Rb 2 MnCl 4 ·2H 2 O crystal belonging to the family of tetrahalogeno-metallates dihydrates has been subjected to thermal, optical and dielectric studies. At room temperature the optical study under a polarization microscope has revealed a ferroelastic domain structure. At 240 K a dielectric anomaly, characteristic of the week ferroelectric phase transition, has been also observed. Moreover, below the temperatures of the phase transitions dielectric dispersion has appeared. Ferroic properties of Rb 2 MnCl 4 ·2H 2 O crystal have been compared to those of other tetrachlorides dehydrates.The crystals of dihydrate tetrahalogeno metallates of the general formula A 2 BY 4 ·2H 2 O (where A = NH 4 , K, Rb, Cs; B = Cu, Mn, Ca, Ni; Y = Cl, Br) can be divided into two groups according to their symmetry and structure. The first group includes the crystals having at room temperature the tetragonal symmetry with a space group 4 2 /mnm, Z = 2. Their structure is made of water-halogen octahedrons surrounding a divalent ion. The chlorine or bromine ions make a rhomb in the a-a plane. The tetrahedrons surrounding the divalent metal ions placed at the corners of the unit cell are rotated exactly by 90° with respect to the tetrahedron surrounding the ion at the centre of the cell. O undergoes a structural phase transition at T C = 201 K accompanied by a change in point symmetry from 4/mmm to 42m [5,6], the low-temperature phase shows ferroelastoelectric ordering. In the crystal (NH 4 ) 2 MnCl 4 ·2H 2 O the change from the tetragonal to orthorhombic symmetry occurs through the intermediate phase in the range 266 -271 K [4]. In the other crystals of this group no structural phase transitions were observed. The second group includes the crystals with the ions Mn
2+, Ca 2+ and Ni 2+ . At room temperature they have the triclinic symmetry with the space group P1, Z = 1 [7,8]. They are built also of waterhalogen octahedrons but the chlorine/ bromine ions make a square in the a-b plane, and the positions of all the octahedrons are equivalent. Hitherto there have been no information on phase transitions in this group of crystals, they have been reported to show domain structure [7], although the nature of the domains has not been described. The crystals of both groups having a paramagnetic ion Me 2+ in the cryogenic temperature range show ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic ordering [9,10,11].