Hi, after my week
from the field, it was very very hectic.
As you recall, I signed the contract and moved into my new place. Well that ended up being a drama. But I am happy to say that I have relocated
to a new apartment. So how did this
happen you ask?
So before I left for
the field, I wrote a letter to the real estate agent and the landlord asking if
they were going to fulfill the contract.
The reason why I wrote this letter was because I had been in the
apartment for three days and the list of things which they said they would fix
had still not been completed. The bathtub still had a leek; my microwave was
still on top of the fridge which I cannot reach as the kitchen counter was too
small to put it on, and I could not reach it. There were other issues among
this.
I wrote this letter
because I was going away for a whole week and wanted to know if I would need to
move out before I went to the field; if they were not going to fulfill the
contract. They indicated that they would
and I should therefore leave my stuff in the apartment. In the letter I informed them that I would
pay the rent deposit once the list of things which they said they would fix and
bring to the apartment is completed.
They agreed.
So I left on Sunday
to Vinh City, and retuned a week later on a Saturday. When I returned the only thing that was fixed
was the sink, everything was still as it was. I thought I would address it on
Monday was I was too tired.
On Saturday I went by
the store to buy bread, on my way up to my apartment a woman ask for my phone
number as the landlord wanted it. I
provided to her. The landlord text me
and asked for his money. This was a
surprise to me, as I wrote like a two page letter detailing what the contract
said and also what they have failed to do.
I contacted the
real-estate agent and asked her if she had forwarded the letter and if the
landlord understood it. She said she did and in fact explains to the landlord
what the contract meant, he understood the letter. I told her that he texted me
asking for his money. She said she did
not understand why he would. The real-estate agent asked if everything was
there. I indicated in fact the only thing that was fixed was the bathtub,
otherwise nothing else. She said she thought perhaps we should look for a new
apartment. I agreed. However we would
start on Monday.
On Sunday the
real-estate’s partner came to my apartment to check if everything was
done. I told him no, and emphasized that
the shower curtain used by the previous tenant is still hanging in the
bathroom, I asked for it to be changed and they still have not changed it (Please note I am paying for a furnished
apartment, which means everything has to be in the apartment). He took the
shower curtain, and hours later the maid came with the same curtain, washed. It
still had stains on it. I was too tired
to speak broken Vietnamese with the maid.
On Monday the
real-estate agent called me and asked if we may look at some apartments. I agreed. We went to look at four apartments
that I had rejected earlier. I was too
tired to get upset. Or maybe I was just over it. So I just said I did not like
it and I had rejected these apartments earlier.
After work on Monday
I went to look at some apartments of my own. Around 8pm, I was coming home from
looking at one apartment when the real-estate agent called me. She indicated
That the landlord
called her and told her that I had to be out of the apartment tonight or
tomorrow morning as he had rented out the apartment. WHAT!!! That is what I said.
I was like since when and I think we should meet and talk. The real-estate agent proceeded to tell me
that had I paid the rent and forgot about what the contract had said I would
not have been in this mess that I am in. Either way the landlord wanted me
out. I asked her to contact the landlord
so that she, my manager, and the landlord may sit down tonight and talk about
it. She said she would.
An hour or so later I
called her and asked if the landlord was coming as it was 21h30 and I still had
not heard from her or the landlord. She asked
me if the landlord was there. WHAT! She herself is not at my house! Anyway I told
her no he was not. She indicated that she told her partner to call but I guess
he did not. She suggests that we talk tomorrow.
So I spent a few
hours folding and packing my stuff. Additionally
I contact some apartments on the New Hanoian website. I then made some appointment to see apartments
at 9h00 the next morning.
The whole day on Tuesday
was spent looking for an apartment. I decided to settle on one that I wanted
before but it was not set up yet. It was
now set up and ready to be moved it. This
was perfect.
At around 6pm, the
real-estate agent called me and told me that she went by the apartment but she
was told that I had moved out. WHAT!! If
you recall she is the one that called me and told me that the landlord wanted
me out last night, the latest this morning as someone was moving in. I was like
yea; I did as you told me the landlord wanted me out.
She once again blames
me by going according to the contract. If I was more flexible, then this would
not have happen. RIGHT! As if people
here do not lose their money all the time.
Hence the reason why I did not pay because this is a common
practice.
She asked if I was
going to go with her tomorrow to look for a place I was like sure. So the next
day we went to see some shabby places and she asked me to pick one. I indicated that I was not interested in any
of those. She became upset and told me
that she does not know what to do with me.
As I did not seem to like want anyone of the apartments that she was
showing me. I was too tired and annoyed to
argue. Plus I had that apartment in mind.
The next day she
called me to see other places. I told her that I was not interested as I had
found an apartment. She was like okay;
well I will come by your work so that you may pay the rent and utility for the
time you stayed in the apartment. Sarcastically I was like “okay, sure,
whatever”
So she came by my
work on Wednesday and brought the bill. In
the meeting was my Vietnamese colleague, my manager the real-estate agent and
I. Basically she wanted me to pay the electricity
bill, and half a month of rent. She put
this in and envelope and laid it on the table.
In the meeting she
express that she tried to help me by asking the landlord to fulfill the contact
but it is a slow process. Also while I was gone a week the landlord was supposed
to have done it. She asked her partner and the partner told her everything was
done so she did not check. She did not realize that nothing was done. If I had paid then the landlord would have
fulfill the contract.
I informed her that
in the contract it said that once I sign the contract, everything would be
fixed but once it was signed, nothing was done. Also a week was given while I was
away to get everything fixed and nothing was still done. Also in my letter that
I wrote before I left for my fieldwork it said that. She indicated to my Vietnamese colleague that
in Vietnam the contract doesn’t really mean anything. It’s just a formality.
My colleague got
really mad and told her that what was the point of the contract is if it does not
mean anything. In our company some of the colleagues have been ripped off by
landlords pulling the same tactic; that was why I was informed not to pay
before all of these were done.
Furthermore and to
keep this meeting from being longer than it is becoming, it says in the
contract that if the list of things which they are suppose to provide was not
done, then the contract would be void and “the lessee would not be relived of
her contractual duties.” This went on
for a while. The landlord asked us to
give her a list of the case we are presenting to her as she clearly understand
that they do not have a case so she need to go back to the office to present
our case to her manager. We listed our
case for her and she left.
The next day she said
she wanted to meet again with us with her partner. We said Friday would be
fine. On Friday she and her colleague came. He was all about yelling and
screaming. My colleagues once again, my manager, Vietnamese colleague and I sat
there and listen to this fool make a fool of himself. After we ignored him and spoke back to the
real-estate as if he did not exist. We informed the both of them that they
broke the contract and we are going with the contract.
This time they open
the envelope with the bill. The bill
said that I owe a month of electricity. Which was false as the bill was much higher
than owning a full house. My manager
informed her that she lived in a 4 bedroom house; she paid less utility than I was
being told to pay for staying in the apartment for 5 days. So we don’t believe
them. For the rent. They wanted to charge
me for half a month of rent. Five days
for stay there and a week of my things being there while I was in the field.
We informed them that
we were not paying and for the same list of reason we gave them yesterday. They
broke the contract. The left with the
bill
So this was my week
two weeks ago.
Yes I am in my new
apartment and the landlord, I couldn’t have asked for a better one. Very understanding
and he gives me fruits. You know how I like to eat. J
For those of you who
know my experiences from Zimbabwe, you can now say that I do not have good experiences
with renting apartments
So yes he tells me he has no money. I did not ask the
obvious question of how you were going to eat; especially since he did not ask
me if I had money to feed him. So I told
him he should pick a place that he wanted to go as I was not really hungry. He decided to pick KFC. Now, for my less travelled friends, if you
are in a developing country and see fast food chains like KFC, McDonalds and
such don’t go to those places as you will never get value for money. Meaning
that food would be over priced, they are not as good and oh yes the menu will
most likely not be the same. 
