Finding a room abroad is a difficult and stressful process for international students. We know that, we have been there. One of the main reason for this is the lack of trust.
Can I trust a landlord I have never met? Are the pictures and description of the room accurate? Will my landlord help me if there is a problem in the room? Can I make the deposit payment safely or is the landlord just a scam?
To tackle this problem, My Room Abroad certifies all the landlords on its platform.
What does it mean exactly?
A certified landlord is a landlord that has been screened by a My Room Abroad representative and fulfill all the criteria of a trustworthy landlord.
My room Abroad certifies that the landlord and his rooms are real and that the description and pictures are accurate. We do not accept landlord trying to rent illegal but widespread rooftop rooms for instance.
Moreover, to be able to list his room on the platform, the landlord or flat manager is required to have a basic English level, allow English contracts and online rent payment.
How do we certify the landlords?
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 better. This allows us to assess whether or not we can trust him.
This meeting is either held in English or in Chinese, if the landlord feels more at ease in his native language. 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 room uploaded on our platform represent reality. We check the cleanliness of the room and get a grip of the general feeling of the apartment.
Lastly, we contact previous tenants to have some feedback about the landlord behavior during their stay in his room.