The most common scam for students is fake landlords who post cheap, nice rooms or find roommates to ask for a deposit.
Master Cu Xuan Tien, Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department, University of Economics and Law, Ho Chi Minh City National University, said that at the beginning of the school year, his department received many complaints from students about being scammed when renting accommodation.
"The demand for accommodation is increasing, students are eager to find a place to live but do not have information, experience, or legal knowledge, so they are easily taken advantage of by bad guys," said Mr. Tien.
Because students are gullible and rent rooms without signing a contract or with a loose contract, when they move in, the landlord announces a series of additional costs or unreasonable price increases. Mr. Tien said there have been cases where a rental contract was signed but the electricity, water, and parking prices were not clearly stated. When they moved in, the students were shocked when the landlord increased the price, so they had to cancel the contract and lose their deposit.
Another common scam is for the landlord to impersonate the landlord and take the deposit. In addition, many students rent through an intermediary, and after a while the landlord takes back or sells the house, making it difficult or impossible to get the deposit back.
Mr. Le Xuan Thanh, Head of the Student Political Affairs Department at the University of Mining and Geology, said that a student once met a person claiming to be the landlord and asked for a three-month deposit. After receiving the money, the person disappeared. It turned out that this person was just a short-term tenant, then pretended to be the landlord to post a rental ad and collect the deposit.
Another form is to entice students to share a room and split the rent. They are often asked to pay 3-6 months of rent because this person said he had paid in advance. After receiving the money, this person - who is not actually the tenant - goes into hiding. The real tenant returns and does not accept to share a room with the student, or demands more money to stay. According to Mr. Thanh, this situation often involves collusion between the original impersonator and the real tenant.
"The common point of this scam is that students lack information and have not verified who the tenant or landlord is," said Mr. Thanh.
With the same purpose of defrauding deposits, bad guys can use the trick of "hanging a sheep's head but selling dog meat", posting information about cheap, beautiful, fully-furnished rooms and urging students to put down a deposit to hold the room because someone wants to rent it right away. However, when students go to see it in person, they discover that the room is shabby, not like the advertised image, and if they do not rent it, they will have to accept losing their deposit.
In addition, according to Mr. Thanh, understanding the psychology of students wanting to rent a fully furnished room, many landlords insert clauses in the contract, forcing the tenant to repair or replace the furniture if it is broken, regardless of the length of stay. Many old items that have been replaced with new covers will quickly break down after a short time of use.
To avoid being scammed when renting a room, Master Nguyen Ba Dai, Deputy Director of the Center for Business Relations and Student Support, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, advises students to proactively seek support from the Union, Association, and student affairs department.
"Information about boarding houses is collected by the Student Union from neighborhood groups, police, local organizations or directly surveyed by the Student Union, so students can trust it," said Mr. Dai.
If looking for accommodation on their own, students should go directly, ask previous tenants or neighbors about information about the landlord, security, carefully consider the distance to school and surrounding conditions before deciding to pay a deposit.
"Students should choose an area with good security first, then look for a room. If they find a good room with an unusually low price, they need to research it carefully," Mr. Thanh said, adding that students should meet the landlord directly and ask to sign a contract when renting, instead of going through a broker or intermediary.
When deciding to sign a rental contract, students need to read the terms carefully, paying attention to costs such as electricity, water, Internet, parking, environmental sanitation, and appliance repair. In case of sharing a room, there should be an agreement with the roommate about living expenses.
For new students, Mr. Le Xuan Thanh suggests that they should bring relatives or acquaintances who have 1-3 years of experience living in that area when viewing or depositing for a room.
Experts advise new students to stay close to school. Room rates in this area may be higher, but it is convenient to travel, avoiding problems with transportation and roads when first entering school. In case of staying far from school to get a better room rate, students should choose a place with a bus stop.
If the school dormitory still has space, this is a safe, convenient, and cost-effective option for new students during their first time in the city.
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