HousingAnywhereReviews 200

Absolutely do not book through housing anywhere! They don't check whether the advertiser is the landlord and has the permissions to rent a room and they don't protect from scam.
I booked a room and paid my money almost 2 months before moving to Munich, the advertiser was not answering my emails (although she was really fast when accepting my booking and my money), so I contacted HA to make sure it was no scam, they told me that I unfortunately could not cancel my booking anymore and that I should just wait for her to answer. After sending many many emails to the advertiser (because I was never given her phone number) and calling the agency I could finally speak to her and she assured me that everything was fine and she was waiting for me. I could finally relax and I was just ready to move when, less than 2 weeks before the move, I received a call from her telling me that she didn't have the permission to rent the room and that I had to find another solution (she was not the actual landlord but she was illegally subletting a room). She also informed me that Housing Anywhere told her that I should be the one contacting them about the situation. Long story short: they were trying to make it seem that I was the one cancelling the booking, so that they could keep the service fee. When I discovered their game I insisted that they would refund me fully since there was no reason to keep my money or I would sue them and I finally received the money back. However, I had to look for another solution in less than 2 weeks (which is really difficult to do in cities like Munich).
In my opinion, this situation is very bad for such an agency, not only because they should check that the advertiser actually has the permission to rent a room, but also because they should protect who trusts them with their time and money instead of trying to earn from these difficult situations. I should have asked a refund also for the sleeplessness of these two weeks and the stressed that they all have caused me.

As I read in another reviews I'm also scammed with Anne. I asked for some rooms, she always answered it was not available anymore, but after six tries I got the answer I was waiting for. We paid the first month and wait for instructions to pay the deposit, after that we got another e-mail explaining it has been a mistake and the room is not available anymore but MONEY NEVER COMES BACK. Please be aware, they told us in 48 hours charge will be canceled but that never hapenned.

This was really a bad experience
I fell sorry to think of dealing with them, they are against customer rights.
I had a reservation in one of Vienna apartment for a month, but it I cancel it at time of check in, because the room was not matching the size nor the provided images, the owner had the apartment key at the same time, but they still didn't refund me the money ( whole month rent). After delaying and wasting my time I have no solution neither a good customer service replay. Although I provide enough images to prove my right! They just ignore it, saying it's not enough! When I mention about the room size they also ignore my comment. Ok, what about if the key is with the owner himself which means he agreed to cancel,,,, they also ignore, so what is really the benefit of a policy if it is not been followed

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.

They refuse to even budge on providing me a refund after my flight and all travel plans were canceled (and I lost my job) due to a freaking GLOBAL DISEASE PANDEMIC... I can't even get into the country where I booked my stay and they're basically just telling me "rules are rules, sucks to suck." What an absolute joke. If they aren't even remotely accommodating customers during a global crisis, I can't imagine how apathetic they are toward their customers during normal times. Find housing through other means - this company is garbage.

This is a disgraceful website. They charge you an agency fee. The agent is never contactable. They over charged me and never refunded. They told me my apartment was not available 4 days before I was to move in. They kept all deposit of 1100 euro when I had to return to Ireland due to coronavirus pandemic. Disgraceful, disreputable, unprofessional, unscrupulous, I can't find any other words to describe this agency. Students Do NOT use housing anywhere.

I would advise to avoid renting a room using this platform, since they do not protect you from getting scammed. I booked a room in Milan with an advertiser called Viktoria who was verified as a trusted advertiser by HousingAnywhere. I got skeptical during my stay because the advertiser never responded to emails. Letters were send back to me because the company that owned the apartment called EXA Group SRL did not have an office at the provided address. When I tried to call them, I received the message that the number did not exist. Both email and telephone number however were verified by HousingAnywhere. Since the end of my stay I have so far been waiting three months to receive my deposit of over two monthly rents. The advertiser confirmed to me three times now that the refund will be initiated but nothing has happened. They also ignore messages on HousingAnywhere now. I recently saw that the advertiser also deleted all its listings from the platform. After I informed HousingAnywhere they told me that they are not involved anymore after the transfer of the first monthly payment. It does not seem to bother them that they promote and verify scammers. All in all I can not recommend HousingAnywhere. Although these are my personal experiences I know from my fellow roommates in Milan that they are facing the same problem with the advertiser. If you are considering an apartment in Milan offered by an advertiser who represents a company called EXA Group SRL please be extra careful. A verification by HousingAnywhere will not guarantee that you won't be scammed. In that case you can loose a lot of money and HousingAnywhere will not help you to get it back.

A refund will not be given in other circumstances which include, but are not limited to: accommodation that is not according to taste; accommodation that is not in line with religious ideology (including living with people from another sex); accommodation that is not clean, accommodation that turns out to be in a less safe neighbourhood; accommodation that has noise complaints; accommodation is not suitable to the tenant because of medical reasons; accommodation has a minor malfunction that could not have been known in advance; the tenant is hindered in coming to the accommodation because of a change of plans, travel delays, illness or having made a double booking; the tenant fails to report the issue within the first 48 hours after the move-in date registered on the platform.

5. Housing Anywhere does NOT examine the legality, accuracy or completeness of offers published on the platform.

9. 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).

So, why do they write "verified user", if you have to verify identity for yourself? And there is a long list of exceptions, which include almost everything that might go wrong with the room.
In the end, do ask yourself what service you are actually paying for... close to zero, none, nothing. And they do read your messages, in spite of all privacy rules!

Please make sure you don't get lured into the scam! I booked a place with the supposedly excellent advertiser "Anne 31" and all the required information were only revealed to me after the money is deducted from my account, and it turns out that the email and phone number provided on the website is not valid, and she asked me to pay a deposit of 1000+ euros on the "Medici-living" website, and it's not functioning and I can't validate my email, so I got suspicious and asked Anne why should I pay the deposit upfront and she just ignores my questions for several times, and I searched for the housing agency online and it turns out it has terrible reputation and many people didn't get their deposit back even if they left the room in perfect condition. So I changed my mind and asked the customer service on housinganywhere for help and they didn't do anything except for convincing me that the advertiser and the housing agency is legit. When I asked about the deposit, they ignored my question again. And I saw on their condition that if you make a transaction with the housing agency their "excellent advertiser" provided, they will not take any responsibility for any potential financial loss. So I made sure to keep the chatting history with their customer service staff and requested a refund within an hour after booking, I still lost 150 euros! What a scam! Please DO NOT USE HOUSINGANYWHERE, if you prefer to to get scammed :)) )

Please make sure you don't get into this situation as I did.
I found a room that was advertised by "Anne, 31" who has an excellent rating on HousingAnywhere. So I decided to send a message that I am interested. As a result HousingAnywhere also suggested to send the booking request straight away to increase a chance to get the room. "Anne 31" also asked for a booking request fast because many students wanted the room so it was not going to be free any longer. I trusted and sent the booking request. As a result I was charged 150 euro HousingAnywhere service fee and first month's rent.

After I was charged things started looking gloomy. Soon I received a message from "Anne, 31". I was asked to provide a copy of my ID and my address. I did it and soon I realized that my details were used without my knowledge to register me to another rental agency called "medici-living". I looked at the agency's reviews and found that it has a bad reputation, which completely changed my mind. If this information was available before I sent the booking request I would have never done it. I did not want to continue with the booking anymore because I felt cheated and the whole thing seemed very suspicious. I lost 150 euro because of the Housing Anywhere terms and conditions. I managed to receive a refund of first month's rent. But If I was 24 hours later. I would have lost month's rent too.

HousingAnywhere platform is misleading and suspicious. Who stops them from allowing tenants to rate advertisers like airBnB does? Be careful!

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!

Very bad experience. Tried to rent a student room in Rotterdam twice with them. The first time, the landlord changed the conditions of the rental after booking, we had to cancel and luckily, the money paid was returned. The second time, after moving in, their conditions allow to cancel within 48 hours, if the property does not correspond to the description. This was the case, "room" was extremely small - 6.31 square meters and also there was a passage right in front of the room - which was not explained at the point of renting. They neglected our request for cancelation and we lost 750 Eur! Their angent Pryia was very arrogant and ignorant. Beware- this agency supports scamming landlords and present them as excellent advertisers!

The worst experience! We have rented the apartment in Milan (Via Padova 31) with Homes Rentals SRL which we previously saw just in the pictures on HousingAnywhere website. Homes Rentals SRL had misleading title of excellent advertiser on HousingAnywhere which we have trusted.
When we have arrived to the apartment we had to pay the cleaning fee to Homes Rentals SRL but as soon as the agent left us we have discovered that it was dirty, kitchen full of cockroaches, mess in the kitchen cabinets, mess in the wardrobe where we were supposed to find clean blankets and towels. Kitchen chairs were unstable and unsafe to sit on, shower head was broken. Also, bed mattress had a huge hole in the middle so we could not sleep in the bed - we were sleeping on the floor first night (which we had to clean previously). Same mattress contained insects - bed bugs so we were disgusted to enter that room at all costs.
Our agent came the next day and we have explained the issue. She said that she would provide us with bed and then did not respond to any of our calls until 18:00 of the same day. She recommended that we move to another apartment for the night until they sort out the bed and insect problem. She said that we had to move on OUR cost.
Agency is unprofessional, not responsive and unreliable.
We have booked AirBnB soon after that, cancelling the contract both with them and HousingAnywhere.

I went to the house to take the keys:
« Old style house (renovated) »: This term was not adapted for the house as I send pictures showing that the walls had markings resulting from wear and tear. The furnitures were old, used and dirty.
« regular cleaning of shared rooms » et " A housekeeper is coming every week, to take care of cleaning in shared rooms regularly, garbage, glass removal (included in the price)" When I arrived I saw that the common areas were totally dirty, there was passed food in the fridge smelling very bad and traces of food in the walls, one of the wall was covered with torn aluminium. The house was not cleaned at all and the conditions of living were not acceptable, especially when you pay for someone who is supposed to clean the house "frequently". I have sent pictures showing all of that, and HousingAnywhere considered that something being very dirty is "subjective" and not a reason for cancelling the house. I did the request of cancelling the room before the 48 hours and HousingAnywhere decided to cancel my request and give the money to the landlord between those 48 hours. They left me without a house and my money, I cannot afford to pay another room so I have to go back to my country.
I took the room because the house was supposed to be renovated and clean. Living with 11 roommates includes having a convenient place to live. The pictures showed that those conditions were not respected but HousingAnywhere doesn't care, they just want to make money and the never refund people as they say they do if the room is not the same as in the pictures. They will find always something to never refund you and keep the money, they use the worlds you say to deform them and they play with their meaning. They told me to see with the landlord for an agreement but she had a bad faith and even with compensation she agrees on, she finally decided to take all the money. She was supposed to be an "excellent advertiser".
I strongly advise to not to book a room with them and never think that you have 48 hours to cancel, that is only a big lie. Take the time to visit the rooms even if you have to take an airbnb for a few days, you will pay less money and have a better beginning in your new city than the one I had.