When something is too loud
Noise is one of the harder issues to handle because it’s often outside the apartment itself, and not entirely fixable. We take it seriously anyway.
What we ask you to do first
Document it. Before you message us, try to capture:
- What time does it happen? (specific hours, not “evenings”)
- How long does it last? (10 minutes, 2 hours, all night)
- Can you tell where it’s coming from? (upstairs, next door, the street, the building across)
- Is it recurring or one-time?
- A short video or audio recording, if possible, with timestamp
This sounds like a lot. It isn’t: most of it is one observation made over two or three nights. The reason we ask: noise complaints are taken more seriously by building managers (and us) when they come with documentation.
What we do
Once you message us with what you’ve observed, we’ll:
Same day: acknowledge, ask any clarifying questions, and tell you what we’ll do next.
Within a few days: if the noise is from inside the building, we talk to the building manager and request they speak with the source. If you want us to keep your name out of it, we will. Most issues can be raised as “we’ve heard from multiple residents” without naming you.
Within two weeks: the issue is either resolved, in progress with a clear timeline, or determined to be unresolvable (structural noise, ongoing nearby construction, a long-standing neighbor situation we can’t change).
If it can’t be resolved
Sometimes noise turns out to be something the building can’t fix. A new restaurant opened downstairs. Renovation in the building next door. A neighbor’s lifestyle.
When this happens, we don’t leave you to live with something you can’t accept. Two options:
- Move you to another unit at no cost. Same lease terms transfer to the new place. The current deposit transfers. Move within a reasonable timeframe.
- Release you from the lease with full deposit returned. 14 days notice from the day you decide.
Either is fine on our side. You don’t need to argue for one or the other.
If Trang’s inspection flagged the noise
Some apartments have known noise: a busy alley, a school nearby that has morning announcements, a wet market two streets away. When this is the case, Trang’s inspection notes mention it, and the listing should have made it clear before you booked.
If you booked anyway, knowing about the noise, that doesn’t mean you’re stuck with it forever. But the conversation is different: we’ll work to mitigate (better windows? a recommended white-noise solution? a different unit?), and the “move at no cost” option may or may not apply depending on the situation.
If Trang’s inspection didn’t flag noise that’s now bothering you, that’s a real signal to us. Either she missed it (rare), the source is new (more common, as Vietnamese neighborhoods change quickly), or the noise has gotten worse. Either way, you have our attention.
What we don’t do
We don’t dismiss noise complaints. Even the ones that are partly cultural adjustment (Vietnamese neighborhoods are livelier than what most expats are used to) get a real response.
We don’t blame the tenant for being sensitive. Some people sleep through anything, some people don’t. The lease isn’t dependent on your noise tolerance.
We don’t approach neighbors directly. That’s the building manager’s job, and approaching a neighbor cold rarely ends well in Vietnam or anywhere else.
A note on Vietnamese cities
Vietnamese cities are louder than European or North American cities. Motorbikes everywhere, karaoke is a real cultural pastime, weddings and funerals are public events with sound systems, construction starts at 6am because of the heat. Most of this is not fixable: it’s the city.
Wu and Kin units are chosen for the inside of the apartment being quiet enough to sleep and work in. The street outside the building is the street. If the apartment’s measured noise level (the dB number on the inspection card) was acceptable to you when you booked, and the apartment still measures that today, the brand promise is being kept.
If the dB number was acceptable then but doesn’t feel acceptable now, that’s worth a conversation. Sometimes the issue isn’t dB: it’s a specific recurring noise that the average measurement doesn’t capture.