Rent an apartment in Samara without intermediaries

The main thing is not to fall into the “trap” of your own emotions. You have read an advertisement for an apartment for rent, and inattentively, in a hurry, relying on your inner intuition. Further more. Inspired by the phone call, during which you were warned that the apartment has not yet been rented out, and the eager competitors are not asleep, you pay a commission. Just something, for example, five thousand rubles. To make it more convincing, the office draws up a contract with seals and corresponding signatures. Ostensibly for a full guarantee. Your heart is so full of joy that you don’t even have time to read the contract carefully. And in the end, everything turns out as badly as possible. It turns out that the apartment was rented out to another person literally an hour before your arrival. It is impossible to make any claims to the agency, because it only provides information services. It remains only to console yourself that you are not the first and not the last who became a victim of scammers and your own gullibility.

But even bitter experience can be rewarding. Next time, you will be extremely careful and sensible about renting a home. And announcements full of offers “the price is greatly understated”, “the next room is closed with things and will not give up”, “payment by translations is offered”, will no longer attract attention and will convince of the impending deception. Please note that a conscientious and honest company requires a commission only upon your arrival!

Another trap that awaits the gullible tenant is extremely primitive, but it works almost flawlessly. When renting out beds, they take you around an empty apartment (the tenants are at work at this time), convince you of its “charms”, take the payment for a month – and hide in an unknown direction. And in the evening, when you move into it, equipping the cherished corner, other tenants rush into the apartment in a crowd …

But this situation could have been avoided by following a few rules. When paying (do not hesitate!), Require a receipt, which must indicate the passport details of the parties and the exact address of the apartment. Be vigilant: if the name of the person in the passport does not match the name of the author of the ad, feel free to stop the deal. Better, of course, and safer – to conclude an agreement with the landlord and pay for the first month of residence. And it is better to look for housing through trusted real estate agencies.

Expert Opinion

Olesya Meletskaya, Head of Residential Real Estate Department “Visit”:

– Today the rental market is on the rise, since during the crisis, many Samara residents invested their savings in real estate. And the higher the demand in the market, the higher the risk of falling into the trap of scammers. Of course, it is better to act through trusted agencies. It is almost impossible to rent an apartment directly from the owner. Often, the ad indicates that the direct owner is renting the apartment, but in fact it turns out to be an agency or a private realtor. A bona fide real estate agency takes a commission only upon check-in and no other surcharges for additional services!

The next scam is used when renting rooms. It is well known that the deposit is paid only for an isolated room with a lock. But the swindlers skillfully appropriate it, taking advantage of the gullibility of the tenant. The latter pays for a month of residence, a deposit, and in the evening finds a bunch of neighbors in the room.

To avoid deception from the very first steps, you need to not pay a deposit to those who rent an apartment. It is much safer to deal with the landlord. You pay him a deposit, take a receipt with passport data, the address of the apartment and the number of residents. Yes, we advise you to do this all only after complete introduction.

When it comes to prepaying rental housing, exercise reasonable care. Often, apartment owners complain about their difficult situation, they urgently need money. Therefore, they ask to make an advance payment several months in advance. Let’s say you went to meet the owners, took the risk of believing, as it seemed to you, decent people. We paid, lived for a month – and suddenly the real homeowners appear on the doorstep of the apartment. You can imagine your morale associated with material losses …

You can protect yourself from this method of fraud only by choosing a serious and proven real estate agency. However, you yourself must keep an eye out: if they offer almost ideal rental conditions or ask for a large deposit in the absence of a contract, firmly refuse the deal.

Expert Opinion

Kristina Kharitonova, head of marketing communications department of the company “Arend Arendovich”:

– Companies that provide ranking and information services, just like classic real estate agencies, are full-fledged operators in the rental market, but it is necessary to remember some indicators by which you can distinguish a bona fide company: the presence of a highly organized product department in the company, which on a daily basis forms and updates the real estate base; availability of a quality control department that monitors the quality of the service provided on a daily basis; customer hotline, which works daily and around the clock; list of mandatory documents for working with clients; a site with which you can get acquainted with the company; positive customer reviews; the presence of a consumer corner with certificates of state registration of a legal entity.

The most common type of fraud is associated with sublease of housing. A fraudster rents an apartment from the owner, gathers several tenants under one roof, pretending to be a true, real owner. Having received money for a month of living, he asks them to wait a little, they say, they need to take out their things, vacate the apartment, etc. As a result, the tenants find themselves in front of a closed door or violently sort things out with the new owner of the home. And it all happened because of one “trifle”: they did not look at the originals of documents confirming the ownership of housing from the “owner” …

Sometimes apartment owners also find themselves in the network of scammers. If housing is not privatized, swindlers may in some cases even apply for it. In addition, sometimes after the tenants leave, the landlord has to pay impressive phone bills or make new renovations. The tenants were, apparently, violent and sloppy …

We talked above about the cunning, and sometimes quite primitive schemes for deceiving future tenants of housing, as well as its owners. We hope that our tips will be very useful to you in order not to become victims of scammers.