Hey everyone,
I’m sharing this to warn anyone thinking of booking an apartment through UniPlaces, especially if you’re moving to Portugal or doing Erasmus.

My partner and I booked an apartment through their website in Porto, with a 1-year contract starting July 1, 2025. Everything seemed official. The apartment looked fine in the photos, and UniPlaces promotes a “24-hour safety period” to report problems. So we trusted them.

But when we arrived on move-in day, it was a complete shock.

❌ The apartment was unlivable:

Mold on the walls

Humid, heavy air, hard to breathe

Strong musty smell

We honestly couldn’t stay inside safely

We immediately contacted both UniPlaces and the landlord, just as their policy says.
The landlord only replied late that night, and didn’t offer any real help.
UniPlaces told us to wait. No solution. No replacement. No timeline. Just… wait.

💢 The worst part:

We never moved in

We had to find emergency housing ourselves

We sent photos, videos, and full proof within their 24-hour guarantee

And still… they refused to refund us

Their customer support felt robotic. They acted like we didn’t follow the rules, even though we followed everything exactly. They didn’t seem to care about the condition of the apartment or what we were going through.

😞 We lost more than just money:

We lost time, peace of mind, and had to deal with a ton of stress.
And the company didn’t take responsibility for anything.

🧾 Full proof:

I’ve uploaded videos, and all our messages with UniPlaces here:

Walkthrough – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HHQA2eiZHlbIy2ugEC7KH0s1L6HhAamD/view?usp=drivesdk

Wet wall – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hq0xGXBeBTnpGbgZq6S-MdjGHKQLQjy7/view?usp=drivesdk

Full email conversation with Uniplaces support – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KQBZS9ZuJG6lgYaPsZz1-DvVpF4se4Fa/view?usp=drivesdk

If you’re thinking about booking with UniPlaces: don’t.
If something goes wrong, you’ll be left completely alone — just like we were.

Happy to answer any questions if you’ve had a similar experience or want to know more.

by velpass

8 comments

  1. Shit! I feel sorry for you, all these services are shit these days. Thanks for the heads up and good luck!

  4. Although I sympathise with your worries and situation, let me just inform you that is probably a better than average Portuguese house mold wise.

    With that amount of mold in my house I wouldn’t even bother cleaning it for like two more months.

    Good luck getting support on your situation! Hope you guys find a solution.

  5. **Almost** everytime I rent in Porto (although for short stays) I’m left homeless and have to come up with an urgent solution on the spot. PERHAPS it’s a canon Porto event 😂 In all seriousness I’m sorry you went through this. Besides uniplaces I also recommend staying clear from GuestReady. Thank you for exposing this.

  7. That really sucks, sorry you’re going through that.

    If they’re clearly going against their own refund policy, I’d take screenshots of the policy and the booking page (especially how the place was advertised). It’s also a good idea to save both on [web.archive.org](https://web.archive.org) in case they change or delete anything.

    If support isn’t helping, you can try doing a chargeback through your bank. Just explain that the place wasn’t as described and that the company didn’t honor their own policy. Most banks have an option like “service not as described.”

    Make sure to include:

    * Screenshots of the listing
    * Photos of what the place actually looked like
    * Any messages showing you tried to fix it with them

    Hopefully your bank allows chargebacks, most do if you’re still within the time limit (usually around 120 days).

  8. That’s like literally 90% of houses in Portugal. Anyone at some point thought that bricks and cement where enough to hold temperature inside. And keep the moist out.

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