Da Nang rental deposit drama, am I being unreasonable wanting my 3m back?
Would really appreciate advice from anyone who’s rented in Da Nang / dealt with Facebook agents here because I’m starting to wonder if I’m being reasonable or just getting worn down by the whole thing.
Also for context, I’m a solo female here, very non-confrontational and genuinely quite anxious about conflict. I don’t want drama or to “make enemies” in a place I’m new to, which is probably relevant to how long I let this situation drag on.
I found a studio through Facebook, viewed it through an agent, liked it and paid a 3m VND holding deposit for a 2-month lease at 13.3m/month.
Before paying I specifically asked whether the AC worked properly because Da Nang is hot as hell and I work remotely. I was told yes. I know I should’ve physically tested it myself, but I felt rushed and I’m shy with these things.
The deposit agreement also says that if the agreed handover/signing date comes and the lessor doesn’t come to hand over the apartment/sign the contract, the deposit is refunded to the tenant.
Move-in day comes.
There was originally an 11am time through the agent, but I told her hours beforehand I couldn’t do that anymore and we moved it to the evening.
I then arranged around 7pm directly with the woman I understood to be the landlord — although she introduces herself as the building manager while everyone else calls her the landlord, which is one of many confusing details.
I was nearby and trying to contact her from around 6:40pm. A few minutes before 7 she finally called and said she was busy and couldn’t make it, but that I could come later and she would join afterwards.
Fine. I went to eat.
8:54pm: told her I was on my way.
9:06pm: told her I was there.
I arrived with my suitcase fully intending to move in.
The apartment was a sauna.
I switched the AC on and it just… wasn’t cooling. After about an hour it had gone from sauna to slightly less sauna, but I was still sitting there sweating. (I asked them if I could leave the flat because of how hot it was until someone gave me a clear time of when they would come but there was no clear reply just that someone was coming right away)
Eventually two agents turned up. I hadn’t asked them to come, I’d just told the landlord/building manager and the person who listed the flat that the AC wasn’t cooling and I was still waiting for the landlord.
They were being very sympathetic, which I really bought into at the time, but looking back some of the conversation honestly felt a bit gaslight-y.
I kept being told things like:
“It’s August, this is the hottest month in Da Nang, this is normal AC in Vietnam, maybe AC isn’t as strong here as where you come from.”
I’ve been travelling around Vietnam for three weeks and the AC game here has been phenomenal 😭 Every hotel/apartment I’ve stayed in has cooled down quickly. None of them have also felt insanely humid inside before the AC was even turned on.
They also suggested maybe I’d be fine because the bedroom AC blows directly onto the bed.
And I was thinking… isn’t that just a fan at that point? 😭 The AC should cool the room. I need to be able to work, cook, get dressed etc. without sweating through my clothes. I can’t spend two months lying directly underneath the AC vent.
They then suggested I briefly check another empty apartment downstairs because mine was so hot. I’d already viewed that apartment originally and told the agent I didn’t like it, but I checked it anyway. Its AC felt similarly weak.
Meanwhile I had somehow ended up communicating with four different people about one studio:
- the person who posted it on Facebook
- the male agent who showed me the flats
- another agent involved in the deposit
- the landlord/building manager
Different people were telling me someone was coming, to wait, to check another room, etc. I genuinely didn’t know who was representing whom anymore.
At 9:41pm and 9:49pm I was messaging the landlord from inside asking whether anyone was actually coming to sort out the AC and contract.
At 10:24pm she told me someone would come tomorrow morning.
The agents who were physically there were still telling me someone might come that night, so I stayed because I genuinely thought maybe the landlord was still going to turn up with the contract and deal with the AC.
Eventually at 11:26pm I gave up, ordered a Grab, said goodbye to the agents and went back to a hotel with my suitcase.
At 11:38pm, after I’d left, the landlord messaged asking which room I had been in. I didn’t answer because I was exhausted, annoyed, hot, and had just spent hours waiting around for this whole thing to be resolved.
Today she’s saying she supposedly came to the building around 8/10pm, couldn’t find me, and that I deliberately left/ignored her so that she would “breach the contract.”
This is what genuinely doesn’t make sense to me.
If she came looking for me at 10pm:
- Why didn’t she call/message asking where I was?
- Why was I actively messaging her from inside asking whether anyone was coming, close to the time she is supposedly there, with no reply?
- When she finally replied, why did she tell me at 10:24pm that someone would come tomorrow?
- Why did she only ask which room I’d been in at 11:38pm, after I’d left?
She’s also saying a technician has now checked the AC and it “works normally”.
Maybe technically it does. I’m not an HVAC engineer. I just know several of us spent ages trying different settings and I was still sweating in a tiny apartment. I wasn’t comfortable transferring another ~23m VND and signing a 2-month lease hoping I’d somehow acclimatise to sweating indoors.
The slightly embarrassing part is that when I finally left, I was honestly just relieved.
I felt so pressured and overwhelmed that my initial reaction was basically: whatever, they can keep the 3m. That’s the price I’ll pay to not have to live there.
As if someone had a gun to my head forcing me to take this apartment 😭 Nobody did. I’m just extremely non-confrontational and was being pressured.
Once I’d calmed down I realised 3m VND is actually meaningful money to me and by principal I can't go through life being a mug. I was basically volunteering to lose it because asking for it back felt uncomfortable.
So I asked for the deposit back based on the clause in the agreement and that’s when the landlord became hostile.
Instead of just discussing whether the contractual clause applies, I’ve been told my reasons are “unjustified”, accused of deliberately avoiding her, accused of deliberately leaving so that she would breach the agreement, and told that I broke the contract.
I’ve now spent an embarrassing amount of time pulling up timestamps just to respond to things that don’t seem to match the actual message history.
Point that I raised:
I paid the deposit because I genuinely intended to move in. I showed up with my suitcase. I stayed for more than two hours trying to resolve the AC and waiting for the handover/signing. At 10:24pm I was explicitly told nobody was coming until the next morning. The signed deposit agreement specifically says the deposit is refunded if the lessor doesn’t attend the agreed handover/signing.
I’m not asking for hotel costs, compensation, damages for nearly being slow-cooked in my original apartment, etc.
I’m just trying to stand on business instead of paying a 3m VND anxiety tax.
If anyone here understands the Da Nang rental/agent landscape better than I do, or has dealt with something similar, I’d genuinely appreciate some perspective.
Am I missing something / am I actually in the wrong here? Would you keep pushing for the deposit? And if they refuse outright, what should I do?