I discovered intentional discrimination on the part of landlords in Da Nang, Vietnam

I don't know a great many influential or powerful Vietnamese people but there is one guy, we just call him "Mr. H" because his name is really tough for foreigners to pronounce, and he owns a condo building that caters entirely to expats and also enjoys hanging out with foreigners. His English isn't great but he is a really nice guy and he tries. I think he comes to play pool with us so that he can learn more.

When talking to him I get to find out a bit what it is like to be on the other side and I can get some real information about how the Vietnamese really do feel about us foreigners that live here and how they handle it.

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This is the building that he owns. IT is pretty impressive from the outside but I know quite a few people that live there and it is pretty stock standard. It gets the job done but the exterior looks a lot nicer than the rooms actually are. You can get a place here for about $400 a month and up. Well, that is if he will allow you to rent from him and I found out recently that there are a few things that will disqualify you from renting from him and a lot of other landlords use the same standards for deciding if you are qualified to stay there.

As it turns out there are some nationalities that landlords do not want to rent to because there have been too many problems with these nationalities in the past. We do not have discrimination laws here, and we do not have the ability to check a person's credit either or at least not one that I am aware of. While it might seem cruel to discriminate against a person based on their nationality, the owners of these buildings have built up this prejudice over a lot of years and I would imagine that they have statistics over time that have proven to them enough that some people are just much more likely to be problematic.

The first one that most nicer places will not rent to might not surprise you and that is that people from all African countries have difficulty finding apartments. The Africans that we get here are normally just from two countries and that is South Africa and Nigeria. You can view this as racist if you want to, but there is a particular shade of African that the landowners do not want to rent to and in most situations simply will not. Nigerians, for whatever reason, seem to really like coming to Da Nang but at the same time they are also somewhat problematic. You don't have to be here for very long to discover that the Nigerian population are often involved in rather seedy aspects of Da Nang life. There are certain parts of town where late night activities occur at clubs and bars where some level of illegal-yet-tolerated activities take place such as drugs, prostitution, and nitrous balloons are being peddled and in all of these places, there is a noticeable increase in the amount of Nigerians that are working there in some capacity. They kind of "own the night" so to speak.

I don't really participate in these activities so I cannot speak to how it operates. But according to Mr. H he has had so many problems with male Nigerians in the past with drunken and violent outbursts as well as shady people coming and going at all hours that he no longer wishes to take a chance on them. He has also said that even after over 10 years of renting his rooms, he has never so much as seen a Nigerian woman. All of the people that come here are men and normally young men at that.

South African people are allowed to rent. That's all I am going to say about that because I don't want to upset anyone. I don't make the rules. It is what it is and all that.

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Next up we have Israelis and Mr. H has told me that it is a blanket "no" if anyone from Israel applies for an apartment. Rather than have to turn them down face-to-face he will normally speak to them via a messenger before they even come to look at the apartment and give them some reason that isn't true as to how the apartment is already occupied. The reason for this is non-payment of rent and people disappearing in the night. Rent it paid BEFORE the month, not after, at just about every place I have heard of. So when someone doesn't pay he will first attempt to contact them and remind them, then after they don't respond he will go and open the door in the middle of the day with a team and remove all belongings from the room.

He told me that this happened more than 50% of the time when dealing with Israelis, and therefore he just decided that it isn't worth the trouble and now just says no to anyone from that nation.

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Next up we have something that is much more specific and it deals with one of the largest parts of the expat community here in Da Nang. That is the Russians.

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There are multiple tiers of Russians according to Mr. H and one of them is a definite "no." Single men from Russia get an automatic "no". Single women get a maybe but this is determined by how many tattoos and piercings they have. If they have a lot of those things he will tell them no because (according to him) the ones with a lot of piercings and tattoos are often involved in something illegal and frequently they are prostitutes and the prostitutes bring pimps and violence along with them. Again, these are not my words.

The last category of Russians is a bit more case-by-case. Couples with children get an almost certain "yes" and couples without children he said it depends on how much English they can speak but normally he is leaning towards "no" when childless Russian couples apply.

I guess the reasoning here is that if you have a child, you are probably a lot more likely to behave and be responsible and to me, this make a lot of sense.

Since Mr. H's apartment are right in that sweet spot of being slightly upmarket but also affordable, he is more likely to get some bad seeds than other places are. The really cheap dumps do not have issues with anyone because they have really strict rules about payment, who can come in and out (normally it is no one can come and visit if they are not registered) and payment dates are strictly upheld. These places normally have a lot of security, cameras, and the residents are constantly monitored.

I think that my own building must have a similar secret sort of selection going on as well because now that I think about it, all of the Russians that have been here have been couples. Perhaps this is just a method that all of the landlords adopted over time.

So if you are a sensible and responsible single Russian man that just wants to find a place to say, or if you are any of the other categories of people, just know that you are likely to face difficulties in getting a place to stay.

To anyone that is super sensitive out there please note that this is not my own policy and I don't really have a strong opinion about anyone's nationality. I am a "live and let live" sort of person. I am merely letting you know that such a discriminatory policy does in fact exist here.