Paris Housing - Denicourt Immobilier (SAS) — Local services in Paris

Horrible. I rented via Parishousing for 9 months. 1) They never fixed the pull-down blinds that were all broken before I arrived. 2) they asked that I leave a little earlier than my end-lease date to accommodate the landlord who wanted to move in after me. 3) they called me while I was on a week vacation to scream at me for not being home to let a painter in. I explained that I had alerted them when I’d be gone, and that though I preferred being home while a worker was there, I was OK with a worker letting themself in if I had to be gone. Note, this was a paint job for the kitchen ceiling being fixed after a hole was made from a leak above which they NEVER told me about, I only found out at check in. They gave me a measly apology putting it down to communication and I felt awkward & unwelcome whenever I needed to stop by their office since. 4) several lightbulbs were out upon check in but they told me I needed to replace them. 5) a mice problem began around November. I emailed to ask if this had been a problem before, they said no and told me I had to buy mouse traps yet I always heard mice in the walls around dusk/night and saw them running from bathroom to kitchen sometimes. I plugged wall holes with tissue paper which kind of worked. A friend informed me that her agency helped her mice issue saying that the agency is required to deal with mice, not the tenant- I don’t know how true that is but anyway it shows how unhelpful this agency really is. Later in emails when they sent me my check out form, they (accidentally?) sent the history of the apartment which listed mice. 6) check out was MISERABLE I left the paper in the holes to show that I tried to stop the mice though some of the paper had been pushed out or ripped, which I left as evidence of this. For this they said I’d be charged 1 hour cleaning in the bathroom for 20€. I thought it was ridiculous but we signed off on it. Later I got an invoice for a 60€ cleaning bill for the whole place! After my mother and I swept scrubbed cleaned everything leaving it better than when I got it all dusty! I demanded to be charged the 20€ we agreed on but they said that whatever we talked about was an estimate even though it was on paper and signed for! I gave up, but said I need the receipt to show my family (the money came from a joint account that I needed to account for) & also for tax purposes. They said they had no receipt for the cleaning services. I explained that this isn’t ok as I can’t account for what they did with the money & also with my taxes. I sent many emails to ask the cleaning company for a receipt and they sent 1 last angry email about the 20€ being an estimate, ignoring my need for a receipt entirely. They stopped answering emails, took my money anyway, and took another month to refund my security deposit. I’ll laugh if they respond to my review but not my emails! 7) The electricity bill-I paid the €40 each month they said would be the electricity cost. I always thought I might spend a bit more than €40 in the winter months, but my bill came to a whopping 900€ more! This had never happened to me before. They said it is what it is. I used the heating only in the room I slept, did laundry twice a month, etc. When I asked for the beginning & end meter digits, they refused to send me them. I believe that they lied when they gave me the apartment’s electricity estimate or lied about the bill and pocketed the money (along with the cleaning bill?). With Parishousing I always felt upset, unheard, unsure of, and taken advantage of. They left me with more problems than I began with and an overall ugly feeling. Maybe if you rent short term you won’t experience such bad business, but if you plan for long term definitely take your money elsewhere. I left two stars instead of one because I liked my apartment but absolutely resent their service (which I remind you you pay for with agency fees). EDIT: I read through reviews and it seems that if you lease your place through this agency, all good. But if you rent, absolutely dreadful EDIT: Actually I’m giving...

Interested only in tourists. Long-term renters, run away! Be careful, the place you visited might not be the same as what you get (furniture might be replaced by cheap stuff without telling you beforehand). Don't take it if it's not as agreed, as you might regret it later. Sorry renters, landlord is king no matter what, you've been warned! dont' wait for things to get fixed, they will or will not get back to you, if they actually do.. depends on the landlord/landlady's will.. and theirs. Very random. Emails get lost (???)... Rented an apartment with them for 2 years - landlady was always stingy at best when things needed to get fixed or replaced, when fixed ."why use that feature?" , "I think it's fine it never bothered me" (because who needs electricity in the bedroom or a working microwave really...?) says landlady. Shocker... When leaving, stuck up landlords (of course, you're paying for a high quality apartment remember?). Agency only siding with landlord during the whole renting period, adding more stress to the situation... Because as you know, "you're not the one paying them" (hey...it's not a hidden part of your rent at all......), don't expect help or fast resolutions from them. Beware of the quality of the materials used... including paint, electricity-related installations etc., you might be taken responsible for the cheapness and wrongdoings later on. Don't hesitate on a thorough cleaning when leaving, any dust or spot will justify you paying for something. Even if you got the apartment pretty dirty to begin with. Because as the landlady told me when I left "if it was dirty you shouldn't have taken it". While this dirtiness was actually listed in the document when I got the keys. Don't expect them to turn a blind eye because of it. All in all a very bad agency, bad service and response times overall and closed Saturdays (!?!). Run away if you think long-term and are not a tourist looking for a really temp place to visit, as anything is good to have you pay more or deduct from deposit. Oh and I own another place myself close by, which is leased, had to rent there due to personal circumstances. Would never give them my place to take care of after witnessing such bad service. This is thanks to such places that Parisians are leaving the central area. Because furnished rental is now all over the place and finding a non-furnished place has become highly difficult these days. Would not recommend. Entirety agree with comment "I read through reviews and it seems that if you lease your place through this agency, all good. But if you rent, absolutely dreadful " below. My thoughts exactly. Although I would not even give them my own place to manage for that specific reason. Update 12/03/2019: absolutely confirm the lack of trust and unprofessionalism after trying to get the quotes (and what quotes!) used to deduct money from...

I have a word of warning for tenants like myself who lived in an apartment run by Paris Housing.

The rental agency takes advantage of the fact that most tenants like myself are expats and may be unfamiliar with French law.

A few months into my rental, I had an issue with bed bugs. Paris Housing said that it would be my responsibility to cover the cost of treatment, which they quoted as 445.99 euro if done through a company that they work with. They explained that since the bed bugs did not appear at the start of my rental, I was to blame.

I did not want to pay such a hefty amount, so I decided to contact a bed bug treatment company on my own, and ended up paying 300 euros out of my own pocket.

Guess what? Turns out Paris Housing was breaking the law.

Under French law, the rental agency is responsible for paying for the labour costs of the bed bug treatment, while the tenant pays the costs for the material. It doesn’t matter at what stage of the rental period the bugs appear.

The only reason I realized that they should have paid about half the bill is because my friend also had an issue with bed bugs, and her agency informed her of the law (in fact, her rental agency was nice enough to pay the entire bill).

Is it possible that my rental agency didn’t know about the law? Highly unlikely, since they’ve been in the business a long time.

When I informed them of the law, they (surprise, surprise), agreed to pay the cost of the labour.

The company that I hired to do the treatment did it improperly. The bed bugs ended up coming back! So I had to again pay for treatment, and this time, Paris Housing did pay about half the bill. What a waste of my money though - I shouldn't have paid twice.

Here’s another example of my disappointment with Paris Housing:

I wanted to leave my apartment early, as I did not like the way Paris Housing treated me. I gave a month's notice, which is the requirement under French law. However, Paris Housing informed me that according to my contract, I had to give two months' notice. I contacted a lawyer, who informed me that legally, only one month is required under French law. The contract that I originally signed did indicate that I needed to give two months' notice (being naive and not understanding French law at the time, I really didn't think a rental agency would take advantage of me). As my lawyer informed me, two months' notice is against French law.

Luckily for me, I was able to get a job that required me to move, so in this case, one month’s notice of termination sufficed.

In conclusion, I would be very careful when booking a place with this rental agency. Definitely hire a lawyer and/or become very well informed with French law so that they and others do not take advantage of you...