SMG Housing Reviews 38

Terrible experience, one of the worst agencies I have ever dealt with.
The condition of the apartment was awful: very old and extremely dirty, especially the common areas. The agency never cared about ensuring that previous tenants kept them clean, yet they still charge you €125. On top of that, they force you to buy a so-called “welcome package” for €500 which only includes bed sheets, one pot, and a pan — absolutely unfair pricing. They tried to make me pay for damages in the room that were already there when I arrived, and they have withheld my deposit for three months without returning the full amount or providing any justification for why it was not refunded in full.
I strongly advise against this agency, as they are scammers who take advantage mainly of international students due to the lack of support and information we face in such situations.
Zeer slechte ervaring, een van de slechtste bureaus die ik ooit heb meegemaakt.
De staat van het appartement was verschrikkelijk: erg oud en erg vies, vooral de gemeenschappelijke ruimtes. Het bureau heeft er nooit voor gezorgd dat de vorige huurders deze schoon hielden, en toch rekenen ze je €125 aan. Bovendien verplichten ze je om een zogenaamd “welkomstpakket” van €500 te kopen dat alleen lakens, een pan en een koekenpan bevat — absoluut geen eerlijke prijs. Ze probeerden mij te laten betalen voor schade in de kamer die er al was toen ik aankwam, en ze hebben mijn borg drie maanden lang ingehouden zonder het volledige bedrag terug te betalen of uit te leggen waarom het niet volledig werd teruggestort.
Ik raad dit bureau ten zeerste af: ze zijn oplichters die vooral internationale studenten uitbuiten vanwege het gebrek aan steun en informatie in dit soort situaties.

This is the most worst experience I ever have living in a house. I lived in this group‘s house for the last four years. I recently just moved out my ceiling in my hallway and my ceiling, and my sunroom fell in. I reached out multiple times for someone to come and fix it. A lady told me that she was gonna put in a work order and never happened. My sink in my kitchen was messed up since the time I moved in it was supposed to fix it never happened. They also charge me back in February $500 over the month of December for they said that they never charge me for trash pick up so they made me pay $500 on top of my rent because they said they never Charge me for the trash pick up then a guy was supposed to come out and fix the windows in my kitchen because they had nailed all the windows in my kitchen basically shut it’s been like that since we moved it. I just got a letter from them saying that I owe $7000 for painting and patching which is Ridiculous and then they try to charge me 2500 for cleanup which is I cleaned the house completely out I have videos I have pictures. I reached out multiple times for someone to email me back or call me back or text me back and they harass you if you’re late on your Randall threaten you with evictions if you don’t, you know it’s the most craziest experience I ever had. I do not recommend this group obtaining one. They never tell you. Who’s the owner. Is you try to call try to get in contact with the owner. They never say anything not trying to charge me and now the house that I moved out of it’s up for sale which is it needs to be demolished. It does not even need to be up for rent. They never fixed the roof so when my roof caved in it was because all the rain and the rain damage from the roof so all that water sat there and it finally came in. I can go on and on about the horrible experience I had in this house, but I want to give this message to someone who can probably use it. please do not rent from them. Find somebody else this is not what you wanna put yourself through because it is not worth it and it’s right now I’m going through so much with these people. I’m just ready to get rid of them.

A group including myself tried renting out an apartment via Roomplaza, and unfortunately several times we had people pull out of the deal last-minute. SMG was always quick to respond, provide help, guide us through the contract, and resend the contract (multiple times). Many thanks to their team for helping a group of first year students find housing in the Netherlands!

Terrible job. Terrible property, unlivable. Not sending representative pictures of the property. Not allowing students to view the property before signing. No service to fix or clean the space.

Tim was very helpful, always responded quickly and helped me to find a nice stay in Valencia. Definitely recommended!

Good and professional service

This company is a complete scam. SMG charged my daughter & her roommates €1200 for final cleaning of an apartment which was handed over CLEAN. This price is totally unrealistic and excessive. They simply took advantage of their ability to charge whatever fictitious amounts they (and your chosen cleaning partners) can manage and justify, in order to deduct as much as possible from the security deposit. A fair price could have been €2-400. All requests for consideration for a more fair price were ignored.

good service and attitude, high efficiency and good quality

My window is still broken from the August to November. Now the winter is coming. I don’t konw how long is their ‘two weeks’.

In general I have been disappointed in the service. It is over 2 months into our stay at our house and only now has almost every concern that was raised at the start of the stay been addressed. The amount of rent does not at all reflect the condition of the house which in my opinion needs to be refurbished before you undergo another rent period as I would not recommend this place to someone I know. In comparison to other homes with better location and amenities, the rent does not even compare to ours which is disappointing as I feel that it is taking advantage of international students who are struggling to find accommodation. I think that there needs to be a in person inspection with one of the tenants upon arrival since the state of the house was appalling and should have not been put on us to go through the process of contacting you frequently to try get help. More effort from your side would have been appreciated.

Pay attention before signing a rental contract with SMG Housing! They offer Short Stay (Huur naar zijn aard van korte duur) contracts for (International) students (and other people?) which is against the law.
A Short Stay contract limits the right of the tenant while he should be protected by the rental law (huurrecht).
By offering a Short Stay contract they can escape the price check (Huurprijscheck) so a much higher rent can be asked. This could be 2x the official allowed rental fee.
Either SMG-Housing is not aware of the rental law or they do it on purpose to make more money.

It took 5 months to react by SMG Housing. Legal advice following my 1st review (november 2024) has made it clear that SMG Housing is acting outside the law.

The communication was fast, and instructions were clear.

1- gave me the wrong owner name, making me loose my registration appointment and had to convice them for HALF an hour to give me the right one
2- wanted me to get the keys in amsterdam when they had never told me neither me nor my roomates that we had to do that, FOUR days before we moved in. Took hours to convice them of another option
3- payed the cleaning fee, expensive, and my room and the bathroom was DISGUSTING.
4- the lamp from my room was broken and they did not repair it.
5- emailed you about this and you never answered.
start doing your f-ing job

SMG Housing helped me in securing a room for a year! A very trustworthy company in finding a room!

I recently rented an apartment in The Hague through SMG-Housing, and I couldn’t be happier with my experience. From the start, their team was incredibly professional and attentive, guiding me through the entire rental process with ease.

They took the time to understand my needs and preferences, presenting me with options that perfectly matched what I was looking for. The communication was always clear and prompt, which made everything seamless.

The apartment itself is wonderful, and I truly appreciate the effort they put into ensuring everything was in great condition before my move-in. They were always available for any questions or concerns I had during my stay.

I highly recommend SMG-Housing to anyone looking for a reliable and friendly housing agent in The Hague. They made my experience enjoyable and stress-free!

Service was top!

SMG's business practices are exploitative and aim to extract the most amount of money from their tenants while providing as little service as possible — our messages were ignored, the apartment was dirty upon arrival, and we were forced to pay additional fees of 500 Euros as part of the contract.

We rented a 5-room property through SMG Housing from August 2023 to July 2024 in Delft, Netherlands. The rent was exceptionally high, and we discovered that neighbors, who live in the same type of building but rent from a different agencies, were charged only a quarter of what we paid.
Upon moving into the house, we immediately noticed a lack of cleanliness in the kitchen, despite being charged upfront by SMG Housing for cleaning services. It was only after we reported this issue that they sent cleaning staff to address the situation. We also reported several other problems in the house, such as a broken window and moldy timber in the garden. Although these issues were acknowledged, they were never resolved. Additionally, the washing machine was broken upon our arrival, and despite notifying SMG, they failed to replace it. We were eventually forced to purchase a new one ourselves after the legally required six-week notice period. Only then did SMG Housing respond, insisting that we replace the broken machine with a specific model.
The contract also included a "welcome package" fee for kitchen utensils and bedding valued at around €100, yet we were charged four to five times that amount. We never received any receipts for these or any other costs incurred.
Finally, the process of reclaiming our deposit was unnecessarily complicated. SMG required tenants to fill out a form detailing the deposit amount and rental property, but they repeatedly sent the wrong form, causing delays and frustration. When we eventually received a reduced deposit, I inquired about the discrepancy and requested related invoices. It turned out that SMG had miscalculated the amount owed by a significant margin.
Throughout our tenancy, SMG Housing was largely unresponsive to our concerns and communicated in an unprofessional and demanding manner.

This is the absolute worst agency i have ever laid my eyes upon. If i could give minus stars, this would be the one i would use all of my minuses on. My friend did the viewing for the apartment (sadly i wasnt in the netherlands to do that at the moment) and there were quite a few issues with the apartment itself (no lights, broken handle, no doorbell). All of these issues were pointed out at the viewing itself and then in written form. None of it was fixed once i moved in. No worries, I got a light replacement so it was livable. As soon as i took my first shower the shower head broke. Me, being a girl in another country i had noone to call (tried calling them but no answer). I fixed it and it took them 1,5 months to reimburse me. All of the other issues were left unseen. The company didnt answer my calls or my emails. In the last month i got a remainder for some unpaid expenses and when i called they said it will be taken care of. Naturally i let it go. As soon as i moved out there came other problems. Noone came for the check out inspection and i had to send the keys to the office. No biggy, ill do that just because i didnt want to cause any more problems. Now its been exactly a month and i still didnt receive my deposit back. Absolute disgrace. I called them and they said they are on it. I called another company that is working with them and they were in no use whatsoever. I had to call again for the check out inspection report only to be greeted by a guy who kept repeating the same exact thing "the financial department is on it". As you can imagine a deposit of 1000EUR means a lot to someone living in another country who had to move out without any help (as that was promised on the ad itself- help with finding a job, help with insurance ect.). Still,1 month has passed and they arent doing anything to fix the problem. To say i am incredibly disappointed is an understatement. I never give reviews here no matter how bad the place was but this just went over the top. I want to say to whoever is going to rent out an apartment from SMG housing should be aware of all the problems that will come with it (never available, not answering emails...). Truly unhappy with this company and their customer support!

Predatory company. They charge you 500 € just to access the apartment and will do everything to not pay you back your deposit. They specifically target international students and they put you under pressure by forcing you to pay immediatly. If possible, avoid them.