New Feature to Help Find Housing for Ukrainian Refugees

As of today, more than 4 million Ukrainians had to flee their home country, trying to save themselves and their families from continuous shellings and missile strikes. All this happened because of a cruel and atrocious full-scale invasion of Ukraine by russia.

At Rentberry, we stand behind the idea that a safe home is every person’s right. To support those fleeing Ukraine and searching for rentals around the world, we’ve rolled out this new feature. It can be beneficial both for Ukrainians who have to search for a rental after leaving their home and the landlords who’d like to provide their apartment for those in need.

For Those Willing to Rent Out

If you’re a landlord or a property manager who would like to rent out your property to Ukrainian refugees, you can make your place stand out on our platform thanks to a special badge. All you have to do is tick off a box to specify that you will gladly accept those fleeing the war in Ukraine when listing your property.

What does it mean for you and Ukrainians looking for a rental?

• Your property will receive a special badge to help it stand out in search results. This way, it will be easier for potential tenants to locate it among other properties.
• The people who fled from Ukraine can use a special filter we’ve incorporated to sort out only those rentals offered to the refugees. 
• The properties with these badges will receive free property promotion for an unlimited time and appear at the top of the search results.
• Many Ukrainians are looking for a safe place to stay only for a certain time until it will be safe to return to their home country and not looking for long-term rentals. For this reason, we started accepting mid-term rental listings (from 1 to 3 months). 

Note: You can also skip a security deposit or set a lower price for the apartment if you’d like to give a chance to those who might not have much money for the apartment right now.

Why is it beneficial to use Rentberry?

Landlord’s verification process
While registering on the Rentberry platform, every landlord has to go through the verification process. Coming to a foreign country, refugees can be certain they will be renting a place from a real confirmed person.

Custom offer
Some refugees might not have enough funds for the security deposit or even the full rental amount. In this situation, they can submit a custom offer, and you can come up with an option that will benefit everyone.

Virtual tour
Consider uploading a virtual tour of your rental in addition to the photos. Thanks to this, your potential tenant can better understand the property, even being in a different country at the moment.

Easy rent collection
When it comes to paying for the rental, you can accept rental payments through our platform with zero commission for a landlord. Rentberry supports all major credit card companies (except the Russian “MIR” payment system) and Google and Apple Pay.

Online tour scheduling
Review tenants’ requests with the suggested time and date of a tour and show the rental when it’s convenient for both of you. No calling involved.

For Those in Need of a Rental

Did you have to flee Ukraine because of the russian aggression? We want to support you during these difficult and exhausting times.

Our team has created a new feature that helps connect landlords in different countries with Ukrainian refugees to ease your life a little bit.

• All properties rented out for the refugees will have a “For Refugees” badge, so you can be sure the person who rents out the apartment will gladly assist you during the process and rent out the place for you and your family, knowing about your situation. 
• You can use a custom filter we’ve created to see those dedicated apartments first in the search results. 
• If you’re looking for a place for only a few months, no worries! We’ve made it possible for the landlords to rent out their rental properties for mid-term, from 1 to 3 months. 

Now, let us quickly go through the application process on Rentberry and explain elements of our platform that might be specifically useful for the renters in this tough situation.

Step-by-step process of applying for a rental on Rentberry

1. Choose the city where you’d like to find a property, and make sure to use our special filter “for refugees.”
2. Check out the virtual tour of the place you like, or easily schedule a tour with the landlord.
3. Submit your custom offer by clicking “Apply” on the property page.
4. Make sure to sign a rental agreement. You can do it in person or ask your landlord to use eSign through Rentberry if they have not tried it out yet. 

Here’s why you should try Rentberry

Virtual tour — looking for properties with a virtual tour will save you the trouble of making appointments and visiting the apartment in person. Instead, you can agree to rent it instantly.

Custom offer — in these circumstances, everyone’s situation is unique and specific. If you don’t have enough money to offer for a security deposit right now, you can use the custom offer to find common ground with your potential landlord. 

Messages — you might find yourself in a country where you don’t speak the language. To make your communication easier, you can use our messages to reach out to the potential landlord, which will allow you to take some time or even use a translator.

Landlord verification — we verify every landlord before they list their rental on the platform, so you don’t have to worry if this person and their apartment are real.

Useful Resources for Ukrainian Refugees

Finally, we also wanted to share a few links where you can find some information if you had to flee Ukraine.

• European Commission — key information about coming to the EU (crossing the border, your rights, eligibility for certain services, etc.)
• UkraineNow — temporary accommodation and transfers abroad, ability to contact volunteers from different fields
• UnitedForUkraine.org — a collection of centers and resources that support refugees, legal aid 
• Ukraine Take Shelter — the platform connecting refugees with hosts who offer temporary housing

To let users add and rent out properties for refugees as soon as possible, we made this feature available only on the desktop and mobile versions of the website so far. But, we’re also working on incorporating it into the mobile app in the nearest future.

If you need any assistance on any step of using Rentberry, feel free to contact our support team. We understand your language!

About The Author