How does it work? You simply sign up on Housing Anywhere website and either register your place for subletting, or search for housing in any of the 136 countries that are covered by the platform. This way you will avoid paying double rent and it might be easier to find a room only for those few months that you will spend abroad. Interested? Good, because Housing Anywhere is now also active at the University of Twente.
85% rooms get rented within 3 days
'Housing Anywhere has partners all over the world. There are more than 47.000 rooms listed on the website and 85% of all rooms get rented within 3 days,' explains Kiril Kolev, who is the platform´s student ambassador at the UT. 'The platform is only for students - from students to students.'
It was even founded by them. In 2009, a group of students from the Rotterdam School of Management couldn´t find accommodation for their exchange semester in Singapore, so they came up with this project, which now includes more than 3800 cities all over the world.
No scams!
There have been many reports of scams related to housing in Enschede. How safe is Housing Anywhere? ' So far, there have been absolutely no scams or problems associated with Housing Anywhere. Every room is checked. We contact everybody, who lists a place for renting and now we even check the rooms one by one. There is even a sample subletting contract available on the website for those, who choose to use it,' answers Kolev.
How to use?
Any student is free to use the platform. Only payments involved are the security deposit (to ensure you truly mean to rent the given place) and the rent. How much you pay depends entirely on the agreement between you and your renter and the rent is paid directly to the student, who sublets the room. Rooms offered via Housing Anywhere generally come with pictures and detailed description of the included equipment, fees and other relevant information. Most rooms are rented for short periods of time, but can also be sublet on long-term basis.
Housing Anywhere is now active at the University of Twente and at Saxion, so feel free to temporarily offer your room to one of the many local international students. 'We hope to get more rooms on the UT campus,' says Kolev. 'The demand is there, but many students sublet their rooms via social media, which isn´t always the safest option.'
