Rental scams and deposits: how students lose money before arriving

What a legitimate deposit looks like

If any row on the right applies, stop. There is no version of this where the deal is genuine and the payment method is a gift card.

The five scams that target arriving students

1. The absent landlord. The listing is attractive and priced slightly below the market. The owner says they are working abroad, cannot show the flat, and will courier the keys once the deposit and first month land. The photographs are real, taken from a genuine listing elsewhere. Nothing arrives.

2. The fake agency. A professional-looking site, a logo, a registration number that nobody checks, and a demand for a viewing fee or reservation fee before anything can be arranged. The fee is the product.

3. The overpayment reversal. You are asked to pay through a service that allows the sender to reverse the transaction, or to accept a transfer and forward part of it. Both leave you liable.

4. The rent-to-rent sublet. A real room, a real key, a real person — who is not the owner and has no right to sublet. The genuine landlord appears weeks later and you have neither room nor deposit, and no registered contract to argue with.

5. The deposit that never returns. Not a scam at the front end, but the commonest actual loss. No inventory was taken when you moved in, so at the end every mark on the wall is charged to you.

The rule that prevents almost all of this

Never send money for accommodation you have not physically seen, unless it is your own university's housing office or an official student housing foundation.

That single rule removes scams one to four entirely. It costs you two weeks in a hostel or short-let while you search in person, which is a real cost and a much smaller one than a lost deposit.

Around it, four supporting habits:

• Pay by bank transfer only, to an account in the name on the contract. A bank transfer creates a record and gives you something to take to the police.
• Search the listing text and the photographs. Reused images and copied descriptions appear in seconds.
• Ask the university. Housing offices and students' unions in every one of these countries maintain warnings about known fake landlords and agencies. They will tell you if a listing looks wrong.
• Never sign anything you cannot read. Ask for an English copy or take a classmate who speaks the language. If the landlord refuses, that is your answer.

Protecting the deposit you do pay

⚠️ Photograph everything on the day you move in — every wall, the oven, the bathroom, existing damage, meter readings — and email the photographs to the landlord the same day so there is a dated record. Ask for a written inventory. This is the difference between getting a deposit back and arguing about it.

Also note: some countries require deposits to be held in a protected or separate account, and several cap what a landlord may deduct. The tenants' association or the municipal housing advice service in your city will tell you the local rule for free, and they advise foreign residents as a matter of course.

The contract detail that matters beyond money

A contract that cannot be registered with the municipality is not just a housing problem. Address registration is the first link in a chain: no registration means no personal or tax number, which means no bank account, which delays your residence permit. A landlord who does not want the contract registered is asking you to accept a real administrative cost so that they can avoid tax. Do not accept it. See registering your address.

If you have already been scammed

1. 1Report it to the local police and get a written reference number. You will need it for the bank and possibly for your university.
2. 2Contact your bank immediately. A transfer sent minutes ago is occasionally recoverable; one sent last week is usually not.
3. 3Tell your university's international office. They can often find you emergency accommodation and they will warn other students.
4. 4Do not send more money to the same person under any circumstance, including a promised refund fee.

Next steps

1. 1Read dormitory, private flat or shared room and apply for university housing first.
2. 2Budget for two weeks of temporary accommodation on arrival.
3. 3If a listing feels wrong, ask us before you send anything. It costs nothing to check.