About MRA
What is My Room Abroad?
A platform that connects international students with certified landlords in dream destinations.
This platform makes the painful process of finding and booking a room abroad safe and easy for international students. It simplifies the search for accommodation abroad and allows up front booking of rooms for a 1 to 12 months period.
Learn more> about us page
What are the dream destinations?
A dream destination is defined as an exotic destination for Westerners, where they want to go back once they left. Asia Pacific and South America hold most of the dream destinations.
How do you certify the landlord?
Firstly, we meet with every landlord before allowing them to upload rooms on the platform. During this meeting, we discuss our conditions which allows us to validate the fact that the landlord is willing to accept our way of working (English contracts, online payment, etc.).
This is usually a casual meeting where we get to know the landlord. This allows us to assess whether or not we can trust him and whether or not he will be keen to help students when they have problems.
This meeting is either held in English or in Chinese. However, we always check the landlord’s level in English to ensure communication with a non-mandarin speaking international student is possible.
Next to this real-life meeting, we visit most of his rooms. During this visit we make sure the pictures and description of the rooms uploaded on our platform represent reality. We check the cleanliness of the rooms and get a grip of the general feeling of the apartments.
Lastly, we contact previous tenants for feedback about the landlord’s behavior during their stay in his room.
Learn more> link to how do we certify landlords
Booking with my Room Abroad
Do I have to be a student to book a room through MRA?
Not at all! You can book a room with My Room Abroad even if you are not a student!
Be aware that our primary target are international students going to dream destination, so the website is tailored to their needs (search around university, low rent price, etc), but anybody willing to rent a room abroad for a 1 to 12-month period can do it with My Room Abroad.
With whom do I sign a contract?
The tenant signs a lease contract with the landlord.
Is it possible to share an apartment with a Taiwanese student?
It is of course possible that Western students share an apartment with Taiwanese students. In fact, some of our landlords want to mix Taiwanese with international students and do not list all their rooms on our platform so they are able to rent it to locals as well (through 591 or other means).
Our service is available to everyone; however, we mainly target international students who don’t speak mandarin yet before arriving to Taiwan (hence our website is only in English).
What is in it for the me?
The platform is a safe and easy way to get in contact with certified landlords. You get fast answers to your questions and can book your room abroad from your home country in only a few days. You sign an English contract and you or your parents can make online rent payments which leaves you a bigger budget for other fun activities. Furthermore, parents are less worried knowing that their child has a place to sleep when he arrives alone in this faraway country.
What is in it for the landlord?
On the backend, the platform is an easy-to-use tool for landlords. My Room Abroad allows them to increase their visibility to European tenants. It takes care of the communication by automatizing the painful task of answering all frequently asked questions. The contracts are also send through My Room Abroad which offers the landlords a clear database of all their tenants. It reduces the stress caused by rent payments since everything is paid through the platform. Visits become unnecessary which gives more time to landlords to take care of their tenants and the maintenance of their apartments which in turn results in a far better service and an improvement of the market.
Fee and payment
To whom shall I pay the rent, deposit and and other fees)?
You pay the deposit and a one-time service fee to us in your own currency and we transfer the deposit to the landlords in his currency.
You then pay directly the monthly rent to the landlord in his currency.
We are currently updating our processes & platform and got feedback that students would like to keep paying rent in their own currency. So in the future you might be able to also pay the rent through us in your own currency and we will transfer it to the landlord
How do I pay the rent, deposit and other rental fees?
You can make the first payment online via bank transfer to My Room Abroad account in your own currency.
Then as the monthly rent payment will be made directly to the landlord, the method depends on the him. Most accept bank transfer, but some only accept cash. Ask your MRA booking expert for more information on the payment methods accepted by your landlord.
Who pays the deposit back to me?
At the end of the contract, the deposit is paid back to you by the landlord.
You will recover the total amount of the deposit only if everything is in order and nothing was broken as stipulated in your contract.
When do I recover the deposit?
You will recover the deposit at the end of the contract period.
If you break the contract before its end, the deposit will be paid back once the new tenant has paid the deposit.
What is the transaction costs?
Transaction cost is the cost to transfer money from one currency to another. Banks charge you X% to transfer money. However due to the large amount we transfer and our deal with a bank, we are able to offer lower transaction cost than you would get.
What is the difference between the transaction cost and the one-time service fee?
The one-time service fee is a fee we charge to cover the platform maintenance cost. Since we want to help you, we do not overcharge you We are actually a lot cheaper than other agent in Asia who sometimes charge one or two months’ rent for their service.
During my stay
Can my friends visit during my stay?
This depends on your landlord policy. Most of them allow visitors but some put conditions to it that are clearly stipulated in the contract. For more information about your house rules one overnight guests ask your MRA booking expert or contact us at hello@myroomabroad.com
If there are any arguments with the landlord, will you help me?
We are of course always available to give you advice! You can contact us to help resolve the problem as an impartial intermediary.
If no settlement is possible and legal action is needed, this will be between the landlord and you. My Room Abroad is the platform connecting both parties. The team will help you the best they can. However, in case of legal dispute, they will not intervene. This nevertheless happens rarely as we only work with trustworthy landlords.
Cancellation policy
Is it possible to cancel my booking?
The cancelation policy is proper to each apartment/owner. Therefore, it is always explained in the lease contract signed by the student. Ask your MRA booking expert for more information on your landlord cancelation policy.
What happens if my booking is canceled?
In some rare cases, booking might be cancelled if an unexpected event happens to the property or its landlord.
If it is the case, you will be notified immediately and everything you paid will be fully refunded to you within a few business days, depending on your payment option.
As you will need to find a new place, we will give you other available option. We will base our propositions on the type of listings you chose in the first place, trying to match your preferences to the best of our abilities.
After your stay
What if my lease period is longer than my stay?
Some students only stay for a semester while most lease contract have a one-year length. If you have to break our contract, we help you find your next tenant by posting your room back online.
However, if you do not want to take the risk of having the pay the rent after your departure, we can provide you an insurance. In exchange for the payment of one-month rent, My Room Abroad takes over the lease contract and promise to pay the remaining rent if no new tenant is found.
What if I want to extend my contract?
Usually landlords give the priority to the current tenant to extend their contract. You need to notify your landlord that you want to extend your lease and the details of the arrangement are to be discussed between the both of you.
Most landlords will ask to be notified one month before the contract end, but some might only want to be notified 2 weeks in advance. To know when you should tell your landlord you want to stay longer in the room, feel free to ask you MRA booking expert or your landlord directly.
How do I find my next tenant?
There are plenty of ways to find you next tenant and My Room Abroad is there to help you find him or her. The best ways to find somebody taking over your lease if by asking your own network, posting your room on Facebook rental groups, you can also ask for advice to your landlord and where to post rental ads.
Learn more> linked to how to find my next tenant