Less than a month and a half since the outbreak of the military conflict in Ukraine, interest in housing for newly arrived Ukrainian households has not declined – on the contrary. Bezrealitka’s largest rental portal registers more than 40,000 reactions to rental advertisements per week, ie many times more than in the current period. He therefore gives a helping hand to Ukrainian households – an Ukrainian-speaking assistant who will advise them in finding a suitable sublease. Newcomers will teach Ukrainians how to look for housing in the Czech Republic and will warn them against fraud.
A record number of people have been looking for housing in Bezrealitka since the end of February. Demand is currently 340% higher than last year. A significant share of transactions was from newly arrived households. And although the influx of refugees is now declining, this equation does not apply to housing. The rents are now starting to look for Ukrainian households, which used to live with volunteers, they managed to find a job and gradually stand on their own two feet.
However, finding housing is not without problems. Bezrealitky therefore introduced the post of “Ukrainian Attaché for Housing in the Czech Republic”. A native speaker who will now help compatriots with housing. Its services can be used by anyone who needs to find a suitable sublet.
“Our new Ukrainian colleague will acquaint her compatriots with how to look for housing in the Czech Republic, what are the usual procedures and prices, with the wording of contracts, but will also draw their attention to practices that are definitely not common,” says Jan Škrabánek, Bezrealitka’s new director. “At the same time, a manual was created for newly arrived households, which will simplify not only their communication, but also their coexistence with the Czechs.”
Fraud protection is one of the important points. The Bezrealitka security shield, which uses artificial intelligence to identify fraudulent or suspicious advertisements, has prevented the publication of five times more advertisements since the crisis broke out than in the current period. For example, on social networks, no one checks something similar systemically.
“Unfortunately, we are encountering attempts in which Ukrainian households are motivated to pay a commission for arranging housing, which they have not seen before, are promised conditions that do not correspond to the facts or the owners do not give clear conditions for energy payments and risk losing unreported arrears.” mentions Jan Škrabánek. “Fortunately, we’re able to handle basically all such attempts before they get on offer.”
All newly arrived Ukrainian households can use the so-called premium profile free of charge, which, in addition to communicating securely with the owners, allows them to share details about their household, such as the number of members or pets. Property owners, in turn, can mark their ads with Ukrainian flags to indicate that they are willing to negotiate terms. So far, hundreds of Czechs have taken the opportunity. As a result, they can use Havel & Partners online contracts with the option of digital signing for free.
