HousingAnywhere

Shura Apartments, Elena Nardella advertised Tortona Stylish Studio having a dryer in the unit. (since taken down) I wired Elena $2100 euro the day before my stay per her request. The next day I arrived and there was no dryer in the unit and I immediately notified them stating I could not stay there for months without a dryer so I needed to cancel. Elena is keeping my deposit even though Housing Anywhere states if the unit is not as promised you are entitled to a refund. They are both playing a game saying I should seek the refund from the other party, although the wire was sent to Elena. Do not send her any money as you will not get a refund if the unit is not as advertised! Now we need to seek legal counsel.

If you're considering using HousingAnywhere, think twice. My experience with them has been extremely disappointing. I informed my landlord of a cancellation more than 50 days in advance—well before the contract even started—and both HousingAnywhere and the landlord refused to issue a refund. Their customer service has been completely unhelpful, showing no regard for the rights or concerns of tenants.

Despite multiple attempts to resolve the issue and providing ample notice for the room to be relisted, HousingAnywhere has sided with the landlord, leaving me with no support and a significant financial loss. It's clear that HousingAnywhere prioritizes its advertisers (Laura) over the rights of tenants, offering little to no protection in cases like mine.

If you value fair treatment and responsive customer support, I strongly advise against using HousingAnywhere. Their policies are rigid, and their lack of empathy for customers is beyond frustrating. I am still waiting the refund of my money.

I booked an apartment for a couple of months, starting on 30th September, only to realize that the property is paid on a monthly basis, meaning I was being charged €550 for a single night!

The so-called "tenant protection fee," which is supposed to offer also support in situations like this, was completely useless. I reached out immediately to change the dates, but despite paying so much for this protection, no one responded the entire day. This left me with no option but to cancel and rebook, hoping they would be understanding about the situation.

I was wrong. Instead of offering any understanding or resolving the issue they had failed to address, they dismissed my request and laughed at the idea of refunding any of my money.

So with one small mistake I ended up losing €220 in their horrendous tenant protection fee and, honestly, I'm relieved I canceled. I can't imagine trusting them with larger sums, given how unprofessional and uncaring they've proven to be.

Maybe this company could be reliable for something as simple as ordering groceries online, but please stay far away from them when it comes to something as important as renting property. They don't care about their tenants, their money, or basic decency.

If you are a student doing an internship or you find a job and want to live before you move, then you have to be absolutely sure that the internship or job will work out. Because if you can't take up the internship or job, you will lose ALL the money you have transferred to "Housinganywhere" in advance.
Almost all small apartments are offered with a "strict cancellation policy". You sign the contract, transfer the money in advance, but the money is held by "Housinganywhere", NOT the landlord.
If you do not cancel within 24 hours of reserving the apartment, "Housinganywhere" keeps ALL the money. Without any service. The landlord gets nothing either. They steal the money! What are these Dutch people smoking! And that in the EU!
If you rent in May for August and they cancel your internship or job in June, you will also have lost ALL your MONEY to these stoned thieves if you cancel "strictly".

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

I liked a place and contacted advertiser, Mr Alexander. I gave him all the documents he wanted. Then he sent me booking request which I accepted and paid 945 euros. After few hours he cancelled the booking without giving any reason. I got message saying my money is refunded, but I don't know when will I get it. This is full of scam. Please avoid it.

HousingAnywhere has not behaved correctly.
Tenants are promised protection from bad housing or unfair landlords. But the tenant is not protected from unfair, hidden contractual conditions vis-à-vis HousingAnywhere:
1. Temporary employment contract signed in another city, 6 weeks before the job starts.
2.6 weeks before the new job, arranged an apartment through HousingAnywhere. Deposited 800 euros rent + 266 euros fee with HousingAnywhere.
3.4 weeks before the new job and 4 weeks before the planned move-in, I receive the rental contract from the landlord, but I don't sign it yet (forgot). The landlord says that the money is still with HousingAnywhere.
4.3 weeks before the new job, the company wrote that the job was not going to work out.
5. so I canceled the apartment 3 weeks before the new job and 3 weeks before the planned move-in. I have not yet signed the rental contract from the landlord and sent it back.
6. but HousingAnywhere pays NOTHING back because there is supposed to be something like a Strict Cancellation Clause, but I haven't found it.
7 Today, 2 weeks after the planned move-in, I find out from the landlord that he has nevertheless rented the apartment to someone else.
8. despite the notice and confirmation from the employer, I get nothing back from HousingAnywhere! They have collected twice without any service.
Now I'm looking for help from a lawyer. If anyone is also in this situation and knows a lawyer, please post here. Maybe we can reach a class action lawsuit and take action against this dishonorable behavior?)

Absolutely disgusting platform, supporting scammer landlords. I moved in a totally disgusting apartment unlike it was shown on the pictures, I paid a large deposit so I had no choice but stay there, after I cleaned this outrageously disgusting apartment and moved out the landlord even blamed me of poor conditions of the apartment and refused to pay back the large deposit, HousingAnywhere did absolutely nothing to protect me even after contacting them several times. Didn't even take down the scammers account even thou another people also complain publicly.

After moving in to find the place was Infested with CAT piss n strays building about to fall down to get no refund never rent anything from the host DESPINA SHE'S A THEIF and the company stands behind her the pictures isn't what you get, be careful who you rent from and where it's located,this place was in Athens Greece beautiful country dirty nasty places to stay and housinganywhere rent them scam scam scam

I had an extremely disappointing experience with HousingAnywhere!
I was shocked to discover that they charge a CANCELLATION FEE of €390!
This hefty fee was not made clear at the time of booking; instead, it was hidden in the fine print, easily overlooked until it was too late.
This lack of transparency in disclosing significant costs upfront is misleading and unfair to consumers.

I STRONGLY ADVISE AGAINST USING THIS WEBSITE FOR YOUR NEXT FLAT RENTAL. Look for more straightforward and honest platforms that won't surprise you with excessive fees!

This is company does not vet their advertisers and you most likely would be living with someone who's mentally unstable or worse a criminal

Be extremely cautious before using Housing Anywhere.

We had to cancel our booking within 72 hours of placing it due to unforeseen circumstances completely out of our control. This date was more than 45 days before our requested move in date.

Housing Amywhere's strict cancellation policy refers to the Dutch Civil Code, which states that good faith must be applied to such situations as ours, however, their exceptions rule out almost every situation where good faith could and should apply.

We have subsequently lost €1848 (several months savings for our family) to Housing Anywhere and the landlord for effectively doing nothing; while they still have ample time to find a replacement.

I know that someone from Housing Anywhere will reply to my comment apologising as a form of PR damage control, but know that they have not been sympathetic to our situation.

I hate to think how they have treated other customers before us going through more stressful events and in worse-off financial positions.

My advice is to use almost any other housing booking platform (Air BnB, Spot a Home, Booking, etc) before resorting to Housing Anywhere, as their terms and conditions have far greater adoptions of the true meaning of good faith.

DO NOT USE. They are refusing to refund a €960 booking fee for a reservation that was canceled within 6 hours because the reasons are "not valid." This site is a far cry from AirBnb where the tenant is protected. Anyone who has been robbed by this company, we should find each other and launch a class-action lawsuit against them. I don't see how they aren't shut down by a European consumer protection agency.

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.

After my stay there has been an issue of the deposit refund. Housing Anywhere states that this is not their concern and they can do nothing to aid me. More so they do not make reviews of the landlord visible on their page making it impossible to truly know if there have been prior issues with a landlord making my review and many others meaningless as well as attempting to mitigate these issues impossible

This extremely unreliable and breach of contract person has now been written to for the 6th time by HousingAnywhere. Nothing happens on the part of the defaulting tenant.
Now HousingAnywhere (HA) has contacted me with the statement that I have the contract with the tenant and not with them. Therefore, they can do nothing further. However, I have the contract with the platform and now feel left alone. Unfortunately HA is so cheeky and takes their fee right away in full with the first month's rent. If a problem then arises, they are fine. I will never book or rent anything through HousingAnywhere again.

I paid a deposit of 700 euro when booking a property. The landlord subsequently cancelled the booking without prior warning and I was not refunded. I have had many communications with customer service who are unwilling to refund me.

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!

I love to travel, especially I do not miss the moment to visit the cities of Europe. What a beautiful city of Vienna, an unforgettable collection of memories. On the way online I made a quick reservation for an apartment in Mayerhofgasse, and most importantly I was satisfied with my choice. For traveling students, first of all, a special role in the journey is played by who you travel with. The courtesy of the staff is an important argument that made our holiday comfortable and cozy.

Payment methods on housinganywhere.com discriminates against residents in Portugal. They have bank payments for Poland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands etc.but not for Portugal. They insist on credit cards. My credit card is maxed out because I used it for my first months rent. I don't have time to pay the card down to use it for the deposit.(It take 5-10 days for payment to post on credit card) I move in in 3 days. I have asked the landlord if I my make a direct deposit, but have not heard back from her yet. They have also removed SEPA from their service. None of their payment methods work for me. It has been extremely hard to find a way to make first months rent payment. Come on housinganywhere add debit cards.we live in the computer age.

I tried to use this to rent out two rooms in my house but decided this wasn't for me. I appreciate the need for safety, both for the person offering and the person looking for accommodations, but I found the concept unusable. It is not possible to make contact via phone or email as all personal information is removed from the messages. It seems from the descriptions that they expect you to first be able to contact each other after the booking has been made. But there is no way I am going to rent out my rooms to people I haven't had a chance to meet and get to know. I also did not agree that rent payment had to go through them. I am sure that anyone having a chance to meet me at my home would know that I am not scamming.

In short, web site seems good, idea may be good, but this is not what I can use.

Initial booking turned out to be with a landlord which has numerous public complains regarding the return of the deposit. As I tried to cancel the booking (providing both evidence of customer complaints and additional requirement to pay the deposit without signed contract), Housinganywhere refused to return the fee on the basis that this is not a scam, as apartment really exists. De facto, the site that purports to protect tenants from scam is a scam itself, charging fees irrespective of the quality of listings.