Hello fellow travellers! It has been a little while since posting on Trip Advisor but I love this website and I received so, so much valuable information on here while living in Paris last year.
I have recently had a terrible experience with a certain American ex-pat who rents out his studio in the 6th arrondisement via Craigslist. He also runs a real-estate business that helps Americans relocate to Paris. I rented an apartment from this landlord last year, after finding his listing on Craigslist. I knew to be careful with rentals on Craigslist, but since i already was living in Paris and was able to check out the place in person and meet the landlord I felt pretty good about it.
And it was a great apartment! The landlord, from San Francisco , was very personable and we got along well. I felt like all was good as he is a professor and a business man. It was nice not to have a language barrier. But there were red flags, mostly just small things like giving me less than ample closet space (he kept a lot of this things there), asking for a huge deposit, on top of a last months rent (I only rented for two months), and basically overstepping some boundaries (stopping by to check his mail, asking to use my computer, etc). And in the end when I moved back to Califonia it took him TWO months to send my deposit back.
Fast forward one year. My boyfriend and I are looking for an apartment to rent for a week in Paris in December. We notice that my old apartment in the 6th is available as a short term rental on Craigslist. I am torn - I love the apartment, the street, the neighborhood I know so well, and the rent per week is not too expensive. After some emails back and forth, we negotiate a deposit (half the amount of the week%26#39;s stay as opposed to an entire weeks amount which is what he originally wanted) . I went for it, bit the bullet, and sent him the $640 via paypal. The dates were set and I began to get excited....
About three weeks before our arrival I got an email from him telling us that he has made a mistake and his wife%26#39;s friend is renting the place until December 15th...and could we possibly come after that? WHAT? He didn%26#39;t realize in the 5 or 6 emails that we had exchanged that I wrote the dates in each one, even as a subject line. I sat at my desk at work reading his email with smoke coming out of my ears. I knew I should have listenned to my gut - does this guy run some kind of scam with the deposit monies? I don%26#39;t know. I emailed him and told him to refund via paypal my money immediately and wrote a good scathing email but it didn%26#39;t help the fact that we were out and only had three weeks to find a place.
The situation turned for the best however when I logged on to VRBO, found a beautiful apartment just one block from the one we lost, which was cheaper and larger. I spoke with the French owner for about 20 minutes and feel like I am dealing with an honest professional person. I don%26#39;t know what i would have done however if i were not familiar with the areas, etc. I would have tried to rent a hotel room and by that time all of the favorable hotels were booked.
So, in closing just a warning for people who come across a situation that resembles mine or a guy named Philip who has a business called MDG Paris. Sorry Philip, but hey pal, you deserve it.
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I%26#39;m so glad you found a place! I hope you post back so that we can hear about this apartment. I%26#39;m considering renting one next year and I really want to be in the 6th. That%26#39;s where I%26#39;ve always stayed except once when I stayed in the 7th. I liked it but I found myself missing the 6th and going over there often.
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well this happened to my husband and me when renting an apartment in Paris through VRBO last summer. a week before we were to arrive in Paris, the apartment owner sent us an urgent email letting us know that she had accidently double-booked her apartment for the period of time we were to stay there...this was after we had purchase non-refundable train and air tickets. We were bumped from our apartment, although she returned our deposit, we were still out quite a bit of money and had to scramble to make other, more expensive plans.
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