Hi,
I'm a student here in Hannover and I'm currently looking to move to an apartment with my girlfriend. I found this place on immoscout24 and went for a viewing. Firstly, the place is literally a hotel (it's called Hotel Something) but the woman says that the entire property is owned by the same company and the 3rd and 4th floors are in fact, wohnungs.
So I went for the apartment viewing today. The lobby has rooms on both sides and all the rooms on the floor are unoccupied and identical. The bathroom has a hairdryer installed beside the washbasin??? The wohnungs are apparently newly made, so they also look very hotel-y. Pristine and put-together. Now, I have heard that a common scam in Germany is that tenants are shown a hotel room or AirBnB as a legitimate place to move in, and then when the "rental contract" is signed and the initial lump sum is paid, they all disappear. Soooo, help me figure out this one. Here are the pictures of the place and here's their website.
by NoobGamer2001
18 comments
That‘s why you pay the lump sum after you get the key. And if it’s a hotel then there is a reception? Have you asked them?
Easy. Just go to reception of the hotel and ask a third person. If person says no you can tell them that there’s someone scamming in their name in their house if yes it’s cool.
yeah, that’s definitely a hotels bath room
So what was your experience with the interaction so far?
Generally you never should pay anything before actually signing a contract – which is also after seeing the flat and landord/agent in person. If you are asked to do so, it’s a scam.
This would fall under serviced apartment which is per se not illegal and possible to live in. Try googling the company/persons name to get more insight. Ask them if they 100% provide a Wohnungsgeberbescheinigung. Check your lease contract (you can also ask for a draft). If you don’t speak German, ask someone or run it through ChatGPT
The scams usually demand that you pay a lot upfront. To pay even to see the apartment and so on..
Yeah easy just ask the reception. But the website does look legit. You just cant be sure if that person is really from that company
> I have heard that a common scam in Germany is that tenants are shown a hotel room or AirBnB as a legitimate place to move in
From the posts we get here, it does exist, but isn’t the most common form that scammers scam you. It costs money, it does carry some risk for them, and it requires scammers to actually be in the country.
Most housing scams we get here are “here is this unreasonably great flat for cheap, I’ll rent it to you because you are awesome, but I’m not there, so send money!”, and they could be run from anywhere in the world. It’s smarter for scammers to not do this to people in their own country.
As others said, this might be a “serviced apartment” of the type that overcharges desperate people for temporary housing.
What is it supposed to cost, and how big is it?
The scam is a different one.
They rent you an apartment you only get to see after you pay something because the people are living in Italy or Spain.
They say they rent it over Expedia or something but in the end they just get your money and you won’t even get to see the apartment.
Don’t think yours is a scam. But of course always be careful. Talk to the people of the hotel
I have stayed in few hotels around Hanover that had floors with regular hotel rooms and floors where they were renting to students or commuters for longer terms. My company also arranges such accommodations when we are sent to a different location for a couple months. So it being a hotel makes sense.
For your concerns, there should be a lobby for the hotel which can answer your questions. Or you can spend some time around and ask other people living there.
About the contract, it should have the address of your exact flat. So street, building number, floor, and apartment number. And even though they can show you a different flat, like an empty model flat, during the first discussion, you should see the actual flat before you sign the contract. Just make sure the address on the contract matches with the one you were shown. Don’t give any money before you sign the contract.
Very possibly I saw 3 postings for the same apartment last week from different “landlords”, even after Immoscout warned me of that exact address.
They will email you privately with the offer of move in right away and the post will be removed from the website. After you reply you’ll get a story about how they had to relocate to a foreign country and do their property management with some holiday accommodation site.
One I replied with “no thanks” nothing else, and still got the sales pitch in response.
Kindler und Fries is not a scam. However the apartment should be very expensive.
How much? The price could also tell if it is a scam. Call the number in the impressum and ask.
Probably not a scam. I have lived on such a place. It’s a hotel but some floors are just short term furnished residential apartment. Mine even had kitchen appliances, wife and everything I needed.
But like others said, do not pay until you have made sure it’s legit, also if you added what the hotel is, people on here can help you identify it.
If it’s more than one Wohnung, it is spelled Wohnungen
Seems like a classic property administrator. It is also common for hotels to rent out rooms or apartments mid-term on other sales channels for various reason. For example they planned with more customers as they actually have or off season. Easiest way to find out is to just ask the hotel.
The hotel is called “Hotel in Herrenhausen” Markgrafstr. 5. Just call them…
I had an apartment in Darmstadt that was contained in a hotel.
The thing for me here, is you may want to check the length of the contract, and the termination of your tenancy because you maybe asked to leave the flat in short notice. The regular protections for the regular tenants might be waived in such flats.
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