UniplacesReviews 147

This is not a review; it is a formal warning to any student or person considering using Uniplaces. Do not walk away, run. Their business model is deceptive, and they will knowingly partner with fraudulent operators, take your money, and then use their "cancellation policy" as a weapon to keep it.

Here is my experience, documented by a full email chain.

The Trap is Set
I found a room on Uniplaces and paid €1,087 to secure it. This included the first month's rent and Uniplaces' significant "service fee."

It was only AFTER my money was taken and the booking was confirmed that Uniplaces revealed the identity of the landlord: a notorious company called "Habyt".

The Discovery
A quick Google search revealed a nightmare. Habyt is an infamous operator with:
- A horrifying reputation for stealing tenant deposits.
- Multiple active lawsuits against them from tenants.
- An investigative documentary by the German public broadcaster ZDF detailing their systematic scams.
- A friend of mine had to hire a lawyer to get his deposit back, ongoing.

Immediately after booking, Habyt contacted me with, demanding a separate €150 "membership fee" before even seeing the contract or room, and stating that the Uniplaces check-out policy was "not official". Basically, Uniplaces' service guarantee was nullified. Wait, there's so much more.

The Confrontation and Uniplaces' Complicity
I contacted Uniplaces support (case handled by "Claudia", no surname) and laid this all out. I explained that I had paid them a service fee assuming they provide a safe, vetted platform. Instead, they had knowingly facilitated a transaction with a documented fraudulent landlord.

Their response? They didn't care.

First, they dismissed my concerns, stating they "cannot consider reviews of third party websites" (like... public news, thousands of reviews and entire communities built around class action lawsuits?).

I escalated, explaining this was not a simple "bad review" but a case of documented fraud and that their service was not a legitimate booking platform but a "passive bulletin board profiting from predatory agents."

A "supervisor" reviewed the case and doubled down. They stated that because I had agreed to their "Cancellation Policy," they would not provide a refund.

The Core of the Deception (Which They Admitted)
Here is their predatory model: Uniplaces deliberately hides the landlord's identity until after you are financially locked in.

They even confirmed this in an email: "... all the informations regarding the booking process with Uniplaces, including the fact that the landlord's name... are disclosed after they accept the request, are included in our Terms of Service..."

They know people would never book with operators like Habyt, so they hide that critical information until it's too late. This is a material omission, and using their ToS to justify it is deceptive.

The Impossible Choice Uniplaces Gave Me
Uniplaces' final, cold response left me with two options:
1. Cancel the booking and immediately lose my €1,087 for a "service" that did nothing but trap me.
2. Proceed with the booking, send more money to Habyt (a ~€1,300 deposit + €150 fee) that I would be guaranteed to never see again, and enter a legal battle.

Uniplaces created a no-win situation where I was guaranteed to lose over €1,100 because of their platform.

Final Warning
I offered them several opportunities to refund me rather than defend a clearly fraudulent partner, but they ignored my email. What kind of service is this? I paid for this?

Uniplaces is not a safe intermediary. They are an active partner in this ecosystem, profiting from a model that knowingly funnels students and young professionals to predatory landlords. They take your money, hide the risks, and then point to their "policy" when you discover the truth.

This is not a "bad experience"; this is a fraudulent business practice.

To illustrate the fundamental flaw that enables this fraud:
1. A scammer lists a non-existent (or bait-and-switch) room on Uniplaces.
2. A student pays Uniplaces their €1,100, trusting them as a "safe" platform.
3. As per Uniplaces' own policy, the scammer's identity and contract are hidden until after the payment is secured.
4. The scammer then sends the student an insane, extortionist contract.
5. The student, of course, refuses to sign and demands a refund.
6. Uniplaces steps in, rejects the refund, and cites the "cancellation policy."
Result: The scammer gets paid the first month's rent for a room that was never fairly offered, Uniplaces keeps its "service fee," and the student is robbed. Their system is a feature, not a bug, for this exact kind of fraud.

PLEASE, PLEASE save your money. Go elsewhere.

Uniplaces is a scam!

I had a horrible experience with Uniplaces and lost €738 because of them. They made me pay half a month up front, supposedly to guarantee my spot in the accommodation. When I arrived, the place had moldy bedrooms and bathrooms, smelled bad, and was overall dirty—far below basic living standards.

I also paid their "security" fee, which is meant to cover situations like this and either refund your money or help you find another place. However, when I reported the issues, they refused to help, claiming I was past the 24-hour period after "moving in." The problem is, I hadn't moved in yet because they required early payment, so my check-in date on paper was earlier. They did not refund any money or provide any assistance, which is extremely unprofessional.

On top of that, their website has no contact phone number. They also claim that no money will be withdrawn until a landlord approves your booking—but as soon as I sent my booking request, they took my money immediately.

To all fellow students: never use Uniplaces to find accommodation—they are scammers!

This platform is a scam! Uniplaces claim they will keep our money safe with them until we have confirmed everything is fine with the accommodation, BUT if you read the terms and conditions on their website they renounce all of their responsibility... My friend and I arrived at our accommodation WITHOUT having signed any contract. The rooms we have requested to rent were disgustingly dirty and broken and did not look like the photos at all, which we told Uniplaces. Yet they proceeded our money to the landlord, only because the landlord said the rooms were fine. Now Uniplaces claim it's not their issue anymore and we have to talk to the landlord to get our money back, which is very hard since the landlord has blocked our phonenumbers and aren't responding to our emails... Please do not use this platform! I wouldn't recommend using Uniplaces to anyone unless you want to be scammed...

Uniplaces is the WORST booking platform ever, if I could give negative stars, I would. You would definitely be better off elsewhere. Even worse, they claim to be a platform for students, who naturally have lower to no income. Their ultimate focus is to get customers to quickly commit to a deal so they get to enjoy their easy earned rigged service fee for doing absolutely nothing and claimed that to be non-refundable. Mine was €400 alongside 1st month rental of €500. They say they protect tenants, which is an absolute huge lie. They do the exact opposite, it's a scam company, sucking the money out of prospective tenants through their underhand tactics. There's no justification for collecting such a high service fee for just being a platform with poor quality, unverified landlord listings. They don't even check their landlord publishings to make sure the information published is accurate. Policies on their webpages are purposely spread out all over the place in bits and pieces and the choice of words are designed to intentionally mislead readers. For example, there's a difference between move in date and contract start date (which I didn't choose) so do be clear on that as their own cancellation policies before you attempt to make any booking/fill your bank/card details (just don't even consider Uniplaces). Despicable tactics. Useless customer service bringing you in loops intentionally delaying your time, with no intentions of resolution. Misrepresentation of property by the landlord, of which I asked for a full refund but Uniplaces was unwilling to support. The pictures showed only 1 bed in the room but the text said that it is a shared room. Partner company UniAcco also tried to deceive me on the same exact room saying that it was 1 bed in the room. Uniplaces then counter offered a waiver for the subsequent booking rigged non-refundable service fee. Who can trust such a platform?

Booking ID: ******* This platform is a disaster. We booked an apartment in Porto through UniPlaces for a full year, with a move-in date of July 1st. When we arrived, the apartment was absolutely unlivable — there was visible mold on the walls, extreme humidity, and the air was so damp and unhealthy that we couldn't even stay inside without risking our health. We immediately contacted both UniPlaces and the landlord within their "24-hour safety period." The landlord replied very late and was completely uncooperative. UniPlaces' response? "Wait." They told us to just wait around while the apartment was being "fixed." No solution, no alternative, no help. We never moved in. We had to find emergency accommodation on our own — fast — and cover everything ourselves. And despite following all of UniPlaces' rules and submitting clear evidence, they refused to refund us. They acted like we hadn't followed the proper steps, even though we did. It was like talking to a wall. They simply ignored the facts and pushed responsibility away. We lost a lot of money, but more than that — we lost time, security, and peace of mind. The amount of stress and helplessness we felt dealing with this company was enormous. Their customer support feels robotic, uncaring, and completely useless in a real crisis. They protect landlords, not the people who pay to stay there. If you're thinking of using UniPlaces — don't. It's not worth the risk. If anything goes wrong, you'll be left alone to deal with the consequences, just like we were.

The customer support is either not human (AI bot) or insane. They literally reply me with contradicting information from their website and each other. I was lucky not to book anything because they made it impossible but I do not recommend anyone getting involved. You can't speak to anyone who makes sense. It looks like the whole project is automated scam machine.

Uniplace has robbed me 585 euros and I could not have my money back. This page is completely fraudulent and the case is now denounced in the Spanish police. They do not have phone numbers to call (you will never talk with a human being) and the only thing they want is to have all your money and then you could never have the apartment. They will ask you more and more money each time. Please, do not commit my mistake and do not book with them as long as you want to have your money safe. For me, now it is too late and the only thing I can do is to warn others.

I want to share my terrible experience renting through Uniplaces in Barcelona to warn others about their lack of tenant protection. I rented a room through Uniplaces, paid my deposit in cash as requested by the landlord, and followed all rental conditions. However, when I moved out, the landlord refused to return my deposit with false accusations that I used her belongings and entered her room. In reality: She filmed me without my consent, which is illegal in Spain.
She denied me hot water and treated me like a criminal.
She made false claims about me using her things—when I didn't.
She is now ignoring my requests for my deposit refund. I reached out to Uniplaces for help, but they have done nothing to assist me. They refused to publish my negative review on their website, which makes me wonder how many other bad experiences they are hiding from renters. If you are considering booking through Uniplaces, be extremely careful—they do not protect tenants from fraud and abusive landlords. I will be reporting this case to consumer protection authorities and tenant organizations. Have you had a similar experience with Uniplaces or a bad landlord? Let's expose them together. 🛑 #Uniplaces #TenantRights #RentalScam #Barcelona #HousingFraud

I was happy to have found a place to live at last, so I made a reservation, and it was roughly stated that I would pay a total of 1350€ all inclusive for utilities and first rent, which was barely within my budget, but I made do. Then when I'd paid, the owner contacted me to tell me that I now had to pay him 1500€ too! Which comes to 3000€ in total! You can imagine that for a student this price is absolutely astronomical and impossible to pay! So I contact them explaining the situation and they explain that it was written if I pressed the little tiny arrow. SUPER. It's crazy to be so dishonest! Just say that the total is 3000€ plus the rent each month and those who can afford it will! And now that they've got me, they're refusing to pay me back! I'm literally unable to pay 1500€ and can't take the room, so I'm stuck. No matter how hard I try to explain the situation, they refuse to reimburse me, even though for a student 1350€ is HUGE! I don't understand how someone can be so dishonest and tell me "yes, but it was marked" when they know exactly what they're doing by putting it in very small print. I strongly advise against Uniplace, they clearly ripped me off. And now I don't have a room and I've lost 1350€... whereas a refund doesn't cost them anything as I'm not taking the room.

An absolutely terrible agency and establishment. Stay as FAR AWAY from "Uniplaces" as possible. The "customer service" you receive reeks of incompetence. "Ana" was quite literally the worst customer service representative I have ever spoken to. Uniplaces WILL do ANYTHING to keep your money, even at the tenant's demise. They are not useful for international students, or any students at all, quite simply put. They will keep your funds and then observe the evidence and complaints you give them, do nothing about it, only then to take the landlord's side to preserve the contract. Highly unprofessional agency. I would recommend anyone here Housing Anywhere, as it is a much more transparent source for residency during your studies. Good luck to you all and don't forget to use a good, transparent, website like Housing Anywhere! Don't let this agency ruin your education experience!

P.S. Uniplaces flagged my original review for "defamatory content." Tells you everything you need to know about this company and how they will dismiss your situation for profit, and then try and silence you when you speak up. I hope this all tells you everything you need to know about Uniplaces. I will be wide spreading this review on all platforms to help college students around the world. No one deserves to go through what I went through with Uniplaces, especially when they are simply trying to better themselves and their careers through higher education. Good luck to you all and stay wary! Also, not to mention, they are conveniently not a part of the BBB (Better Business Bureau). I've seen many poor reviews of this company, particularly on Reddit, where people have shared their truly horrible experiences. Food for thought!

P.S. If you take this one down, I will simply write another one. Protective yourselves people!

The worst site, lie to tenants, lie to landlords allow listings to be changed, third party sites used,
Take the money and run policy, NO Helpline, virtually a ghost company be AWARE, they profit form problems by keeping the money.
Try and find an address or phone number, just harvesting money from misery

Unfortunately, I had to cancel my booking and the room was seamlessly re-let to another student I knew. Nevertheless, Uniplaces insisted on its strict cancellation policy, which meant that I lost the booking fee and the first month's rent (€700 in total) without anything in return. Very unfriendly and unresponsive customer service, out to maximise profit, unfortunately I cannot recommend. In future I can recommend everyone to use idealista.

The primary mission of this company seems to be taking your money without any intention of returning it. Here's what happened in my case:

I urgently needed to book an entire apartment for the same day. They responded with an alternative option from the same host at the same price. I clicked "Book" directly from the email. Immediately, they charged me €932.00 (€252.00 - is a servive fee).

When I checked my booking on their site, I discovered that I had actually booked just a single room in a three-room apartment shared with students – at the same price as the whole apartment! This was completely unsuitable as I was planning to stay with my wife and did not need a shared space.

Within 10 minutes, I contacted their support team. After some back and forth, they redirected me to another department via email, requiring me to explain everything from scratch, wasting valuable time on the same day I was supposed to check in.

Their final response was, "We are really sorry, but you clicked the button, so we can't help you or return your money." This left us €932.00 out of pocket and forced my wife and me to share an apartment with students, including all shared spaces.

It's incredibly frustrating and misleading to request the whole apartment and had a proposition to book an alternative with same price but just a room and end up with just a room with a same price, especially when they refuse to help refund the money.

I've booked a room via uniplaces and when I went to move in and i was disappointed to see that the room and the whole place was so filthy so i just walked out and complaint uniplaces about that situation immediately. However they refused to refund or relocate me somewhere! And stole my money (my rent and their fee). They forget that - God does exist! Until how long will they digest that money!

I booked a room two or three month before my exchange in Porto on their website. They confirmed that I got the room and two weeks before my flight to Porto they declined my booking. They didn't help me just offered me a discount. So I booked again on their website and they confirmed it. Big mistake... two days before my flight they declined again and I needed to fly to Porto without a room and needed to pay extra money for a Hotel and had to get a more expensive room. They don't check their landlords. You can have luck when you book the room from a good landlord, but when the landlord wants to scam you, uniplaces will do nothing and will even offer the scamy room again on their website...

I rented a room in Milan, Lorenzo Bartolini, by uniplaces and the owner was trustable. At the end she refused to give me back my deposit. I didn't cause any damages or anything. They also didn't help me at all. It's just wasting money. Never trust.

I have a really bad experience about renting a home in milan by them. The owner refuses to pay me back my deposit. When I informed them, they just sent an email to the owner for more information and the owner even didn't reply them. But they still have the house advertisement on their website. I don't recommend it. Basically, they don't fix your problem if you face any.

I never booked a property with Uniplaces and NEVER WILL DO! They advertise a property in Milan for a certain price! I BOOKED IT! BUT the transaction was not completed on my credit card! After 12 hours uniplaces rejected the proposal and said that the price was wrong! The correct price is $1000 euro higher! NO MATTER WHAT, YOU MUST HONNOR THE PRICE YOU ADVERTISE! I have photos and I can prove it!

My experience has been terrible, so far I consider it to be the worst travel platform. I strongly recommend avoiding hiring! Information about properties is sparse and unverified. The platform charges very high fees supposedly for mediation services, but, in practice, landlords can do whatever they want with tenants, placing them in delicate, unsafe, unethical, and illegal situations. Even reporting the problems I have been having with the platform, I am still waiting for some reasonable mediation. Don't use it!