HousingAnywhere

Communication with advertisers is frustrating and there is not much the account managers at HousingAnywhere can do to address the lack of communication and/or protect potential renters from changes in rental prices after an offer has been accepted. The first advertiser I interacted with accepted the offer and agreed to a change in the initial dates (due to my arrival flight getting canceled and rescheduled for one day later). But then without notice, he re-listed the property, rejected the offer that was initially accepted and re-listed the property as available but increased the monthly rate by 200 euros. The second advertiser sent multiple messages saying an offer would be sent w/in a few days (even when I asked if I should consider other offers out of fear the property wouldn't actually be available in time of for my arrival). After sending all the information about the listing and discussing next steps, he suddenly stopped responded for over 7 days and the property was suddenly listed as "not available." It is completely understandable that prices or status of availability changes quickly with properties but the lack of communication and/or communication of misleading information is incredibly frustrating and there is nothing HousingAnywhere can do to safeguard that part of the process.

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

Do not trust this website. They accept your booking and then cancel on you and do not offer refund. I am planning on going to the police, do not trust them.

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!

I have had a very bad experience listing my two bedrooms with Housing Anywhere. I have not been paid the first months rent from two different students. The first student moved in on the 23rd. Of July and it is now August 15 and I still haven't been paid. The second student moved in on August 1st and they haven't paid me his money either. I also rented a room to a student for summer school, who then decided to not attend summer school. She wrote to Housing Anywhere saying she would not be attending school, but they did not communicate this to me and I ended up losing the first month rent. There were no apologies. There have been many emails stating the problem with the money. And many excuses as to why I have not been paid, but excuses is all I receive. They also know that I have only two rooms for rent, yet they just wrote to me asking why I was not renting my rooms very poor internal communication. My ratings are from 1 to 10. Business organization and management 0, communication skills 0, dishonesty 10, though this may change if they ever decide to pay me.

I decided to go on exchange this last semester and I wanted to sublet my room to be able to pay with it my rent at my new destination. After browsing for a while I found Housing Anywhere, a website that allowed me to offer my room only to students who had student emails, which made it a lot safer for me to sublet it. Through a feature in their website, I was able to get in contact and chat with various different people interested in my room so I could choose the most suitable person. The good thing about it is that I didn't have to pay for anything, I received money from the tenant and did not have to pay for anything. This gave me the opportunity to to go abroad with my conscious clear that I had left my room in good hands and that when I would get back, I would find my room waiting for me. In the end I had a great exchange program, and there was never any problem with the tenant. I really recommend Housing Anywhere for anybody going on exchange and looking to make some money with it!

I came to Barcelona on Erasmus, and I rented a room via the website. I'm facing a huge scam, the pictures are wrong, the place is totally gloomy with no light, there are COFFESTS in my flat, we should be 4 but we are 5, there is no window in my room and the flat is very humid. I feel so bad and I have no answer and no feedback nobody helps me it's a real nightmare! Not to mention "Selling plus" or "barcelona housekeeping" the famous agency that is supposed to be the owner of the property that is rented to me that only lie to me and make me go in circles... TO BE AVOIDED REALLY!

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.

A very high commission for the cheapest variants. The platform fee is 25%? But not less than 165 euros, so for a 700 euro apartment it will be the similar as for a 300 euro room.

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 paid 2200 EUR of first month payment plus 500 EUR fees to Housinganywhere to book a flat in Munich. The host asked me about 4 400 EUR of deposit to be paid IMMEDIATELY before even signing the rental contract and before seeing in what state is the apartment. The host informed me about the immediate payment of the deposit of course after 24 hours from booking. So, the site refused to reimburse the fee and the rental payment. BE CAREFUL, it much safer to go on AIRBNB! HOUSINGANYWHERE is a SCAM! They take responsibility for nothing. The call person from the site confirmed me that my case is very common

I booked a place in Lisbon in August for 6 Months starting in the middle of February 2023. I needed a lease &asked them another couple of things. They referred me to the Landlady who told me that she couldn't do it because of Government regulations. Which I found out wasn't quite true, fair enough. In other words, their mentality is, gimme your money & don't bother us!
I cancelled the place only about 10 days after I booked it & expected a refund. Yes, they returned the money for the rent, but not a PENNY from the "service fee" of 150,- Euros. What did they actually do for me? NOTHING, EXCEPT MAKING ME GIVING THEM THIS WONDERFUL REVIEW!
In very English words, Don't touch them with a barge pole.
Btw, I'm the 1st. One who gives praise & recommendations when I get treated the way it should be!

#HA*******275
Invoice Date 30-08-2022
Booking Reference *******
Settlement
Reference
*******921
First Rent Payment € 400.00
Booking Fee € 150.00
Total € 550.00
Payment Made - € 550.00

Hi, in fact I found a nice room at a very interesting price. My request was approved by the owner, but I hesitated a lot because I don't really know this type of site. I received a call from the site, asking me why I hadn't paid and I told them I was afraid it was a scam. The lady on the phone kindly reminded me of the site's policy, which is to cancel within 48 hours if you have any doubts... I paid and then the owner contacted me via my personal address, and told me that the payment of the rent and deposit was in kind and sent me a contract but that didn't seem legal because my name was on it... according to him I will make the payment first. So I notified the site, the support person told me that it was normal and that the owner was a regular of the site (I've been living here for 2 years, and I never had to pay in cash). So I cancelled the reservation and since then I am waiting for the refund. The site tells me that it is in the hands of the financial department and does not give me any news on the status of my request. And as the payment was made by ideal (for info, the other types of payment that could assure me an additional security of my bank did not work_ you be the judge) I can not cancel this transaction with my bank. So personally I had a very bad experience