In Ho Chi Minh City, people living in open apartment complexes are losing patience with uninvited visitors. Outsiders walk in daily to use playgrounds, exercise machines, and even ground-floor restrooms. One complex of over 1,100 apartments in Binh Dong Ward has no perimeter walls. Around 6 p.m. each day, outsiders arrive to exercise or let children and pets play. With fewer than ten machines available, paying residents often wait in line or simply give up.
Disputes have broken out, and guards have sometimes called the police to escort strangers away. In August, a child living in one complex was chased and hit by a group of outside children. An online survey found 53 percent of readers wanting managements to block non-residents from internal roads. An apartment management association official says outsiders have no automatic right to use shared private property. He also links the problem to the city's shortage of public parks and playgrounds.