The building bills a service charge per square meter per month. Parking is billed separately, and utilities are metered to the occupant. Every tower sets its own rate, so your building’s current schedule is the only number that matters.
Three bills get compressed into one phrase when owners ask about “the charges”, and they behave differently. One is fixed by the building, one is fixed by how many vehicles you keep, and one moves with how the apartment is used.
The service charge, parking and utilities are three separate bills
- The service charge. The building sets a rate per square meter per month and bills it against your unit. It funds security, cleaning, lighting and the shared facilities the tower actually operates. It is billed whether the apartment is occupied or empty.
- Parking. A flat monthly fee per space, quoted separately for cars and motorbikes. It is not per square meter and it is not included in the service charge.
- Utilities. Electricity, water and internet are metered. They belong to whoever is living there, either in the tenant’s name or settled monthly against readings.
Sky Park Residence: what a real schedule looks like
Sky Park Residence in Cau Giay is one of the few buildings where a letting agent publishes the running costs alongside the rents, on nhaxinchao.com. The schedule carries no date, so read it as the last published figure rather than this month’s invoice:
| Line | Rate | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Service charge | 15,000 VND / m² / month | letting agent’s published schedule, undated |
| Car parking | 1,400,000 VND / space / month | same |
| Motorbike parking | 70,000 VND / space / month | same |
On an 86 m² apartment with one car space, that is about 2.7 million dong a month in fixed outgoings before any maintenance. The full picture for that building, including asking rents by layout, is on the Sky Park Residence page.
Your building’s rate is the only rate that matters
The Sky Park numbers are a reference point, not a benchmark. Rates differ by tower, and two towers charging the same rate per square meter can be funding very different things. A building with a pool, a gym and 24-hour concierge carries costs a building with a lobby guard does not.
Modeling your yield on a rate you read somewhere else is the same mistake as modeling your rent on a listing from another building. Use your own schedule.
Billing starts at handover, not at your first tenancy
This is the line that surprises owners taking delivery of a new build. The service charge runs from handover. So does the parking fee on any space you hold. An apartment that sits empty for four months between collecting keys and signing a tenant is billed for all four.
That cost belongs in your handover budget alongside furnishing. Confirm the rate and the billing start date on the day you collect keys rather than when the first invoice arrives. It sits on the handover checklist on each pre-handover building page, Lumière Evergreen included, and what else to settle in those first weeks is on our handover page.
Every empty month is a service charge with no rent against it. That is the practical argument for having the apartment furnished and listed as handover approaches rather than after, and the sequence for that is on the tenant sourcing page.
The service charge is not part of our fee
Our management fee is 4% of annual rent and it buys work: tenants, rent collection, inspections, bills paid on time, the monthly statement. The building’s service charge, parking, utilities, government taxes and contractor invoices are your costs.
We pay them on your behalf so nothing goes into arrears while you are overseas, then pass them through at cost with receipts and no percentage added. The full fee table, including the lines that carry no charge at all, is on the pricing page.
Whether the charge sits inside the rent you quote or on top of it is a separate decision, and it belongs at pricing rather than in a negotiation with a tenant. That decision is worked through in who pays the property management fee.
Four questions the building office answers in one call
- The current rate per square meter per month, and when it was last changed.
- What the charge covers, specifically, and what is billed on top of it.
- Car and motorbike rates, and whether a space comes with the unit or is rented.
- The billing cycle and the date charges started for your unit.
Answers to these four turn a variable in your model into a fixed line. A building office that cannot produce a current schedule is telling you something about how the tower is run, and that is worth knowing before you sign a tenant into it.
Once the numbers are in hand, drop them into the annual operating stack in what it really costs to own and rent out a Hanoi apartment.
Common questions
How much is the service charge in a Hanoi apartment?
There is no city-wide rate. Each tower sets its own charge per square meter per month, and what it buys differs building by building. Sky Park Residence in Cau Giay is quoted at 15,000 VND per square meter per month in a letting agent's published schedule for the building, which is a useful reference point and not a benchmark for your building.
Does the management fee include the building service charge?
No. Our fee is 4% of annual rent and covers the work of running the apartment. The building's service charge, parking, utilities and government taxes are the owner's costs. We pay them on your behalf and pass them through at cost with receipts, with no percentage added.
When does the service charge start being billed?
From handover, not from your first tenancy. An apartment sitting empty after handover is still billed the service charge and any parking space you hold, so the months between collecting keys and signing a tenant carry a real cost.
