I thought the landlords in the US were bad,...rental scams

A word to the wise, have run across a number of so-called "furnished" housing ads online, only to find they are lying and the place is not furnished, but they are "promising" to furnish it AFTER I give them deposit and rent. Sounds like a scam to me. Other lying liars renting places with numerous lies. Need to bring a polygraph with me when I view the places I think. No sense of integrity or honor any more, not just in P.I. either. And yes, it works BOTH ways, landlord and tenant.

 

Always see fully before you buy here and make sure it works and have it in the contract that they are responsible for regular wear and tear repairs on their things. Many landlords here will charge you a fortune for a crap place and say will furnish it after you pay and then put in the crappiest furnishings they can such as bamboo crap, tiny fridge, and so on. Their level of furnishings aren't what we are expecting either.

I learned from the first place I rented here in the Philippines. 20k a month fully furnished place in CDO. Big house with 3 aircons, fridge, tv, the works. TV didn't get a picture just fuzz, fridge didn't get cold enough to do its job, 1 week after moving in 1 aircon broke, and 2 weeks later a 2nd broke. Had it in the contract that their problem but owner said not their problem and ran off with my money to Manila. I had to pay 40k for the 1st 2 months and 20k deposit, out 40k as stayed only 1 month. Go to court 50k for a lawyer and much more for filing costs (no thanks), go to barangay captain and try that way owner never showed and just ran off to Manila. Barangay Captain suggested going after her husband which they were seperated and he wanted nothing to do with his b*tch wife.... as a guy how can I hold him accountable when he already realized she was trash hehe

 

another place I looked at has water turned off and electric, so had to twist their arms to get them to turn it on so I could see with my own eyes if electric and water were working. Water line had leak (guess who pays for water?) from rusted pipe that they never got around to fixing. That's a sure indication of a rotten landlord-poor upkeep of their property. If the roof looks shabby or things are broken, do not rent it, you WILL have problems.

But all this pales by comparison to what happened to you. Did you ever get any recourse?

Other place wants to meet me to take me to the house. I won't get into anyone's car here, now way no how, unless I know them. Good way to wind up robbed or worse.

Ads online frequently have misleading or downright phoney photos. Everyone nowadays seems to be turning into a scammer. Nothing is worth being known as a dishonest liar but I guess many just don't have the self-respect needed?

I may look towards building my own place, I am tired of getting the run around from bad landlords.

 

'Caveat Emptor', the Romans obviously knew about renting furnished property here too.....

 

welcome to what's soon to be your neighbors and friends. You're right, no sense of integrity or honor. Living the dream now Michael....

 

Renting an house in the PH and more specifically on Negros Oriental seems like a Russian Roulette or any other game with an unpredictable end. Had my piece of the pie and yes the PH landlord I experienced I can only call or compare him with a piece of sh*t. In my home country I should teach him a lesson he should never forget for the rest of his life. But being a foreigner in the PH I know already that even when right is on your side, to get it, is part two. So think twice, check triple and when it comes to a deposit and advanced rental payment be extra aware once again. For sure there are also honest and nice landlords/ladies in this country. The biggest problem: how to find them. When you find out he/she is an *sshole, it's already too late.

 

A friend of mine arrived from Florida on Wednesday ( he spent a week in Cebu) having agreed a price and conditions for a one month rent. bye phone and mail on Monday from Cebu) the owner changed a lot of the deposit conditions that seemed too much for anyone to agree to, he questioned the changes and was told to pi... off the guys property. he was a Kano owner.

Next the lady friend telephoned another owner ( Europian) and agreed a weekly price of 7.000. for a small Apartment. He and his Lady friend went and signed up. 25 mins later the owner rang and told the staff. go tell this Guy I changed my mind, it is 11.000p for the week. Long nose tax being imposed bye long noses.???

 

Regrettably...

I do not have a high opinion of most landlords either in US city where I came from or here.
They will have many horror stories to tell of bad tenants I am certain.
Regretably, I cannot tell you here what I think of MOST foreigners here, without starting a big flame war (probably). I will say that most of the Filipinos I have met in or near Dumag. are honest. I have had far fewer try to cheat me seriously here than in the USA.This may be due to the fact that I am too smart to fall into their schemes not sure. In the main the Filipinos I have encountered in Dumag. are polite, honest and good hearted. It's just the landlords here have no concept of getting a place fully ready to rent. They have houses and places to rent, but they either have no money to properly prepare them or they are sitting on their money hoping some foreigner will "invest" in their property. So the best policy is to never take their word for anything and make sure everything is in proper order before giving them a single centavo. But really the prices for rentals in or near Dumag are outrageous imo, few places are worth what they are asking and the money needed to furnish a place here is much higher than USA.

 

In general I agree with you that the majority of the local population living in Dumaguete are honest and friendly. As always there are exceptions to the rules both among filipinos and kanos. But landlords/ladies seem to be a different kind of breed; again not all of them of course. Still remember all the , and , when it comes to help to remind what has been agreed upon or promises that get broken more easier than anything else. So only sign a contract and make a deposit of maximum one month rent and no more than one month advanced rental payment after everything has been done 100% what was agreed upon. If not better ignore those places like the black plague or you will regret it the soonest possible the moment after you start to live there.