4 Essential Rules You Have To Follow When Renting an Apartment

user04/02/2020

Now you have just arrived in Hanoi and want to rent an apartment, because of the extra services it provides: better security, more convenient trash disposer, quick access to the minimart on the first floor, etc.

But, everything comes with a price, and an apartment is not an exception. You don’t live alone, you live with a community and there are several rules the building’s management team will set to keep things in line.

Those rules are simple, yet you have to follow strictly to keep your neighbors happy as well as those who manage the living conditions for you. So you better know the rules before making your final decision of moving to an apartment.

1.No pet

Cats and dogs are lovely, no doubt, but it takes a lot of time taking care of them and that can be a problem. Hanoi is a busy city so I don’t think you come to this place with the intention of having a slow, relaxing lifestyle. So do other people.

The fact is people choose to live in apartments that indicate that they want to have as many conveniences as possible thus having some extra stuff as pets will, sometime, get in their ways. Most of the apartments for rent in Hanoi don’t allow people to have pets in their apartments because pets can be very troublesome on a large scale.

Imagine that just three families around you decide to buy, or adopt dogs and all of the dogs’ bark at once in the middle of the night; it can be a nightmare even if you live in a private house. Here I am not even talking about the other things such as your cat goes to other people’s apartments and decides to just defecate there, or your dog has an urge to chew any shoe he meets or one lovely day they just lay somewhere and “rest in peace” while you are busy working… To be brief, most of the time, no pets allowed.

2.Fixing the apartment

Your apartment will age, and sometime when you live there for 4-5 years, it may not age very well. Water leak, broken electric wire, stained wall, or smaller things such as a loose doorknob. You will want to fix them. It’s very reasonable to fix them, of course.

However, sometimes, just because it’s reasonable to you doesn’t mean it it’s reasonable to the true owner of the apartment you rent from. At the end of the day, it’s still his/her apartment and you have to ask them before doing anything to their property. Even fixing it.

Usually, the contract you signed at the very beginning has this rule, but because of the long time living in the apartment, you may forget it. To be honest, in the majority of the cases, your landlord will just let you fix the house if it doesn’t involve reconstruction. Yet you should be careful: ask them first. If things go wrong (and it will go wrong) you are the one to blame and to pay the fine for violating the contract. One more thing, keep it down, or the grumpy couple next door may complain (and they will complain).

3.Billing

Water bill, the electric bill, internet bill, maintenance bill are the “fantastic four” for an apartment. Different from developed countries where you can just go online and pay with your credit card, here in Vietnam, the collector will come to your house, ring the doorbell, and if you are not at home, they will just slide the bills under the door and consider the job done. That means you should always check that position for bills.

They will come monthly. You should also pay monthly. What will happen when you don’t? No water, electricity, internet, and maintenance anymore. Simple, isn’t it? You can say: I can live without those things for a couple of days.

Yes, you can, but for each time you don’t pay on time, there will be penalties. Those penalties will stack up and can be a pain. One or two times cost you just a little bit. Three or four times, on another hand, will poke a big hole in your wallet. Be on time, my friend.

4.Environment

It may be unnecessary to say: Don’t be dirty. However, it is very necessary to say: Watch your surroundings. Especially when living in an apartment. I have to emphasize again that you are living in a community and Vietnamese people can be very mean if you don’t respect their ways of living.

You can ask me: If they care about the environment so much, why so much trash on the roads? My answer is: They may not care about the road, but they care very much about their houses. And because of the language barrier, misunderstanding will be made if you try to argue with them. Hence, don’t get yourself in an argument, except you can speak the language and understand the people thoroughly.

That means, keep the surroundings clean. Inside your house, you can do whatever you want, but outside, keep it clean. Occasionally, you can show some good will by helping that old lady dispose of her big can of trash, but the most important thing is always to keep the surroundings clean.

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