the queen: weighed by truth, not by rank. The 18th's groups write sincere envelopes, trades of every hour — carers, artists, teachers, freelancers —, guarantors without gilding but solid, and each flatmate signs their vow by hand. A home open to flatmates, where the landlord welcomes sharing without detour, finds tenants here who ask for just what they need — and who stay: the Butte keeps those it accepts.
Frequently asked questions
Do modest envelopes stand a chance in the 18th?
Better: they are the norm. The arrondissement keeps the gentlest rents of northern Paris, and its landlords distrust a too-brilliant file more than an honest budget. The request announcing a true €1,700 weighs more than a fragile promise of €2,400 — people here know how to read a slope.
Is asking simply the same as asking cheaply?
No: it is asking truly. The queen of Montmartre did not ask below her rank — she asked for exactly what she wanted. The flatshare apartment asked for simply states its real envelope, its certain date, its life as it will be: no inflated promises, no false modesty. Strip the superfluous and the essential remains — and the essential signs fast.
Between Abbesses and Simplon, what share should go in?
The Butte's measure stays the same: €744 a room per month, every charge in, records LocService — in the 18th, the share gives between €620 and €780 per flatmate, Abbesses side above, Simplon flats gentler. It is the most accessible of the wave: better to announce it without detour.
Abbesses, Lamarck, Goutte-d'Or: where should the vow be filed?
The Abbesses for the high village, its stairways and artists' studios; Lamarck and Jules-Joffrin for town-hall life, schools and markets; the Goutte-d'Or and the Simplon for the gentlest rents and tables from the whole world. Three slopes of one hill: a request can climb them all.
Landlord in the 18th: why honour a modest request?
Because the Butte built its legend on them: what climbs here without ceremony stays long — the queen remained to the end. Check the envelope and the guarantors, receive the full team in a single sitting, each flatmate present, and judge by the true: today's simple file is the steady rent of the next five years.
