Tenants’ associations, rent rules, deposits, service charges and how to find a flat.
Deposits that are not paid back, service charge statements and rent increases are behind many disputes with landlords. A tenants’ association checks the papers and writes to the landlord for its members, usually for a yearly fee.
Cohabilis is the French network of intergenerational home-sharing associations: a person aged 60 or over rents a room in their home to someone under 30, a student, apprentice, trainee or young worker…
Alternative to expensive student rooms, and to living alone in old age
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Le Pari Solidaire is a Paris association that places young people under 30 in the homes of people aged 60 or more, in Paris and Île-de-France. The young person gets a room for a small contribution…
Alternative to living alone in old age and to overpriced rooms in Paris
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ACORN is a community and tenants’ union in England and Wales whose members act together against bad landlords, to get repairs done, deposits returned and evictions stopped, for a membership fee based…
Alternative to facing a landlord or letting agent alone
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Shelter is a British housing charity whose free online advice explains tenants’ rights in England on deposits, repairs, rent rises and eviction, with a helpline and webchat for urgent cases and…
Alternative to relying on lettings agents and landlords for advice on your rights
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Visale is a free rent guarantee from Action Logement that stands in for a personal guarantor: it covers unpaid rent and charges for the landlord, at no cost to either landlord or tenant, for young…
Alternative to paid guarantors, guarantor companies and unpaid-rent insurance
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The ADIL (agences départementales d’information sur le logement) give free legal, financial and tax advice on housing in France: leases and rent, unpaid rent, co-ownership, buying a home, loans…
Alternative to paid legal advice and the vague answers of internet forums
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The Deutscher Mieterbund (DMB) is the umbrella organisation of more than 300 local tenants’ associations (Mietervereine) in Germany. Members of a local association get personal legal advice on rent…
Alternative to facing landlords alone, or paying an expensive lawyer for every dispute
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The Mietshäuser Syndikat is a German network of self-organised housing projects that buys buildings and takes them off the property market for good. It is an alternative to renting from investors and…
Alternative to renting from investors and real estate companies that resell for profit
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PAP, short for De Particulier à Particulier, is a French property listings site and magazine where private landlords and sellers advertise homes directly to tenants and buyers, without an estate…
Alternative to estate agents and their fees for renting or selling a home
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Conny is a Berlin legal-tech company that checks for free whether a rent is above the German rent cap (Mietpreisbremse) and, if so, claims the reduction and the overpaid rent from the landlord as a…
Alternative to paying more rent than the Mietpreisbremse allows
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Renting without being taken advantage of
Ageing, end of life and funerals
Political participation and citizens’ initiatives
Neighbourhood, community spaces and local networks
Law, consumer protection and advice
Housing, building and renovation
Work and cooperative economy
