Apartment contracts

@MarkinNam

hello, lets say that, legally, you the contract can be as long you want. But, lawfully, I comprehend the landlord could reject longer periods than your visa to avoid any dealing whether you cannot back.

In addition, take a glance on https://www.expat.com/en/forum/asia/vie … ml#6139636

Looking for an apartment Im being told the minimum is 6 months,...

There is no minimum length. I assume it's agents telling you this.

...is this what others have found or is 3 months possible with options to extend ?

Even month by month is possible.

If 3 month options are available, through which agents ? ( Sai Gon ) - @MarkinNam

Have you already arrived in Vietnam? I suggest you not agree to any rental agreement prior to arrival.

@ajairon

My question is,  what is the shorter term of contract, eg, 3 months, not long term. Most that ive looked at are 6 months or 1 year. Im understanding they won't deny 12 months but if you're outed then you lose the deposit,  hence my question about 3 months.

Looking for an apartment Im being told the minimum is 6 months, is this what others have found or is 3 months possible with options to extend ? If 3 month options are available, through which agents ? ( Sai Gon ) - @MarkinNam

@MarkinNam, I have next-to-no experience with this question. I do have friends, though, who've been up against these kinds of restrictions.

One not-entirely-weird wrinkle is that *some* people run up against resistance in renting an apartment whose lease extends beyond the expiration date of *their visa!* You know, that 90-day thingy.

Other of my friends rent month-to-month on Airbnb, so, that's one work-around. (Elsewhere on this forum there is advice to only rent after you've seen the place in-person, a word to the wise, I'd agree.)

I did have really good luck on finding a really nice apartment near the HCMC Zoo within a hop and a skip to District 1. I got it through an agent on FaceBook, but I already had the name/contact of the agent before I went to FB and started looking. There are scams out there, some of them on FaceBook, unsurprisingly! PM me if you want contact info, and this agent *only* works with "serviced apartments" and only in HCMC.

@Aidan in HCMC

Right at this moment im in q7 at a friend's bnb 11 million for a 16sqm room with kitchen on the balcony and shower partly open to the weather. Not the best. So im looking for 3 month rentals in q7 0r Thu Duc area. Grand park is just too far !.

@Aidan in HCMC Right at this moment im in q7 at a friend's bnb 11 million for a 16sqm room with kitchen on the balcony and shower partly open to the weather. Not the best. So im looking for 3 month rentals in q7 0r Thu Duc area. Grand park is just too far !. - @MarkinNam

Wow! Agreed. Too small, and definitely too far from city centre for me.

Mark, take a look at post #5, here. Might be a nice way to while away a couple of hours in the afternoon. Choose your preferred neighbourhood, and keep your eyes open.

Decent (enough) hotels can be found for $30AU. Maybe after deciding on a neighbourhood you could book into one there and scout around for a few days. Sure beats motoring in from Grand Park daily.

@MarkinNam

Forgot to include a link to a popular site used by locals. There's no English language choice, so you'll have to use a browser translator.

Here's a link to HCMC, (formerly) D7 area for apartments on that site. You can select your rent-budget/square-metre filters too.

Looking for an apartment Im being told the minimum is 6 months, is this what others have found or is 3 months possible with options to extend ? If 3 month options are available, through which agents ? ( Sai Gon ) - @MarkinNam

This has been a gradual development over the past few years, triggered by supply and demand with demand increasing to the point that landlords can stop messing around with short-term rentals and start getting people to commit to longer leases.

They don't let local Vietnamese citizens get away with short-term rentals and now they have the power to demand longer leases from foreigners.

I have no doubt that you can find some place to rent to you for 3 months at a time or even monthly.

I'll bet that will only hold true for hard to rent low quality places.

@Aidan in HCMC
Right at this moment im in q7 at a friend's bnb 11 million for a 16sqm room with kitchen on the balcony and shower partly open to the weather. Not the best. So im looking for 3 month rentals in q7 0r Thu Duc area. Grand park is just too far !. - @MarkinNam

How's the flooding going there? Is it over yet? 🤔

In my experience you will be charged "tourist rates" for a short let. Even locals can secure a much more favourable rent on a 12 month lease, but I can see that there is a problem with a 12 month lease if you only have a 90 day visa.