People at the door to rent your house. It has been happening to Magdalena Plech (36) and her husband Said Bouallala (45) from Tilburg for almost a year now. Every month there are people at the door who come to view their rental house or even say that they are already renting the house. It causes stress and anxiety. “One day someone will come and get their money back.”
“It started about a year ago,” Magdalena says. “Suddenly a woman came to see our house to rent it.” The ad was posted on Facebook, she said. Magdalena and her husband Said didn’t think much of it. “Maybe someone had given the wrong address. Can happen right?”
But it turned out to be no misunderstanding. There was an ad on Facebook for the house that Magdalena and Said are already renting. An ad that must have been placed by a scammer. There’s a lot wrong with that ad anyway, says Magdalena. “The advertisement contains pictures of an apartment. It was offered as an ‘apartment in Tilburg for 600 euros. But if you google our address you immediately see that it is a terraced house,” she says irritated.
It caused quite a few problems for the couple. “Frequently, people drove slowly past our house or stopped to look at the house. Also, people often come to the door.” They are people who expect to be able to rent the house.
“Sometimes we even have people knocking on the door who say they have already paid for the house.” According to these people, the landlords ask for a two-month rent deposit for the house. This increases to amounts above 2000 euros.
Just to be sure, Magdalena and Saïd looked up the advertisement. “We have contacted the so-called landlords.” But that didn’t help much. “They asked if we were interested in renting this house”, Magdalena laughs.
Communication with the so-called landlords mainly takes place via Facebook and e-mail. There, the landlords also say that they are staying in England for a longer period of time.
Magdalena and Said have since approached Facebook and explained the situation. They also informed the police and made a report to their landlord, Tiwos. After the announcement it seemed calm for a while. But that turned out to be short-lived.
According to Magdalena and Said, it doesn’t stop with the people passing by. “There are one or two every month,” Said sighs. It happened again last Saturday. “We were on our way home and I received a notification via the electronic doorbell that someone was at the door. An old man on a moped was peeking in. When I asked if I could help him with anything, he drove away very fast.”
Because people stop at the door, Magdalena and Saïd know that there is still an advertisement online somewhere. “But we don’t know where. We spoke to the man on the moped later, but he acted as if he didn’t know anything.”
Besides irritation, it also causes stress and anxiety, Magdalena emphasizes. “We have reported it everywhere. Police, Tiwos and the municipality know. We get the people who come here to check, we get the people who peek through windows. Usually I am alone here with my child at home. One day someone will knock on the door to get his money back. I don’t want to know how that ends.”