Avoid to be scammed when you want to rent your apartment in Poland
When you are coming to Poland for a mid or long term goal, you need of course an accommodation. At the beginning you may stay in a hostel, hotel, or even use airbnb. Anyway, your purpose is to have your own place and not to rent night by night.
In Warsaw, and other Polish cities like Wroclaw, Krakow and Poznan, two scams are common…
How does this rental scam works?
When you check Polish website or Facebook about rental properties, be careful. Here we go with two examples:
First example:
If the price is too cheap, it is a scam. For instance, if you find an offer of Studio flat in the city center of Warsaw totally renovated, with new furniture, at 1200 PLN, this is a SCAM. How does it work then? Well, if you may call the contact on the ad, a lady or a man from an agency is going to tell you this: “Yes the flat is still available, you can see it tomorrow after 4 pm. Please come to my office at the following address: xxxxx.”
Then you come at the office, and see that the contact is not here, but his secretary. She is going to explain you that you need to pay around 200PLN to 400PLN to see the flat. If you are in the hurry, and under the pressure, you may sign the agreement.
The thing is: There is no warranty from their side. After paying the fee, they will “try” to contact the owner, but of course they are going to tell you: He is not here, maybe tomorrow, or the flat was just rented few hours ago. Then, they give you the false promise: We are going to send you 20 offers. For sure, you will get a flat!! So you come back home, waiting for some offers. They will send you few of them, but each time you will want to see one of the property, they will give these excuses: Owner is not here, or he doesn’t want to rent to student, foreigner, or whatever.
All there offers are FAKE. They don’t exist. Just keep in mind: Don’t pay any penny for this kind of service.
For some extra sources, you can check this article from Blastingnews. It is in Polish language, anyway you can translate it with Google to our own language.
Second example:
You check properties on some Facebook expat group.. and wow, you find a very nice offer. You contact the person, and he/she ask you to book in advance without any contract signed and no ID from the owner, it may be a scammed. Watch out because you may loose one month rent and your deposit.
Final words about renting an apartment in Poland
While doing you research for you new home, just use simply your common sense. Prices too low are usually a scam, and paying in advance without any contract can become a big lost for your wallet.
At rentflatPOLAND, all offers are checked. If you have been scammed by one of them, please refer to us. For real estate agency, you can trust the following one: Fox Property