Laws of Vietnam

Proceeding from the Law on the Organization of Government on the 30th of September 1992;

Proceeding from the Land Law on the 14th of July 1993;

Proceeding from the Ordinance on Dwelling Houses on the 26th of March 1991;

At the proposal of the Minister of Construction, the Minister of Finance, and the Head of the Government Pricing Committee,

Article 1.- Dwelling houses covered in this Decree are dwelling houses in all forms of ownership.

Article 2.- The purchase, sale and trading of dwelling houses covered by this Decree include the following forms:

1. Sale of dwelling houses owned by the State to lessees;

2. Trading in dwelling houses;

3. Purchase and sale of dwelling houses not for business purpose.

Article 3.- The purchase and sale of dwelling houses is the transfer of the house ownership and land-use right from the selling party to the purchasing party through a written and signed contract in accordance with law. The selling party must be the legal owner of the dwelling house and the legal user of the residential land. In all other cases, the selling party must be delegated to do so by the legal owner of the dwelling house and the legal user of the residential land and certified by the Notary Public.

Article 4.- The State shall set the standard floor prices for newly built dwelling houses and for residential land on the transfer of the right to use it, and the standard floor prices for the leasing of dwelling houses as basis for the management of dwelling house purchase, sale and trading.

Article 5.- The State will sell to lessees all or part of dwelling houses it owns and rents to them, so that the lessees may upgrade their living place, except the following dwelling houses:

1. Dwelling houses in the area planned for the building of new projects or for the renovation of old dwelling houses;

2. Houses of special use which are rented for temporary use as dwelling houses (such as hotels, rest-homes, schools, hospitals, working offices, storages, and other houses of special use).

3. Villas planned for use as public buildings or for other purposes.

Article 6.- The purchase of dwelling houses owned by the State is voluntary. If the lessees do not want to buy, they can continue to rent it. If lessees of the houses mentioned at Items (1), (2), (3), Article 5, of this Decree want to buy houses, they shall be considered for buying other houses also owned by the State in accordance with this Decree, but they must return to the State the housing space they are renting.

Article 7.- The selling price of State-owned dwelling houses to the lessees concerned includes the price of the dwelling house and the price of residential land at the time of transfer of the right to use the land.

1. The price of a dwelling house shall be determined by evaluating its remaining value and the coefficient for regulating its use value:

a/ The remaining value of a dwelling house shall be determined on the basis of the remaining percentage of the value of the house, compared with the price of building a new house, as stipulated by the People's Committees of provinces and cities directly under the Central Government (hereunder referred to as provincial level) based on the standard floor price for building a new house stipulated by the State. This percentage shall be determined for each specific housing space to be sold, taking into account the time for which it has been used and the actual state of the house.

The Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance and the Government Pricing Committee shall guide the way to determine the remaining value of a dwelling house.

b/ The coefficient for regulating the use value of a house is stipulated as follows:

- 1.2 for the first floor and one-story houses

- 1.1 for the second floor

- 1.0 for the third floor

- 0.9 for the fourth floor

- 0.8 for the fifth floor

- 0.7 for the sixth and higher floor.

2. The price of residential land when the land-use right is transferred, shall be set by the provincial People's Committee on the basis of the land price frame set forth by the State, the location of the land, and the floor of the housing space:

a/ For one-story and multi-story house leased to a household, it will pay 40% of the land price when the right to use land is transferred.

b/ For multi-story houses jointly leased to many households, they will pay 10% of the land price when the right to use land is transferred, according to the following table:

1. The selling party is the Director of the Housing Company under the provincial housing and land service, the President or Vice-President of the People's Committee in a province, town, precinct or district (where there is no housing company) which is managing the house.

2. For State-owned dwelling houses which are being managed by administrative offices, the armed forces, people's organizations, political and social organizations, and State-owned enterprises, and which are eligible for sale, the transfer of ownership to the seller must be made in accordance with law.

3. The Provincial People's Committee shall submit the proposal for sale of dwelling houses to the People's Council of the same level for approval before the sale. For Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, after the proposal is approved by the Municipal People's Council, it must be ratified by the Prime Minister.

To assist the Provincial People's Committee in the sale of a house, the President of the Provincial People's Committee must set up a dwelling house-selling council with a leading member of the Provincial People's Committee as chairman, and representatives of the Housing and Land Office, the Construction Service, the Chief Architect (if any), the Finance-Pricing Service, the Land Administration Office, the provincial chapters of the General Federation of Labor and the Fatherland Front, and the seller, as members, as stipulated in Item 1 of this Article.

The House-Selling Council shall prepare a house-selling plan with specifications as to the location of the houses, the categories of the houses and the plan to sell them; prepare the pricing lists and sale regulations, and organize the sale of the houses according to the plan already approved, and make periodical reports on the results to the Provincial People's Committee.

Proceeding from the specific conditions of each locality, the President of the Provincial People's Committee can decide to set up House-Selling Councils at districts, cities in the province and towns which are not provincial capitals, presided over by the President of the People's Committee of the locality concerned.

Article 9.- The buyer of State-owned dwelling houses shall:

1. Pay in the Vietnamese currency;

2. Within a period of no more than 10 years. The first installment paid after the signing of the contract shall not be less than 20% of the total amount. The remaining sum will be converted into 98% gold for subsequent installments, and in each of the following years, no less than 8% of the total amount must be paid.

If the buyer pays the full amount upon signing the contract, he/she will enjoy a 10% discount. If the buyer pays the full amount within a year, he/she will enjoy a 2% discount.

3. In case the buyer fails to pay the full amount within the period defined in the contract, or fails to pay as stipulated at Item 2 of this Article, without plausible reason, the seller can unilaterally cancel the contract and return to the buyer the sum already received after deducting from it a fine equal to 5% of the contract's value. The buyer must pay all the unpaid rent if he/she is to be allowed to continue renting the house in accordance with law.

4. In case the buyer has not yet paid the full amount and is moving to another place, he/she can continue to pay the remaining installments in order to be issued a certificate of ownership of the house and of the right to use the land. If the buyer dies, his/her heirs are allowed to continue the payment for the house in order to be issued a certificate of ownership of the house and the right to use the land.

In all other cases, Items of this Article shall apply.

5. For the dwelling house, the construction cost of which is partly paid by an individual or a collective with money not originating from the State budget, the House Selling Council shall calculate the remaining amount the buyer must pay at the price stipulated at Article 7 of this Decree after comparing the sum he/she has already paid and the construction cost of the house.

Article 10.- After paying the full price of the house and the house registration fee, the buyer shall be issued a certificate of ownership of the house and the right to use the land, if he/she re-sells it, the State shall regulate the income arising from the sale of the house and the transfer of the right to use the land in accordance with law.

Article 11.- The revenue from the sale of dwelling houses must be remitted to the State budget to maintain and develop the housing fund according to the projects and plans which the President of the Provincial People's Committee submits to the People's Council of the same level for approval. Priority shall be given to the following objectives:

1. Building dwelling houses for rent or for sale as stipulated by this Decree to those who have no house or whose house is too small;

2. Building dwelling houses for sale or for rent to those households who are living in the houses mentioned in Items (1), (2), (3), Article 5, of this Decree;

3. Building infrastructure facilities at locations already planned for house construction;

4. Upgrading 4th-grade dwelling houses into multi-story dwelling buildings for sale or for rent;

5. Ameliorating residential quarters in too bad conditions;

6. Implementing the social welfare policy on housing.

The estimate expenses for the sale of dwelling houses shall be calculated by the seller submitted by the House Selling Council to the President of the Provincial People's Committee for approval, and covered by the revenues from house sales;

The Ministry of Finance shall guide the collection, remittance and use of the sale of dwelling houses in conformity with the stipulations of this Article.

Article 12.- The dwelling house business covered by this Decree is the execution of one, several or all of the following profit-generating activities:

1. Renting dwelling houses;

2. Selling and purchasing dwelling houses;

3. Receiving land-use right to build dwelling houses for sale or rent; investing in infrastructural construction in accordance with housing plans in order to assign land-use right.

4. Service in dwelling house purchase, sale and rental.

Article 13.- Domestic organizations and individual Vietnamese citizens residing in Vietnam are allowed to deal in dwelling houses and are obligated to fully observe regulations on business founding and licensing, and other prescriptions of law.

Article 14.- Organizations and individuals engaged in dwelling house business shall pay for the use or lease of residential land in accordance with the Land Law, and shall use the land for the right purpose and according to plan, and observe all procedures concerning capital construction as prescribed by law.

Article 15.- Prices in the dwelling house business, which include the sale price, rents and service fees in purchase, sale and rental, are the prices agreed upon through bargaining among the parties and written in the contract.

Rents on dwelling houses owned by the State and house rents for resident foreigners and overseas Vietnamese shall be charged in accordance with law.

Article 16.- Organizations and individuals in the dwelling house business shall obey provisions on dwelling house purchase, sale and rental stipulated in Chapters IV and V of the Ordinance on Dwelling Houses and, at the same time, properly observe the regimes on accounting, fully discharge their tax and other duties to the State in accordance with law.

Article 17.- The purchase and sale of dwelling houses not for business purpose are the transfer of the house ownership and land-use right from the selling party to the purchasing party through a written and signed contract, when the selling party sells the house it no longer has the need to use, or sells the house it has inherited or received as gift, and when the purchasing party has the need to purchase the house for use.

Article 18.- Domestic organizations and individual Vietnamese citizens residing in Vietnam are allowed to purchase and sell dwelling houses not for business purpose.

Article 19.- An individual who is a foreigner residing in Vietnam is allowed to purchase one dwelling house from Vietnamese State enterprise specialized in housing business for the use of his/her own and his/her family members in the locality they are permitted to reside.

Article 20.- Parties to the purchase and sale of dwelling houses have the duty to pay taxes and fees in accordance with law.

The prices on which to calculate the taxes are those prescribed in the contracts. However, in any case, these prices shall not be lower than those prescribed by the President of the Provincial People's Committee.

Article 21.- The Minister of Construction is responsible for providing unified State management on activities in dwelling house purchase, sale and business throughout the country.

The President of the Provincial People's Committee is responsible for the exercise of State management over these activities in his/her locality.

Article 22.- The President of the Provincial People's Committee shall, on the basis of the price list for land categories issued by the Government and the standard floor prices for new houses (Appendix 1 to this Decree) and standard floor house rental (Appendix 2 to this Decree), issue the detailed rates for residential land in the transfer of the land-use right, the prices of new houses and house rental in his/her locality. The prices set by the President of the Provincial People's Committee shall be the basis for management of activities in dwelling house purchase, sale and rental in the locality.

In case the market price rises 20% or more above the price frames or the standard floor prices prescribed in the appendices to this Decree, the Ministries of Construction and Finance and the Government Pricing Committee shall jointly propose the Government to adjust these price lists accordingly.

Article 23.- The State has priority in purchasing dwelling houses when it deems necessary. In these cases, the State is obligated to fully discharge the duties of the purchasing party in accordance with the provisions of the contract it has signed.

Article 24.- The Ministry of Finance shall provide guides on the revenues and taxes to be remitted to the State budget from all activities in dwelling house purchase, sale and business.

Article 25.- The Ministries of Construction and Finance shall issue detailed provisions for the management of activities in dwelling house purchase, sale and rental.

Article 26.- This Decree takes effect from the date of signing. All previous provisions which are contrary to this Decree are annulled. All violations shall, depending on their extent, be disciplined, administratively sanctioned, or investigated for criminal liability in accordance with law.

Article 27.- The Ministries of Construction and Finance and the Government Pricing Committee shall jointly cooperate with the concerned specialized agencies to provide guidance for and supervision of the implementation of this Decree.

Article 28.- The Ministers, the Heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the Heads of the agencies attached to the Government, the Presidents of the People's Committees of the provinces and cities directly under the Central Government are responsible for the implementation on this Decree.

Unit: VND/sq.m. of floor space/month

4

2. Co-efficients for adjustment of standard prices: (1 + S ki)

i=1

a) Co-efficients for urban houses (K1)

b) Co-efficient for geographic areas (K2)

c) Co-efficients for floors (K3)

d) Co-efficients for transportation conditions (K4)