Finding an apartment for rent in Da Nang (Đà Nẵng) for a few months is easy; renting it without costly mistakes takes more care. A landlord who never registers your stay with the police, a deposit agreed only by word of mouth or an electricity rate above the state price can each turn into a problem once you have paid. So what does Vietnamese law require, and what should you check before you pay?
What to check before you rent in Da Nang
Check three things before you hand over any money. The law sets three rules when you rent in Da Nang: the landlord must register your stay with the police, the lease must be in writing, and a landlord who pays household electricity rates cannot charge you more than the state price.
You must show the landlord your passport for the registration, and the lease should state the rent, how you pay, the term and the deposit terms. The rules below are as they stood on October 3, 2026; this is general information, not legal advice.
Police registration of your stay
Make sure the landlord registers you. Under Vietnam's law on the residence of foreigners, a private home counts as accommodation. As a foreign tenant, you must declare your stay through the person who runs the home, usually the landlord, to the police of the ward or commune where it is (Công an phường or xã). The landlord files the declaration and must ask to see your passport and any residence papers before you move in; you must show them.
This declaration (khai báo tạm trú) records where you are staying; it is not the same as a temporary residence card. With a paper form, the landlord must hand it to the police within 12 hours of your arrival, or 24 hours in remote areas. Online registration must be done as soon as you arrive, as Circular 87/2026/TT-BCA, in force since July 24, 2026, restates. If you move, or the details in your passport change (with a new passport, for example), the registration has to be made again.
The fines are real. Since December 15, 2025, a landlord who fails to register one to three foreigners can be fined 3,000,000–5,000,000 VND (about US$116–194). A foreigner who does not show their passport to the landlord for registration faces the same fine, and landlords that are companies or other organizations pay double. In September 2026, Da Nang police reported that a campaign had inspected 781 accommodation facilities and found 34 that broke the registration rules.
For the full rules, fines and how the online system works, see the temporary residence registration guide.
The lease and the deposit
Get the lease in writing. Vietnam's Housing Law, in force since August 1, 2024, requires housing contracts to be in writing. A lease does not have to be notarized unless you and the landlord want it to be. You and the landlord agree the term, the rent and whether you pay monthly or up front.
During an agreed term, the landlord cannot end the lease early except in cases the law lists, such as rent left unpaid for three months or more. You can end it in cases such as the landlord failing to repair serious damage, or raising the rent unreasonably or without the notice agreed in the contract. Even then, the side ending the lease must tell the other at least 30 days ahead, in writing or as the contract sets out, unless the contract says otherwise.
If you simply want to move out early, the law gives you no right to do so, so agree an early-exit clause and what happens to the deposit if you might need one. If the owner sells the home, you can stay until the lease ends, unless your contract says otherwise.
The law does not set the size of a deposit or a deadline for returning it. Under the Civil Code, a deposit is returned or set against what you owe once the contract has been carried out. Unless the contract says otherwise, if you refuse to carry out the contract, the landlord keeps the deposit; if the landlord refuses, they must return it plus the same amount again. So write down the amount, what it can be used for and when it will be paid back. You must look after the home, handle small repairs and pay for damage you cause, but you are not responsible for normal wear and tear.
Tax on the rent is the landlord's job. Under a decree in force since March 5, 2026, an individual landlord whose rental revenue is 500,000,000 VND (about US$19,000) a year or less pays no income tax or VAT on it. If you rent as an individual, you file nothing; only a company that rents a home can file tax for the landlord, and only if the lease says so.
Electricity and water bills
Check how electricity will be charged before you sign. Household electricity in Vietnam is priced in tiers, under a price list that has applied since May 10, 2025. The table shows the rates before VAT.
| Monthly use | Price per kWh |
|---|---|
| 0–50 kWh | 1,984 VND (about US$0.08) |
| 51–100 kWh | 2,050 VND (about US$0.08) |
| 101–200 kWh | 2,380 VND (about US$0.09) |
| 201–300 kWh | 2,998 VND (about US$0.12) |
| 301–400 kWh | 3,350 VND (about US$0.13) |
| 401 kWh and over | 3,460 VND (about US$0.13) |
These tiers apply to a household with its own power contract. Students and workers renting a home fall under separate rules. If the landlord tells the power company how many people live there, every four people count as one household for the tiers. If the lease is shorter than 12 months and the landlord has not done this, the whole meter reading is priced at the 101–200 kWh rate, 2,380 VND (about US$0.09) per kWh before VAT.
With a lease of 12 months or more and your stay registered, either the landlord signs the power contract or a representative of the tenants signs it, with the landlord's commitment to pay the bill.
Since May 25, 2026, a landlord who buys power at household rates and charges tenants more than the state price can be fined 20,000,000–30,000,000 VND (about US$775–1,163). Costs such as lifts or corridor lights belong in a separate service fee, not in the electricity price.
Water is billed in tiers too. Since January 1, 2025, Da Nang's water company has charged households in the former six urban districts 4,550 VND (about US$0.18) per cubic meter for the first 10 m³ a month. Above that, it charges 5,460 VND (about US$0.21) from 11 to 30 m³ and 6,810 VND (about US$0.26) beyond 30 m³. These prices include VAT; a drainage fee is added on top.
What rent costs
Treat any price list with care: no named survey of rents by area in Da Nang was available as of October 2026. A May 2026 Vietnam News Agency report, summarizing an article in the French weekly Courrier International, put studio apartments in central areas at about 6,000,000 VND (about US$233) a month, and units with separate bedrooms at up to 12,000,000 VND (about US$465). The report did not say whether the figures came from the French article or what they were based on.
For areas to live in, see where to stay in Da Nang; to find which ward an address has belonged to since the July 1, 2025 reorganization, see Da Nang's districts and wards. For daily life, see hospitals in Da Nang and SIM cards and eSIMs.
Sources and how we checked
We read the laws and decrees themselves where we could, in the Official Gazette and on government sites, and used the government's own news site where only a summary was available, checking each source on October 2, 2026, and the electricity rules again on October 3, 2026. We left out newer electricity rules for tenants that had not taken effect by October 3, 2026, and give the rules that applied on that date. One of them caps what a landlord can collect for power at the meter's monthly bill: Ho Chi Minh City's industry and trade department described it in May 2026 as already in force, but Circular 60/2025/TT-BCT brings it in only at the next adjustment of the average electricity price. US dollar amounts use Vietcombank's transfer rate of 25,800 VND per US$ on October 1, 2026, rounded to the nearest cent below US$1, US$0.5 up to US$100, US$1 up to US$10,000 and US$1,000 above that. This is general information, not legal advice.
- Law on the entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners (in Vietnamese): consolidated text (Official Gazette, November 29, 2023); Law 23/2023, registration rules (July 26, 2023); Circular 87/2026 on online registration (June 21, 2026).
- Decree 282/2025 on administrative fines (in Vietnamese): Official Gazette (November 17, 2025).
- Vietnam News, Da Nang fines accommodation facilities over residence reporting (September 8, 2026).
- Housing Law 2023 (in Vietnamese): Official Gazette (January 8, 2024); in force from August 1, 2024 (June 29, 2024).
- Civil Code 2015 (Law No. 91/2015/QH13), full text on the Dak Lak Department of Justice site: article 328 on deposits and articles 472 and 477–481 on leases (November 24, 2015, in Vietnamese).
- Electricity (in Vietnamese): EVN, household price list and rules for tenants (May 9, 2025); Ministry of Industry and Trade, prices from May 10, 2025, before VAT (May 9, 2025); government news site, fines for overcharging tenants (April 23, 2026) and rules for tenants and fines from May 25, 2026 (May 14, 2026); Ministry of Industry and Trade, Circular 60/2025/TT-BCT, which keeps the earlier rules for tenants until the next price adjustment (December 2, 2025); Vietnam Lawyers Magazine, those rules for students and workers renting a home (June 15, 2023).
- Da Nang Water Supply (Dawaco), water prices from January 1, 2025 (January 2, 2025, in Vietnamese).
- Government news site, tax on renting out property (May 8, 2026, in Vietnamese).
- Vietnam News Agency on VnExpress International, rents for digital nomads in Da Nang (May 7, 2026), summarizing a Courrier International article of May 3, 2026.
- Photos: Danang Fantasticity, My Khe in November 2025 (November 10, 2025), DIFF 2026 opening night (May 31, 2026) and My Khe Beach (April 16, 2026).
Updated: October 3, 2026
