February 2019 - DO NOT use HomeUdream.com (previously Courtyard007) to rent a Hutong in Beijing

Holly changed her name to “Jenny”, courtyard007 renamed Homeudream.com

Some people still contact me on cases that happens with our lovely Holly. I’ve decided to update this blog to give updated accurate informations to help people to avoid her or fall in the same situation as me.

This website really helps people in Beijing who want to use her service

I’ve received many emails of people reaching me to say thank you. They were about to use her service and decided after reading the blog to not use it. Even if that’s probably not enough to completely stop her, it contributes to make Beijing a better place to live for foreigners(and locals!). Thank you for everyone sending me their stories and who have contributed!

As a consequence, she had to change the name of her Business, and her english name! It feels like nothing, but glad we put a spoke on her wheel !. It’s the least that could happen!

Her new Business Name: HomeUdream

“Holly” decided to change the name of the company to “HomeUdream” . The previous domain name (courtyard007.com) is not accessible anymore. I can understand why: if you type of “courtyard007” in Google you’ll find the website you’re currently reading ranking #1 😉 . Hopefully that blog will reach the first rank when you type the new business name “homeUdream”. Her new website where the scam happens is now: https://homeudream.com/

Her new “english name”: Jenny

She also changed her name from Holly to Jenny. I guess too much bad things were associated to that name in the real estate space 🙂

Her wechat id remain the same: hoholyly. Here her wechat card:

Story#7: Jenny, from homeudream.com: “your boyfriend cheating on you with some other girl”

I was one of the courtyard007 (renamed homeudream.com) victims and wanted to share my horrible (yet hilarious) experience with Holly (now calling herself Jenny) and the house with you. And I’d like to name it…. That Bitch Won’t Let You Win

To be more specific I think I took over the hutong house on Zhangzizhong Road after the tenants in your Story #2 moved out. And yes, even though that we and the former tenants found each other over social media network, Holly (Jenny) insisted us pay her the agent fee (one month rent). We end up splitting the 7000 kuai with the former couple, and I’m pretty sure that this was due to my “negotiation capability”, otherwise we would probably end up paying her 7000 kuai each. That was just the beginning.

During my 4 months staying in the hutong house (December 2015 to March 2016), I experienced so much drama with the house and Holly (Jenny) and Holly’s “assistants”.

First of all, they were not cooperative on the registration thing for my American boyfriend. They rescheduled 3 times and when they finally did, they brought a fake contract, fake landlord information, and told us to not speak a word in front of the police. Sketchy AF.

Secondly, everything in the house just kept getting broken — the AC, the heater, the shower, and the laundry machine. The most ridiculous one was the shower — it took 2 hours to get the water warm and it would get cold again when you use it for 10 mins, which is not even enough time for one person to finish shower. I texted Holly (Jenny) about the situation and it roughly took a month for her to finally get us a new machine. (This also involved me calling her 3 times a week and constantly sending WeChat messages to her assistants.)

The third thing was the bugs. Well, I know this may happen to a lot of the hutongs but I figured I should still point it out for tenants who are scared of bugs — I mean, they are huge ass motherfuckers. 5cm long beetles, and they even fly! Ohhh how can I forget about the scorpion that popped up in my bathroom at midnight? Wonderful! Since February everyday when I first came back home, the first thing to do was to kill bugs, but they kept finding their ways in. I texted Holly(Jenny) and asked them to fix this. No reply. Then one day at 3am, a beetle climbed on my bed and got under my blanket. I straight up flipped. I left the house that night and gave her an angry phone call, asking her to fix this in 3 days. I got a message for her the next day, promising to look into this. However, 3 days later when I got back to the house — nothing changed!

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to move out earlier. Knowing how much of a bitch Holly(Jenny) is and there’s no way I could get my 2 months rent back, I offered to move out ahead of time, and she could keep the extra rent. ALL I WANTED was my deposit back (7000 kuai). So I moved out early April (my lease was till May 7), expecting to get my deposit in May. However, in May Holly(Jenny) texted me saying there were water stains on the mattress, and because of the damage she would keep the deposit.

AND HERE IS THE FUNNY PART —

I remembered it clearly that when I moved out in March the mattress was fine, so I challenged her. Then she replied that it was some sort of “sex juice”, trying to embarrass me. After I explained it wasn’t me, she shamelessly indicated that it could be my boyfriend cheating on me with some other girl. Great move Holly (Jenny), and I gave you the credit for your imagination. I was beyond pissed at that moment. I called her, told her straight up to cut the bullshit and that I wanted my money back. I told her I would be at her apartment 3 days later to pick up my money. She agreed.

Three days later, I showed up at her door at the time we agreed on. But of course, she was out having lunch — again, trying to add up that inconvenience. I power walked to the restaurant. She insisted to take 2000 kuai from my deposit for the mattress and brought up the sex juice thing again. I didn’t want to make a big scene in the restaurant, so I went home with 5000 kuai.

After that I was so pissed so I deleted her on WeChat. Thus I don’t have any screenshots except for this one of us talking about the bugs.

Last week I walked past Holly’s office on Gulou East and saw they were getting rid of the shop. I hope they’ve finally gone out of business.

Story#6: Even Beijing’s lawyer get upset from homeudream.com

Two days ago my contact was passed to a friend of friend because this girl and her roommates were having some issues with the place they rented from courtyard 007 (now homeudream.com). Im a lawyer so they want some professional help.

The main issue about the situation is that the police came to my friends place saying the place is illegal and they gonna tear them down very soon, basically forcing my friends out because they are no longer allowed to live there once the official decision is made.

My friends just want their deposit back, and their lease gonna end within about 20 days.

The lease agreement they had was poorly and terribly drafted as well. I met these girls and talked about the solutions and they want me do the lawyer talk to the landlord.

I did, this morning, but with no reply. So at the afternoon i called her and pretend to be someone that wants apartment so i can get to meet her in person and talk about the issue.

When i got there, there was another white girl looking for new places so ended up both of us checking the apartment. i wasn’t looking and told the landlord actually im here for other stuff if you have time we can talk about it. she figured out i was the one that text her this morning and switch attitude to this “i dont know you and you have nothing to do with these, i can speak english so let your friends talk to me directly”.

i was trying to be polite but on point, laying out the facts about how many laws been broken and its her obligation to give back the deposit, whether the place will be demolished has no relevance here. But she just kept that attitude the whole, it was a short meet up and i think she doesn’t want the other white girl know what we were actually discussing (the white girl can understand and speak mandarin pretty well and we were talking in mandarin).

But anyway it ended up us she switch the topics and all these BS and drove away as i was still talking to her and she just got into the car and close the door. Refused any further discussion.

The whole idea about actually writing to you is, although I’m local and this is just a favor for a friend of friend who i met only twice. But i mean i feel like this lady is targeting at foreigners because of the language barrier and culture difference and more important you guys don’t know the laws here.

So what im thinking is, i know i said im a lawyer but actually I haven’t got my license yet, i work in a law firm and may know someone who is really damn good and specialize in this kinda area. You mentioned on the website that there are so many victims out there and i was thinking about possible class action or at lease some fines from government to this lady and her business.