Economic development accompanied by abundant and continuous investment capital into Vietnam in recent years is a condition and opportunity for the source of foreign labor to work in Vietnam to increase sharply.
Vietnamese law stipulates that foreign organizations and individuals are allowed to own lawful houses, creating favorable conditions for them to live and work in Vietnam. According to current law, foreigners being organizations and individuals working in Vietnam have the following rights and obligations:
- Subjects entitled to own houses and forms of house ownership in Vietnam by foreign organizations and individuals.
According to the provisions of Article 159, the Law on Housing 2014, amended and supplemented in 2020, the objects of ownership in Vietnam by foreign organizations and individuals include:
- Foreign organizations and individuals investing in the construction of housing projects in Vietnam;
- Foreign-invested enterprises, branches, representative offices of foreign enterprises, foreign investment funds, and foreign bank branches operating in Vietnam (collectively referred to as foreign organizations);
- Foreign individuals are allowed to enter Vietnam;
- Foreign organizations and individuals are allowed to own houses in Vietnam through the following forms:
- Investing in housing construction under projects in Vietnam;
- Buy, rent-purchase, receive as a gift or inherit commercial housing, including apartments, and separate houses in housing construction investment projects, except in defense and security areas;
- Buy, rent-purchase, receive as a gift or inherit commercial housing, including apartments, and separate houses in housing construction investment projects, except in defense and security areas.
- Conditions for foreign organizations and individuals to own houses in Vietnam.
For foreign organizations and individuals investing in the construction of housing projects in Vietnam, they must have an investment certificate and have houses built in the project according to regulations.
For foreign-invested enterprises, branches, representative offices of foreign enterprises, foreign investment funds, and foreign bank branches operating in Vietnam, an Investment Certificate is required. or papers related to the license to operate in Vietnam issued by a competent state agency in Vietnam.
Foreign individuals who are allowed to enter Vietnam are not entitled to diplomatic and consular privileges and immunities according to regulations.
Documents proving the subjects and conditions for owning a house in Vietnam are specified in Article 74 of Decree 99/2015/ND-CP as follows:
For foreign individuals, they must have a valid passport with an entry verification stamp of the exit and entry management agency of Vietnam and are not entitled to diplomatic privileges and immunities under French regulations. order on privileges and immunities for diplomatic missions, consular offices, and representative offices of international organizations in Vietnam.
For foreign organizations, at the time of signing housing transactions, they must have an investment registration certificate or a document approved by a competent Vietnamese agency to operate in Vietnam.
- Rights of house owners being foreign organizations and individuals
For foreign organizations and individuals that have investment projects on housing construction, they may exercise the rights of house owners according to the provisions of Article 10 of the Law on Housing 2014; In the case of building houses on leased land, they are only entitled to lease houses.
- Have an inviolable right to their lawfully owned housing;
- Using the house for residential purposes and other purposes not prohibited by law;
- To be granted certificates for houses under their lawful ownership according to regulations;
- Sale, transfer of contracts of purchase, sale, lease, lease-purchase, donation, exchange, inheritance, mortgage, capital contribution, loan, stay, authorization for housing management; in case of gifting or inheriting houses to subjects who are not eligible to own houses in Vietnam, these subjects will only enjoy the value of such houses;
- Shared use of public utilities in that housing area according to regulations. In case of being the owner of an apartment building, he/she has the right to jointly own and use the shared part of the apartment building and the common-use infrastructure works of that apartment building, except for works built for business or must be handed over to the State according to the provisions of law or as agreed in the house sale and purchase contract or lease-purchase contract;
- Maintaining, renovating, demolishing, and rebuilding houses according to regulations;
- To be compensated according to the provisions of the Law when the State demolishes, expropriates, or requisitions houses, or is paid by the State at market value when the State buys in advance a House under its lawful ownership for the purpose of defense security; social-economic development…
- Complaints, denunciations, and lawsuits for violations of their lawful ownership rights and other violations of the housing law.
In case other than organizations and individuals have housing investment projects as prescribed above, foreign organizations and individuals shall have the rights of house owners as Vietnamese citizens as prescribed in Article 2 of this Law, but must comply with the following regulations:
Only buy, rent-purchase, receive as gifts, inherit and own no more than 30% of the number of apartments in an apartment building; if it is a separate house, including villas and adjacent houses, in an area with a population equivalent to a ward-level administrative unit, only buy, rent-purchase, receive as a gift, inherit and own no more than two hundred and fifty houses.
In case an area has a population equivalent to a ward-level administrative unit but there are many apartment buildings or separate houses on a street, the Government shall specify the number of apartments, a number of houses individually that foreign organizations and individuals may purchase, hire-purchase, receive as gifts, inherit and own.
- In case of being gifted or inheriting a house that is not specified at Point b, Clause 2, Article 159 of the Law on Housing 2014 or exceeds the prescribed number of houses, they are only entitled to the value of that house.
- For foreign individuals, are entitled to own houses as agreed upon in contracts for purchase, sale, lease-purchase, donation, or inheritance, but for a maximum of 50 years from the date of issuance of the Certificate of Inheritance and can be extended according to the Government’s regulations if required; The term of house ownership must be stated in the Certificate. In case a foreign individual marries a Vietnamese citizen or marries a Vietnamese residing abroad, he/she is entitled to own a stable and long-term house and has the same rights as a homeowner as a Vietnamese citizen.
- For foreign organizations, they may own houses as agreed upon in contracts of purchase, sale, lease-purchase, donation, or inheritance of houses, but not exceeding the time limit specified in the investment certificate issued to foreign organizations including for an extended period; the house ownership period is counted from the date the organization is granted the Certificate and is clearly stated in this Certificate; the house ownership period is counted from the date the organization is granted the Certificate and clearly stated in the Certificate;
- 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, the house shall be owned by the State.
Above is the article about “House ownership in Vietnam of foreign organizations and individuals” by Apra Law Firm. If you have questions or comments about the issues mentioned in the article and need to be answered, please contact the hotline for advice and support.
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