If I unilaterally terminate the rental contract, will I lose the rental deposit?

1. Pursuant to Article 132 of the 2014 Housing Law, unilateral termination of contract performance is regulated as follows:

- During the housing lease term as agreed in the contract, the lessor shall not unilaterally terminate the housing lease contract and reclaim the leased housing, except in the cases specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

- The lessor has the right to unilaterally terminate the lease contract and reclaim the leased house in one of the following cases:

+ The lessor of state-owned housing or social housing leases out without proper authority, to the wrong subjects, or without meeting the conditions prescribed by this Law;

+ The tenant does not pay the rent as agreed for 03 months or more without a valid reason;

+ The tenant uses the house for purposes other than those agreed in the contract;

+ The tenant arbitrarily breaks, expands, renovates, or demolishes the rented house;

+ The lessee converts, lends, or sublets the rented house without the consent of the lessor;

+ The tenant causes disorder and environmental sanitation, seriously affecting the lives of people around, and has been recorded by the landlord or the head of the residential group, village, hamlet, village, commune, village, or hamlet for the third time but still fails to remedy the situation;

+ Belonging to the case specified in Clause 2, Article 129 of this Law.

- The tenant has the right to unilaterally terminate the housing lease contract when the landlord commits one of the following acts:

+ Do not repair houses when there is serious damage;

+ Unreasonably increasing the rental price or increasing the rental price without notifying the tenant in advance as agreed;

+ When the right to use the house is restricted due to the interests of a third party.

- The party unilaterally terminating the housing lease contract must notify the other party at least 30 days in advance, unless the parties have another agreement; if the violation of the provisions of this clause causes damage, compensation must be paid according to the provisions of law.

2. And Article 328 of the 2015 Civil Code stipulates the deposit terms as follows:

“Article 328. Deposit

1. A deposit is when one party (hereinafter referred to as the depositor) delivers to the other party (hereinafter referred to as the deposit recipient) a sum of money or precious metals, gemstones or other valuables (hereinafter referred to as the deposited property) for a period of time to secure the conclusion or performance of a contract.

2. In case the contract is concluded or performed, the deposit shall be returned to the depositor or deducted to fulfill the payment obligation; if the depositor refuses to conclude or perform the contract, the deposit shall belong to the deposit recipient; if the deposit recipient refuses to conclude or perform the contract, the deposit shall be returned to the depositor and an amount of money equivalent to the value of the deposit, unless otherwise agreed.”

3. Thus, the tenant has the right to unilaterally terminate the lease contract in the following cases:

- Do not repair the house when there is serious damage;

- Unreasonably increasing the rental price or increasing the rental price without notifying the tenant in advance as agreed;

- When the right to use the house is restricted due to the interests of a third party.

In addition, the party unilaterally terminating the housing lease contract must notify the other party at least 30 days in advance, unless the parties have agreed otherwise. The deposit is to secure the conclusion or performance of the contract, which means that the tenant can only unilaterally terminate the contract according to the provisions stated or other cases according to the housing lease contract, then the deposit will be refunded. Otherwise, the deposit will still be lost if the parties do not have another agreement.