When your arrival date is close, an offer promising to solve everything can be hard to question. Keep the checks in order even under pressure: verify the advertiser, inspect the accommodation, understand the agreement and confirm payment instructions. No single document or website badge proves all four are genuine.
Identify who you are dealing with
For a private advertiser, establish their name, contact details and authority to let the specific property. For an agency, find the firm's official contact details independently and confirm it handles the advert. Check the PSRA register where someone claims to be a property services provider. A scammer can copy a real firm's name or licence number; a register entry does not authenticate the message.
Compare the address, photographs and description with other information. Reused images, conflicting adverts, payment pressure or an inconsistent story deserve investigation. A plausible price and professional photographs do not establish legitimacy.
The CCPC rental scam guidance warns about fake adverts and personal-information theft. Do not send identity or financial documents just because a stranger says they are needed to release the keys.
Inspect a private rental before committing
For private accommodation, arrange an in-person viewing before paying or signing. If moving from abroad, follow your institution's advice about a trusted person viewing on your behalf and make a temporary arrival plan if checks cannot be completed. University of Galway's Erasmus guidance explains these precautions.
A video helps you ask questions about a home; it does not prove the person making it owns or can let it. Even physical access is only one check. Establish who signs the agreement and receives payment.
Read the written terms, compare them with the advert and confirm the room, occupants, dates, rent, deposit, bills and payment schedule. Get important promises in writing. 'Pay first and we will send the paperwork later' leaves those questions unanswered.
Follow the official student booking channel
A university or established student provider has a different process from an unsolicited private contact. Start at the institution's official website and follow its application route. UCC's international placement service explains how applicants enter its process and receive provider offers; accommodation is not guaranteed.
Confirm an offer with the provider using independently obtained details. Check eligibility, cancellation terms, occupancy dates and payment destination. A message saying 'university approved' is not enough. Do not let an unfamiliar payment link replace the verified channel.
Treat registration as one piece of evidence
RTB scope guidance explains which arrangements require registration. Owner-occupied rooms can be outside its remit, and registering a new tenancy is a separate process. Absence of a claimed registration number is not a universal fraud test; possession of one does not establish an advertiser's authority.
An Irish receiving account, passport photograph or signed-looking document is not a guarantee either. Verify the transaction as a whole, retain the agreement and obtain a receipt. Follow the CCPC precautions about traceable payments and records.
Fictional example: a 'letting agent' emails a last-minute change of deposit account. The renter pauses and calls the agency through the number found on its official website, rather than the number in that message. The office can confirm or challenge the change. This illustrates a check, not a guaranteed fraud-detection service.
Act quickly after suspected fraud
Contact your bank or card provider immediately, preserve the advert, messages and transaction details, and report suspected fraud to your local Garda station. Report a fake advert to its platform too. CCPC reporting guidance describes these steps; recovery is not guaranteed. A deposit disagreement with a genuine landlord may require a different route, depending on the arrangement.
HomeScout helps organise a search and compare source adverts; verify availability and the advertiser yourself. Create a free account for your chosen supported city. The same checks matter in Dublin, Cork, Galway and Limerick.
A verification sequence for a pressured listing
Pause before sending money. Confirm that the address, person, viewing access, payment instructions, and written agreement describe the same tenancy. Save the listing and correspondence, independently check contact details, and do not treat urgency or a professional-looking advert as proof. The RTB is the primary place to check current Irish tenancy guidance; this checklist is not a guarantee that a listing is genuine.
Next, work through the RTB tenant checklist and check the guidance applicable to your agreement before paying or signing.