Hey everyone,
I’m an international student, still pretty new to Germany, and currently looking for an apartment. I found a listing on Kleinanzeigen, but something feels a bit off. To make things worse, Kleinanzeigen is even warning me about a potential scam in the chat.
The person told me I can visit the apartment today and gave me a time and house number. They said they won’t be there themselves but that I’ll meet the current tenant instead. They also asked me to let them know after the visit if the apartment works for me. So far, they haven’t asked for money or anything weird, but I’ve read that scams often involve landlords avoiding in-person meetings or fake listings.
I’m not sure if I should trust this or if it’s normal in Germany for landlords to not show up themselves. Has anyone else experienced something like this? Should I be cautious, or is this just how things work sometimes?
by trucklover711
20 comments
Assuming they arranged this with the current tenant, that seems fine and normal. Who better to show you a still occupied flat than the person who’s living in it. You’ll probably even get a more honest view of the circumstances from the tenant than the owner.
So, while there may be other factors to judge by concerning scam or not, this part doesn’t worry me tbh.
They are probably a current tenant themselves and wan’t to move out. It’s not uncommon that tenants who are leaving aren’t present at castings for new tenants.
Doesn’t feel like a scam, therefore.
Not necessarily scam.
Some landlords are just regular people with a day job. If they have trust in their current tenants, they may handle it this way.
Doesn’t look suspicious to me SO FAR. The warning is issued by Kleinanzeigen automatically as soon as there is a phone number in there.
[deleted]
Just so you know, everytime someone send you a phone number or an email-adresse in kleinanzeigen, it sends you this scam-warning.
Maybe not, sometimes the Vermieter would also advertise for or alongside the Mieter themself. Plus, you’re going to see the place in person, how could it be a scam? Kleinanzeigen would flag anything with phone number or IBAN as a scam as they want you to use their payment system.
I’m also planning to move out and my Vermieter also does the same thing, I’m handling the viewings, and when it’s confirmed that I have found a Nachmieter, I’d contact my Vermieter, so they can meet.
That might be okay- got my apartment the same way.
The current renter will show it to you and you can think about It.
If the landlord wants any money before you signed the contract, take care.
Looks fine so far.
We recently moved and to end our contract without 3 months notice we found new tenants for the landlord. So we created the advertisement and showed apartment to potential renters. landlord approved one of the candidates and we moved out, the new one moved in.
Just be careful when it comes time to exchange any money. As long as you’re just seeing the apartment, it’s hard to lose anything. But: don’t pay any money for anything before the _Übergabe_, before you’ve signed a contract. The usual way is to get a contract, read it, then sign it within a reasonable timeframe and agree on an actual date where keys will be exchanged. On that date, you’ll need to pay at least part of the deposit; usually one months worth of rent, in addition to the first rent. It’s okay to pay the rest of the deposit in installments over the first couple of months. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise and don’t pay anything any other way.
Can be normal. I’ve visited a few apartments where the previous tenants would show me around and answer any questions.
One scam to watch out for is them “renting” out apartments that are really AirBnBs that belong to someone else. I would keep an eye out for anything that looks suspicious, like the apartment being extraordinarily clean, empty and hotel-like. If people have really lived in an apartment for a while, I would expect it to be full of their personal stuff.
My brother got scammed the exact way. He searched for a rentable apartment. When he wants to take a view of the apartment the guy told him that he won’t be there. So my brother got a pincode to a keylocker and went into the falt himself.
They had send him a fake rental agreement. I should mention that the flat was rent out by a fake company, what made him believe, it all legit. And he payed the security deposit, when it came to the day of the key exchange, nobody was showing up. On the door of the house there was a handwritten letter of the real landlord that said “there’s no rentable flat, you got scammed there are multiple victims, here’s the police report I’d…”
You can see the full letter in the article below
Kautionsbetrug.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/wohnungsbetrug-koeln-100.amp
Kleinanzeigen has no clue what your conversation is about. Anytime an email adress or telephone number gets recognized in chat, it automatically sends out this warning. In your context this is by no means an indication of any hightened scam risk.
Its completely normal for a landlord to not be present at apartment viewings. Often apartment inserts in Kleinanzeigen aren’t even done by the landlord, but by the people currently living there, searching for a Nachmieter.
Tread carefully. It is a known scam that they will show you a normal looking apartment that disappears after you paid the first installment. How is that possible?
Step 1: you rent an Airbnb or similar and make it look like a normal apartment
Step 2: you act like you are the tenant, showing a new renter around – you do this every day with 5-10 people in a row for 2-3 weeks
Step 5: you draw up fake paperwork for everyone who bites and have them transfer you thousands of euros
Step 6: you take the money and run
It’s an absurd situation for the people who get scammed like that, because they have seen the apartment themselves.
It’s less common in Berlin but it can be very effective for scammers, so just be very careful!
The scam warning is there bc probably under the red lines theres a phone number or an adress which is not really allowed to post in pm
As long as you dont pay anything or give out your data there is no big risk.
Scamm usualy aims to get your cash or data like your official papers. Coworker got his license copied and criminals bought a mobile in his name to deal drugs. Clearly he didnt know any about and it just blew off cause criminals stopped paying the phone bill.
Maybe double check that it’s not an AirBnB, but otherwise it’s fine. I’ve seen it in the past that the landlord won’t participate by himself, but lets the tenant bother with visits. That being said – indicates that the landlord isn’t that interested in getting to know you by himself, which is usually a sign that he doesn’t care much about maintaining his flats either. If the a landlord prevents harm / decay from his flats, he usually makes sure that you are trustable / have a well maintained appearance.
As long as they are present when you check out the Apartment and don’t want any Money up front I don’t think it’s a it a scam.
Up to this point it does not seem like a scam. You should always keep in mind that scamming almost never happens only for the amusement of the scammer. They always want your money in the end. As long as there is no money involved, there is no scam. So go and see the apartment, it is actually a good think to have the opportunity to ask the previous tenant without the presence of the landlord. The landlord would make everything seem perfect there whereas the tenant can provide a more accurate picture.
Bei Adressen, einigen Zahlen und Telefonnummern schaltet der Kleinanzeigen Algorithmus automatisch eine Meldung, also kannst du erst mal unbesorgt sein
Comments are closed.