Searching for accommodation is time-consuming and may raise several questions and concerns. No worries! Studapart is here to assist in your search.
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Searching for accommodation

Searching for accommodation takes time. You have to be clear with your criteria, browse dozens of ads, avoid scams and get in touch with landlords. All of this on different sites. This requires time and investment and what’s more, you will also have to organize your move-in and other time-consuming procedures.

A French tenant’s first impulse when looking for an apartment in the private sector without paying agency fees is to turn to classifieds sites such as leboncoin.fr, where you can find all types of offers between private individuals. LeBonCoin is a lot like Craiglist for the Americans, Avito for the Russians, Baixing for the Chinese or Subito for Italians.
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On these platforms, tenants mainly access ads owned by individual landlords. But there are plenty of ads, which can make the search difficult. Tenants can sort dwellings according to his criteria. He or she can also make a request for accommodation. In this case, he is contacted by a landlord if he is interested in the application.
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For international tenants who don’t speak french, it’s virtually impossible to find accommodation on such websites because of the language barrier: the offers are drafted entirely in french and aren’t translated. Landlords expect to interact in french, with potential tenants who have french guarantors. You also find a lot of fraudulent offers on LeBonCoin and transactions aren’t always secure.

Accommodation in student residences are a good option for the young. Among all types of student housing, it offers the most comfort. To find housing in student residences, some choose to search directly through the residence’s website, like Nexity or the Estudines.
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But procedures for booking in a student residence are very different than for other kinds of renters. Unlike classified ads sites, you will be in contact with a residence manager and not an individual landlord. Residence managers deal with hundreds of requests in the entire residence, much more than private owners. The process can be long, and you should be familiar with their expectations. This way!
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Social networks, Facebook in particular, are an alternative to classified ad sites. More and more people are using Facebook to find their accommodation.
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There are Facebook groups bringing landlords and tenants together. These groups are usually organized by city.
People are used to using Facebook, which explains why they are more at ease with searching accommodation on Facebook. It’s also easier to interact with landlords. On both sides, everyone can access information about the person they are talking to. For the landlord, it is a way of identifying potential party-goers or unconscientious tenants. The tenant can detect fraudulent advertisements more easily, which is not always easy on traditional platforms such as Leboncoin or Seloger. But there is no such thing as zero risk!
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You can be tempted to look for your accommodation on Facebook. There are french Facebook groups dedicated to student housing, but once more, you won’t understand a thing they’re saying and no one will be there to guide you through. Besides, the offers aren’t always relevant nor truthful, and they’re not verified. Still, if you want to go and have a look on Facebook, it’s better to turn to your school’s Facebook groups instead.

Les arnaques à la location se multiplient d’année en année. Le nombre de victimes a progressé de 30% sur les trois dernières années.
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There are more and more scams in rentals each years. The number of victims has increased by 30% in the last three years. Considering the number of online offers, you might run into one or two scams during your search! Here are a few tips on how to recognize them.
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If an offer seems to good to be true, it certainly is. If you’ve already started to search for an accommodation, you probably already have a good idea of the price range depending on the area and the condition of the apartment. So if you come across a beautiful, well located apartment, and that the rent is derisory, there’s probably something fishy!

A perfect apartment for a low rent is not the only danger. Landlords can sometimes act suspiciously. If you get in touch with the owner of that kind of offer and he tells you he’s abroad and can’t plan a visit for you, it’s probably best to give up. Refusing visits may be sign of a scam.
If you’re asked to send money in the form of mandate cash (like Western Union or MoneyGram), run away! You might be brought to believe it’s an advance on your rental deposit, to buy time and secure your reservation. But it’s pretty much impossible to track that kind of money transfer, so there’s no point hoping you might retrieve the money if it’s a scam.