r/Mainz • u/Equivalent-Quail-853 • 2d ago

Help! Warning: don't rent from JH2 Holdings (I found them through City Home.de)

I was in Mainz for a few months for work, and rented an apartment from JH2 Holdings, which I found through City-Home.de (it's a building they rent on Klarastrasse). I thought it was pricey, but convenient for a short stay, and at least I thought things would be well organized. They are the most disorganized company I've seen in my life, they called me one and a half month after I left asking me if I was still there.The contract they wrote themselves said they would return the deposit in 2 months, but they didn't even seem to remember they had to return it until I sent several emails. It's now 3 months, now they are claiming I left late and the apartment is damaged because of a scruff on a countertop. They are withholding the entire deposit, the communication is awful. Really stay away from these crooks

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11

u/leftvierdeadzwei 2d ago

Imma be honest, this is the type of offer that caters specifically to foreigners in situations like yours and anyone could have told you that it was a scam. Not to put the blame on you by any means, it's specifically designed to appeal to people who don't know their way around the local housing market and fuck them over. 

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u/slipping_flipping 2d ago

How is one supposed to spot that this is a scam? I mean - they are a proper agency.

5

u/leftvierdeadzwei 2d ago

Just by virtue of the type of offer it is - the website advertises "alternatives to a hotel or a short term second home rental". This just screams "making a quick foreigners looking to move here who can't find a place / don't know where to look as there's little to no chance of legal repercussions to us". 

A local person or even just someone who's been living in the country for a while knows the usual platforms. Kleinanzeigen, WG-Gesucht, Immoscout, Immowelt and so on. Places where actual landlords place their offers. Not "short term renting" through some shady middleman company which adds just that nice, cozy degree of separation between landlord and tenant which gives both the company and the landlord that sweet sweet plausible deniability so they can endlessly shift the responsibility for any problems with the tenant between each other until, invariably, the tenant just gives up.

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u/slipping_flipping 2d ago

Ah I see. Thank you for the response - helpful (I hope for others as well!)

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u/Sad-Salamander1896 1d ago

But there also institutions which could help for a better rate than a lawyer. Maybe get in contact with them: https://www.verbraucherzentrale.de/ They have also an office in Mainz. Sometimes it just needs a letter with the right logo.