DON'T WORK WITH THIS AGENCY if you want to be treated with honesty. They are thieves! Don't believe…read morethe number of stars on their site or on Facebook, most of these reviews are written internally to boost the company's review rate. We learned that too late, and at our expense, as we unfortunately didn't read the numerous negative reviews that share the unfortunate experiences of past clients before we rented an apartment with them. We have dealt with numerous rental agencies and independent landlords in Paris in the past and never, ever, have we been treated with such dishonesty.
If you want the short story, skip to the last sentences of this review. Here are the details of our experience with this agency:
We rented a furnished apartment through Book-A-Flat in the 6th arrondissement in the fall of 2019. To start with, their état des lieux (EDL- which is the official document where everything in the apartment is noted down before you moved in) was done very lightly, omitting major existing damages and we had to spend hours to document stains, damaged and broken items and send this documentation to the agency to be included in the EDL to make sure we wouldn't be held responsible of existing damages when we left the apartment. In retrospect, had we not done this, the agency would have likely kept our entire deposit, which was worth 2 months of rent.
Throughout our rental agreement, we honored our part of the rental contract, always paying by the 1st of the month and keeping the apartment well maintained and professionally cleaned once a week. The apartment bathroom was not up to code, as it lacked ventilation, which is requested by the law. We mentioned the accumulation of mold to the agency and never requested major work or asked for a reduced rent until the problem was solved.
We had to give notice during the pandemic. We gave the agency the necessary month notice. Although we asked to be present during the EDLS (etat des lieux de sortie, when the agency representative checks every item in the apartment) and made ourselves available, the agency used the confinement period (which lasted until May 11, 2020) as an excuse to do the EDLS without us. This was not legal: we learned later from a legal office that we are currently working with that EDL with both parties were authorized during the confinement as long as safety measures were respected. With us not present, the agency was able to claim that the apartment was dirty, to justify retaining a ridiculous amount of money for cleaning charges on our deposit. They also charged us for a paint job for a stain they claimed was on a heater - all heaters in the apartment had stains- and charged us over 300 euros for a "parure de lit" for the replacement of a bedsheet cover that was stained when we arrived. They made us pay for the replacement of pillow cases which state was noted identical when we arrived and when we left, justifying that the landlords wanted a "matching ensemble." This is not legal folks!
We had taken over 100 photos showing the apartment cleaner than when we moved in. The gardienne, herself a professional cleaning person, who kept the building tidy, remarked how clean the apartment was when she came in to get our keys when we left the apartment. If we had been present during the EDLS, there is no way they could have claimed in front of us that the apartment was dirty. In our back and forth with the agency, they would change how they characterize dirty - as the photos they had taken didn't show anything dirty: they would come back to us saying that there was "dust." Attached are just a random example of how we left the apartment: photos of the fridge left clean on the day we left, but which they claimed was "dirty" (word they changed for "dusty" in their following correspondance with us) and an example of how we left the apartment cleaner than we found it.
Quite disturbingly, the agency lied on the actual date the EDLS was performed, therefore lying on an official document. To justify stopping us from attending the EDLS, they said they had done it on May 6 during the confinement when we learned from several witnesses on May 11 that they still hadn't picked up the keys to do the EDLS. In reality, it was done on May 12 and we could have been present.
Lying on an official document to take advantage of people in a time of global crisis is quite cynical and disturbing. This is Book-A-Flat for you!
Long story short, they make money by taking advantage of people. As most of their clients are foreigners, they don't think clients will go ahead and pursue legal action. They are many respectable and reliable rental agencies in Paris. Go work with one of them! Book-A-Flat is not one of them!
