Don’t get cheated while looking for a flat in Warsaw

Be careful if you are planning to rent an apartment in Warsaw.

There were quite a few cases when students have been cheated and lost their money.

How does this happen?

Let me give you an example. There are plenty of accommodation groups on Facebook where everybody can share their apartment offers. One student found quite an attractive offer there and decided to contact the landlord via individual messages on facebook. The landlord claimed she was an old lady living in London and happened to own an apartment in Warsaw.

She sent the student a scanned apartment agreement, scanned copy of her UK driver’s license and asked him to pay a deposit. After some negotiation and paying the amount of 1200 PLN (roughly 300 EUR) the student expected the lady to send him keys via post… which never happened. The lady stopped to respond and blocked him on Facebook.

Yet another story. It is also possible to get cheated if you use services of an accommodation agency.

How does this happen?

You are looking for apartment offers on internet portals, such as gumtree.pl. You find an awesome modern flat in the new building in the very center of Warsaw offered by an agency. For 1000 PLN :) Like this:

You call the agency and they offer you to arrange an appointment with the flat owner, but only if you pay for their services (around 150 USD).  They tell you that if you won’t like the flat you’d have access to their database with millions of other super cool flats :) You sign the agreement in which it’s said that they will look for flats for you until you’ll be satisfied.

So, you go to meet with the owner of your dream flat in the center of Warsaw and nobody is there. You even have his [fake] phone number. But he doesn’t pick up.

Then you decide to google the image of your dream flat and find out that the price of the flat is three times higher and it is actually located in Poznan, not in Warsaw.

So you call the agency and ask them to find you the apartment in Warsaw :) They know nothing about the flat in Poznan and send you another flat offer. This time the flat owner is at home.  For some reason he knows nothing about the agency :) He shows you the flat which looks something like this:

Following offers from the agency are similar. Finally you have to go back to the starting point and look for the flat on you own.

Cases like this happen so be careful while looking for the flat in Warsaw.

And good luck! :)

Remember to not pay up front until you have the keys and have seen the flat for yourself! Be aware that there are scammers everywhere in the world.

Picture sources:

http://help-portal.ru/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Moshennichestvo-cherez-internet.jpg

http://www.gumtree.pl/c-ViewAdLargeImage?AdId=623971137&Keyword=c9008

http://www.franceforrent.com/stgermainodeon/images.shtml