I booked a room with this service, however, the advertiser later told me this room was unavailable, and offered me a more expensive room. I also was unaware of some details about the landlord beforehand (that they were actually a large corporation, with a number of negative reviews). As a result I tried cancelling my booking. Big mistake. If I had waited for the advertiser to cancel the booking I would have saved 150 euros. But housing anywhere will not, under any circumstances, refund this money. Was a long and stressful procedure to even get my 1 months rent back. Strongly advise using another service, like spotahome.
I booked an apartment through housinganywhere trusting in their 48h cancellation policy. As advertised you have 48 hours to check the condition of the apartment and if it is not as advertised, you get your money back. Nothing could be further from the truth. When I arrived at the rented apartment, it looked like a building in ruins (garbage in the staircase, abandoned furniture, doors broken down).
I requested the cancellation that same day and I have been calling and texting for 15 days to get my money back. The answer they give is that it is not a sufficient reason. So, don't trust renting through here, better other platforms that do have coverage for these cases. I have lost the money I paid in advance.
Nice pictures and graphic design of the platform, but such a waste of time since our 5 attempts of renting where all cancelled. Quite disturbing to get such successful messages like "congrats, you're the next tenant" and few hours later or next day another message saying the room was rented already. Customer support is really answering quickly, but that didn't help increase our chance of renting successfully through the platform
After a my reservation confirmed with landlord I paid first month in advance to make it robots (site policies) after 5 days 21st Feb the landlord said that they want a February rent I have to pay it since my reservation was on 1st of March. If don't they will cancel. I said it is not fare to pay for a month that already has a week left to move in. They cancel the reservation and didn't pay for any damages and funny part is that it took 24 days to refund my money not to mention more than 10 times that I called for the answer.
Overall I strongly suggest not to get involved with this site.
Really cool opportunity for both groups of students going abroad: incoming and outgoing. You can either easily get a room without signing up long-period contracts while being incoming student or rent out your room and earn some extra money without loosing your contract while being abroad. Safe system and easy-to-nagivate platform.
The only downside is that the platform is not well known in some of the places yet so the range of the offered rooms can be smaller.
Scam service. Bait and switch. The apartment they advertised was fake. Staged nice for photos. After the 2000 euro was paid, the apartment looked completely different. Old, dirty and ripped bed, toilet not working, power outages daily, fridge power went out randomly so food went rotten. No air conditioning in bedroom, air unit in main room broken and works randomly. There were no utensils, not even a bottle or can opener. No proper cooking items. Not even salt or letter. No dish rags. The microwave blows any power in apartment.
Nice furnishings in photos were all missing, no coffee maker as shown in photos. No carpet. Bed / pillow coverings. The wash machine does not work. The toilet flush handle is broken.
The building entrance is dirty and not safe. The main door is always open in a busy street.
If you are a non smoker, you should know the apartment door is located right in front of the buildings smoking area. Chairs and ashtrays around the apartment entrance door. See TikTok video.
HousingAnywhere misrepresents apartments. Once they get your commission, their service or communication stops. The are hyenas.
Stay away. Read the multiple poor ratings on legitimate websites.
PLEASE DON'T BOOK ANYTHING ON THIS PLATFORM.
Recently, I booked an apartment in Delft. And as usual this website asked me to pay the booking fees and trusting on them I paid. They usually claim that your money is safe until you shift, WHICH IS COMPLETELY WRONG.
Then, you are supposed to sign a contract with the landlord before shifting. I read the landlord contract which I found completely insane. He is charging 10,000 euros penalty on small violations like nuisance, usage, breakage etc.
I contacted the agency about canceling my booking request and asked them about refund based on the grounds of insane rental contract. They refused to pay me the refund and tried to justify contract and said they are bound to send money to advertisers immediately after booking and also the landlord refused to make change in contract and even after a lot of requests denied to cancel the booking.
937 Euros I paid for service fees and one month advance rent and this is a huge loss. My contract is not yet started and neither I have shifted and I am being pressurized by agency and landlord to sign the contract.
So, I request everybody please don't book on it. It's a scam. Some of them are not at all excellent advertisers. I showed the contract to various legal advisers and they all found it insane.
This agency neither allow to view a house before booking nor give us information about the landlord rental agreement. IT IS A COMPLETE SCAM!
I had a contract in Iceland, I shortened my contract by a substantial amount a month and a half before my move in date. I called upwards of 10 times to housing anywhere trying to get refunded for those extra days that I would not be staying there. It should have been a simple process because the land lord said that it was completely fine on his end.
Every time I called it was always the same story. They always said "we are working on it please call back again in a few days" which I continued to do for a literal month, and then three days after my contract started I got a message from them explaining how it was too late to do anything at this point.
The worst housing site I have ever used. Especially the financial department was horrendous.
I have a long list of names of the people that made this likely my worst customer support experience I have ever had. There is not point in writing them down though, the damage is already done and I will never use housing anywhere again.
They've charged 200 euros but did not provide absolutely any security.
- I was denied viewing of the apartment.
- I've had to transfer a deposit **before** move-in day to some bank account that was not refundable.
- I've had to transfer a fee **before** move-in day to some bank account (illegal in the country I was moving to) that was not refundable.
- I've had to pay first month's rent **before** move-in day without having any chance to see the apartment beforehand.
- I am asked to sign a contract stating that I am moving in on the 1st day of the month, despite specifying move-in date 1 week later.
- HousingAnywhere support was unsupportive, basically telling me that it's fine that I have to transfer over 1 thousand euros, without any protection.
They provided absolutely no service, except take 200 euros from me and then give me scammy conditions.
Going on an exchange can be stressful, but Housing Anywhere makes finding a place to live easy and it takes hardly any time either. Depending on the city there are lots options, both with or without flatmates. I would recommend anyone to at least try finding something there!
It is easy to use, staffs are very friendly and you have a lot of room options as well as renting period. Only thing is that it might take some time to get replies from advertisers but that should not be a big problem. Definitely recommend students to use this website, scam-free guarantee also.
Useful for finding a room in a lot of places! I used it in Amsterdam and Madrid as well. On the second one I had a problem because the room was not what the person announced and they reimbursed me all my money back!
Finally I could find another place through it! Easy and much cheaper than other alternatives! Thank you Housing Anywhere!
Housing Anywhere is an ingenious way of helping both incoming and outgoing exchange students find accommodation whilst in foreign countries. I found it to be safe and easy to access, and would highly recommend to anyone in a similar position. Top marks!
Be careful! There are people *******@housinganywhere offering apartments that are not even available! You pay 26€/2 weeks or 34€/1month just to contact the landlord for an apartment that has never been available. I asked customer service for a refund. All I got was an information on how to cancel my subscription. So I paid twice the subscription fee (total 60€) to contact fraudulent landlords that do not even have the apartment available and HousingAnywhere does nothing to protect customers! What a shame!
As a student I have had very bad experience with HousingAnywhere in Berlin. They only serve the interests of the landlord/advertiser and not the tenant. Completely disregard the circumstances arising from the pandemic when it comes to the re-bookings.
It's much better to look for apartments on alternative sites such as AirBnb where you have larger choice and better treatment of the tenants.
Little protection to tenants, gives better terms and conditions for landlords, also the banking transfer is extremely slow (4th day and landlord still hasn't received my money...) I recommend to not touch this site if you're far away and hoping for easy booking, since July 2023 housing agreement MUST be on paper in Netherlands so if you're looking for housing there, stay away from this site. If you have paid the deposit and first month they can take your money and the landlord can "kindly" return it to you but can also take it for "damage", damage for not showing up on appointment (doesn't matter if you had a seizure and woke up on floor or didn't wake up, it's the same for them) can cost you even 3k euro. Stay away.
All my friends have always been in trouble for finding a room when they had the chance to leave and study abroad. A few days ago a friend of mine at the university suggested me to check this platform, I found many options and contacts in a very short time and the staff immediately answered my questions
A very good and really useful idea. Finding an accommodation while going abroad is often difficult and stressful, and Housing Anywhere's security helps a lot. However, having more information on the housing habits according to the place would be great.
Its a complete scam of a housing platform. You are asked to subscribe to the website only to get declined by the "advertiser" even when the property is available. There is not a substantial reason that they give while declining the prospect tenant. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your time and money on a platform like this one. Good luck!
Excellent platform which offers a large choice of housing! I have never been disappointed by apartments I found via Housing Anywhere. This is definitely a really helpful website website we can trust: the secure payment system and the possibility of contacting directly the owner make things easier!
Answer: Hello Carolyn, I hope you're having a great day. I'm delighted to share that HousingAnywhere, since its establishment in 2009, has facilitated over 100,000 successful bookings. As part of our commitment to transparency, we've introduced landlord reviews, providing you with a complete and open view of our booking platform. Should you have any further questions, our dedicated customer service team is eager to assist you. Feel free to reach out at any time. Best regards Curtis
Answer: Good day, if you encounter any issue related to your payment method, feel free to get in touch with our customer service so we can assess your refund inquiry. Warm regards, Curtis
Answer: Greetings! Our platform has successfully assisted more than 100,000 tenants in discovering their ideal homes. We take pride in being a marketplace that empowers users to realize their dream home aspirations. You can trust us to deliver a transaction experience that is both transparent and effortlessly smooth, ensuring you find the perfect place.
Answer: Not safe. From their Terms and Conditions: Each user must independently verify the identity of his/her respective contract partner (the tenant in case of the provider or the provider in case of the tenant). HousingAnywhere.com accepts no liability for the accuracy of the user contact information entered on the platform. Also, they say they give money back within 48 hour, but it's not so simple and quick!
Answer: It is a scam. The landlords are unscrupulous. You will never get a refund or your deposit back.
HousingAnywhere has a rating of 1.7 stars from 193 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with HousingAnywhere most frequently mention customer service, bad experience and cancellation policy. HousingAnywhere ranks 7th among Student Travel sites.
Good day Anonymous,
We sincerely appreciate you taking the time to provide feedback on your experience. We understand your concerns and would like to address them accordingly.
Firstly, we want to clarify that while physical viewings are not always necessary due to our 48-hour protection period, we understand the importance of feeling comfortable with your decision. We apologize if this process did not align with your expectations and will strive to better communicate this aspect in the future.
Regarding the deposit and fees, it's important to note that our platform operates across various jurisdictions, and deposit regulations may differ accordingly. However, it is our policy that deposits should be returned at the end of the rental period, provided there are no damages or outstanding payments.
We also want to assure you that requesting payment for the first month's rent and our service fee before move-in day is a standard practice to secure the accommodation and demonstrate reliability as a tenant. This process helps establish trust between tenants and landlords, especially considering that some of our landlords are esteemed partners who may require such measures.
Regarding the contractual agreement, we apologize for any confusion regarding the move-in date discrepancy. We will work to ensure that all contractual terms are clear and accurately reflect the agreed-upon move-in date.
In terms of support, we regret to hear that you found our assistance unsatisfactory. Our team is dedicated to providing helpful and responsive support to all users, and we apologize if this was not your experience. We take your feedback seriously and will use it to improve our services moving forward.
We value your feedback and are committed to continuously improving our platform to better serve our users. If you have any further concerns or questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to us directly. Thank you for bringing these issues to our attention.
Best regards,
Curtis