A nice room in the middle of the city for a low price or an apartment for just a few hundred euros – it sounds fantastic, but it’s nothing more than a fantasy. Affordable living spaces, in this economy? Due to the extremely tight supply on the housing market, there is a chance that students may encounter a scammer during their room search. So don’t forget the most important rule of thumb: if an offer seems too good to be true, it probably is.

That is not to say that every offer within budget is automatically a red flag. Fortunately, there are plenty of tips and tricks that students can use to easily recognize malicious scammers. They often use the same techniques to scam students out of money for a property that usually doesn't exist.

Fake ads

Let’s start with the advertisement. Online social media groups are especially rife with fake advertisements. Fortunately, these scams are easy to spot. The Fraud Help Desk offers some practical tips. First, check what other people have said about the landlord. Search for reviews and complaints regarding the landlord’s name or website URL. Landlords often have reviews posted on their own websites. Remove those from the search results by typing “-site:[URL of website]” in the search bar. Also, check if the landlord’s website, email address and phone number are known to the police.

In addition, check whether the room's address really exists, for example using Google Street View. Pay close attention to the images in the ad. Look at the windows, for example. If you can see a lot of greenery through the window, but there are no trees visible on Street View, the photos may be false. Scammers often use pictures from existing ads. Check the images via Google Image Search to see if they have been posted more than once and whether that nice room in the center of Eindhoven isn’t also on offer in Amsterdam, by any chance.

If you’re not sure whether the property actually belongs to the landlord, it can be useful to request ownership information from the land registry. This is a quick way to identify the property owner and check if their name matches the landlord’s. This does involve a fee (3.35 euros), but it’s a small price to pay compared to the potential losses from being scammed. Finally, always ask if it’s possible to be registered at the address. If not, it’s most likely a scam or illegal subletting.

Applying pressure

During contact, scammers often use the same tricks to scam students. For example, they will do everything they can to get students to pay for a room that they haven’t even seen yet. So never pay for a viewing. Tenants have a right to view the property at no charge.

To trick students into paying anyway, scammers apply pressure. They stress that there are other interested parties or claim that the money must be transferred as soon as possible, for example because they have to travel abroad to visit a sick family member. Spoiler alert: there is no sick family member.

Of course, viewing a property is much more difficult for international students who haven’t made the trip to the Netherlands yet. One option is to ask someone else to view the property for you, a fellow student for instance. In practice, this will not always be feasible. In that case, be extra careful and don’t take any action until you are certain that the landlord is legitimate.

Gaining trust

Scammers know that large numbers of students are looking for housing and will go to great lengths to gain their trust. For instance, they might send you a copy of an ID. This is a red flag. That’s not how it works in the Netherlands. A legitimate landlord simply would not do this, because the tenant is the one required to verify their identity. Not the landlord. Only a scammer would send identity documents in an attempt to gain your trust.

Identity documents only need to be presented when the tenant agrees to sign the lease. Always make a copy of the passport or ID card at this stage. Make sure to cross out the personal identification number to prevent identity theft. An easy way to do this is by using the government’s KopieID app. This prevents scammers from taking advantage of it.

High costs

Scammers also often try to charge mediation fees or ask for money to draft the contract. A legitimate landlord will not do this. If this money is supposed to be transferred to a foreign bank account, for whatever reason, you can be absolutely sure it’s a scam. While it is standard practice to pay a month’s rent and a security deposit, only do so if you are one hundred percent certain that the property is legitimate, the keys work, and the contract has been signed.

If you’ve finally managed to find a room, be sure to check the rental price and any additional costs. Exorbitant rent prices or excessive service fees are often charged. Sometimes, the quality of the room is also not up to par. If this is the case, consider contacting the Huurteam. They assist tenants in filing a complaint with the municipality of Eindhoven and in any subsequent procedures, free of charge. In some cases, the rent can even be significantly reduced.

Cursor is eager to hear about your search for housing in and around Eindhoven! If you’d like to help us get a better idea of how students experience the housing shortage, please fill out this short survey.