I am in the midst of my apartment search in Stockholm, and we all know how difficult it is to find an apartment to rent. Today, I saw an advertisement on blocket.se about this incredibly beautiful apartment in the midst of the city, somewhere near Odenplan. And that too at a price so low, that I pounced upon this opportunity and mailed the advertiser. But then I thought, this stuff is tooo good to be true.
So, I used the all pervasive google search to find phrases in the AD, and as I thought this was another scam. Though, I would not have been fooled to paying any money because of this, but it did make me think about it for a moment atleast. Thanks to internet and google. Below is the mail I got.
"Hej,
Jag hoppas att engelska inte är ett problem eftersom min svenska är mycket dålig!My name is Angelle Peters, and I am an engineer on the Dunbar Oil platform in the Northern Sea. My husband and I purchased the Swedish apartment that you are interested to rent because we love Sweden culture and it's landscapes. In June, my husband has been deployed to Iraq and I will be working hard for the next year so we will not be able to use our apartment and we decided to rent it, we hope to find a good and responsible tenant for it. If you are planning to rent for more then one year, it's not a problem, because we can give it for rent for as long as you need.
Because we are unable to show you the apartment in person we decided to use a multinational rent service, provided by MSN Real Estate, like we did with our last tenant - I am using their services since 2007 and I am very pleased with what they offer to their customers (In Scandinavia, MSN Services are recommended by Aftenposten, FINN.no, Blocket.se and Aftonbladet). Using MSN Services you will have a 10 days period when you can inspect the apartment and then decide if you want to rent it or not (Just like you are renting from someone local - If you will not like the apartment you will receive your money back with no questions asked). This seems to be the best option considering our situation, I am pleased to know that the rent money will be in their possession.
The apartment: It's fully furnished (can be rented unfurnished also, you can deposit my furniture and everything you will not use in the building storage area), fully accessorized. You have dishes, towels, sheets, Flat Screen tv, DVD + sound system, toaster, coffee maker, micro wave oven, oven, washing machine + dryer, air cond. , iron, radio. 90% of the stuff is brand new, unused, and also everything is insured as I told you.
The rent is 6700 SEK / Month with everything included (electricity, water, heating, Internet tv + 2 parking spaces). I want to receive 3 months in advance (20100 SEK total, as first deposit (this will cover the fist 2 months of the rent and 1 month refundable deposit). We will use the standard Swedish contract that's provided by the Swedish federation of house owners, that 99% of Swedish people use. The rent will not be raised or lowered. You will not be bothered with anything as long as the rent is paid on time.
If you are still interested, please give me more information about you, your job, references (if available). I am waiting for your reply and to give you more information about the whole rental process.
Thank you,Angelle!"
