HOUSE BUYING PROCEDURES IN VIETNAM FOR FOREIGNERS IN 2022

Buying, selling and owning a home is the desire of many people. The issue of ensuring legal safety in the process of buying and selling is always a concern of customers, especially foreigners who want to own a house in Vietnam. Many people when making real estate transactions can not avoid surprises. The following article of the Doanh Tri Law will share the real estate buying and selling procedures you need to know to make this process the most convenient and successful.

1.  Legal Basis:

- Law on Housing in Vietnam 2014;

- Decree No.99/2015/NĐ-CP;

- Circular No.19/2016/TT-BXD.

2. Condition of buying house in Vietnam:

Conditions of housing participating in the transaction

According to the provisions of the Law on Housing 2014, the conditions for foreigners to participate in house purchase and sale transactions for foreigners must satisfy the following conditions:

(i) Having a Certificate as required

(ii) Not being subject to a dispute, complaint or claim about ownership; are in the term of house ownership in the case of house ownership with a definite term. (This regulation does not apply to houses to be formed in the future)

(iii) Not being distrained for judgment enforcement or distrained to execute legally effective administrative decisions of competent state agencies. (This regulation does not apply to houses to be formed in the future)

(iv) Not subject to a decision on land recovery or a notice of house clearance or demolition issued by a competent authority.

Conditions of the parties to the housing transaction

1^st Case: Conditions for the organization

Organizations must have an investment certificate or papers related to being allowed to operate in Vietnam, issued by a competent Vietnamese state agency, which is still valid at the time of signing the house purchase or lease purchase contract.

2^nd Case: Conditions for individuals

Foreign individuals must meet the following:

(i) Have a valid passport bearing the entry verification stamp of the Vietnamese immigration authority;

(ii) Not entitled to diplomatic privileges and immunities.

(iii) Must have full civil act capacity to conduct transactions on housing in accordance with Vietnamese law, must be eligible to own a house in Vietnam according to the provisions of this Law, and must not be forced to; Foreigner is required to have temporary residence registration or permanent residence registration at the place where the house is traded.

3. Housing transactions are not required to have a Certificate:

(i) Purchase, sale, mortgage of houses to be formed in the future;

(ii) Purchase, sale, lease purchase of state-owned housing; purchase, sale, lease-purchase of social housing, housing for resettlement not under state ownership; selling houses specified in Clause 4, Article 62 of the Law on Housing 2014;

(iii) Receive inheritance of housing;

(iv) Transfer of contract of purchase and sale of commercial housing built in a housing construction investment project, including the case where the house has been handed over from the investor but has not yet submitted a request to the housing authority. The country has the authority to issue the Certificate for that house.

Papers proving housing conditions for participation in transactions specified in this Clause must comply with the Government's regulations.

4. The process of buying houses in Vietnam for foreigners:

Foreigners can buy houses in Vietnam by one of the following methods:

4.1. Signing a house purchase contract with the investor

Step 1: Make a contract

According to Articles 120 and 121 of the 2014 Law on Housing, the parties agree to make a written house sale and purchase contract.

Step 2: Notarize and certify the contract

- Notarization place: Notarization at the Notary's Office/Office located in the province or centrally run city where the house is located.

Step 3: Complete the profile

The parties come in to bargain to have one party submit a dossier to request a competent state agency to issue a Certificate for that house; In case of purchase or lease-purchase of housing by the project investor, the investor is responsible for carrying out the procedures for the competent state agency to issue the Certificate to the purchaser or the lessee, except for the case where the buyer, The lessee voluntarily carries out the procedures for applying for the Certificate.

4.2. Transferring commercial housing purchase and sale contracts

In addition to signing a contract directly with the investor, the buyer has the right to "buy a house" through the form of receiving the transfer of a commercial house purchase and sale contract.

Step 1: Make a transfer contract document

- Quantity: 07 copies (03 copies to be handed over to the investor for storage, 01 copy to be submitted to the tax authority, 01 copy kept by the transferor, 01 copy kept by the transferor; 01 copy is kept at notary agency, certification)

Step 2: Notarize or authenticate the contract

- Location: Notarization at the Notary's Office/Office located in the province or centrally run city where the house is located.

- The application for notarization or authentication includes the following documents:

+ 07 originals of transfer documents of house purchase and sale contract;

+ The original of the house purchase and sale contract signed with the investor of the commercial housing construction project; In case of transfer from the second time onwards; the original copy of the transfer contract must be enclosed with the previous transfer contract; In case of transferring one or several houses out of the total number of houses purchased by the investor under the original contract, a certified true copy of the original contract and the original appendix of the house purchase and sale contract signed with the investor must be submitted. investors for transferable houses;

+ Identity card or valid passport if you are an individual; If it is an organization, it must be enclosed with the establishment decision or certificate of establishment registration of that organization;

+ Other papers as prescribed by the law on notarization and authentication such as: Papers proving the status of common and separate properties.

Note:

- If the transferor of a house purchase and sale contract is an enterprise or cooperative with the function of real estate business, the notarization or authentication of the transfer contract is not mandatory but is agreed upon by the parties themselves.

Step 3: Declare taxes, fees and charges

Step 4: Require the investor to confirm in the contract transfer document

Step 5: Submit an application for a Certificate (if the commercial housing purchase and sale contract has agreed with the investor on the content of voluntary procedures to apply for a Certificate at a competent state agency)

5. What rights do foreign organizations and individuals owning houses in Vietnam have?

Foreign organizations and individuals have the same rights of house owners as Vietnamese citizens but must comply with the following provisions:

In case of building houses on leased land, they are only entitled to rent houses.

(i) Only buy, lease-purchase, and own no more than 30% of the apartments in an apartment building. If it is a separate house, including villas and adjacent houses, an area with a population equivalent to a ward-level administrative unit may only buy, rent-purchase, and own no more than 250 houses.

(ii) The Government shall specify the number of apartments and the number of individual houses that foreign organizations and individuals may purchase, lease-purchase and own in case an area has a population equivalent to one administrative unit. ward level government that has many apartment buildings, or for individual houses on a street

(iii) For foreign individuals, they are allowed to own houses according to agreements in transactions, but for a maximum of 50 years from the date of issuance of the Certificate and can be extended according to the Government's regulations if any. demand; The term of house ownership must be clearly stated in the Certificate.

In case a foreign individual marries a Vietnamese citizen, he/she is entitled to own a stable and long-term house and has the same rights of a house owner as a Vietnamese citizen;

(i) For foreign organizations, they are allowed to own houses as agreed upon in house purchase and sale and lease-purchase contract transactions, but not exceeding the time limit stated in the investment certificate, including the period of time specified in the investment certificate. further extension. The term of house ownership is counted from the date of issuance of the Certificate and is clearly stated in this Certificate;

(ii) Before the expiration of the time limit for house ownership in accordance with this Law, the owner may donate or sell this house to subjects eligible to own houses in Vietnam; If the house ownership period expires but the owner does not sell or donate the house, that house shall be owned by the State.

The above article is our firm's perspective towards house buying procedures in Vietnam for foreigners in 2022. For more information and advice on this issue, please contact Doanh Tri Law Firm directly via:
Hotline: (+84) 911.233.955 - (024) 6293 8326
Email: [email protected]
Doanh Tri Law Firm is pleased to accompany our customers!