Federica Figliolia
They are scammers. Honesty and transparency are fundamental to a real estate agency, and EU-Makelaardij does not have them. When I found a house through the agency (October 2024), there was a lot of fraud and negligence: I was told (by employee MARCELA) that I would get a private room and share a bathroom with three girls at Kanaalstraat 217 (for a price of €1200 per month). The way it was formulated did not indicate that one of the girls was an older woman (probably in her forties) with serious mental health problems. The woman screamed (at herself or at me), threw objects at the wall separating her room from mine, and threw my belongings out of the common areas, which she recognized as ‘her space’ and ‘her house’ in her instability. She played deafening music at night, with the sole purpose of irritating me. She did the same thing by turning on the vacuum cleaner in the middle of the night. She left obsessively written messages in the bathroom about ‘poop’ and how she ‘always found it everywhere, took pictures of it and wanted to send it to the owner’. She also wrote threateningly that she would kick us out and insult us with the worst blasphemy. Although I am not here to blame the agency for the madness of this woman, EU-Makelaardij had previously received complaints about the situation. The agency was fully aware of the unsustainability of the situation, as it confirmed in messages, emails and personally. Tenants had already sent complaints to the agency and contacted the municipality, fearing this unwell woman. The service even advised calling the police if the woman exaggerated her behavior and became dangerous, but did not want to intervene themselves. This was not a safe environment to live in, let alone the enormous mental challenge. But EU-makelaardij HAD to rent. They HAD to profit. I decided to file a complaint, together with the other tenant (the third girl mentioned above). One of the employees, RHOKIA, tried to convince us with a condescending smile on her face (dare I say gaslight) by thinking that the agency had nothing to do with this and that we were exaggerating. This all without hiding that they were all fully aware of the situation. I pointed out that they had not responded to our (URGENT) emails for weeks. Her excuse? “We are dealing with OTHER emergencies”. I really hope that if you think this is less important than other emergencies, your organization is truly dysfunctional and completely incompetent. I was told: “You cannot demand that we answer you.” Yes, I can, Rhokia, this is your job. Of course, I expect you to respond quickly to my emergency case. Because the agency did not offer a solution, I demanded that they look for another place for me. They told me there were none available. Until I called my lawyer. Then there were tons. DO A RENTAL CHECK! Another thing about this agency is that they are predatory. They provided me with a studio (November 2024) (where I rushed because otherwise I would be homeless) at “Bilitonstraat 20e”. I paid €1250 per month. Then I researched the actual rental value of the house, which turned out to be around €400-€500 per month. A third of what I paid. If you live with them, do a rental check IMMEDIATELY. They have already flagged these scammers. Nevertheless, I suggest that, because they are quite slow, you also contact the Rental Committee and file a case with them. Another thing to do is report them to the municipality, which is quick and free. If you rent from them, I am so sorry, you are being scammed. But with many reports we can prevent more people from being scammed and ultimately stop these predators.
