Housing law in 2014 has relaxed the conditions for foreigners buying property in Vietnam, however, the number of foreigners buying houses in Vietnam is still very low due to problems in determining the list of projects allowed to sell to this object.
A new point in the Vietnamese real estate law is that foreign invested enterprises can buy houses for their own professionals without hiring. However, the most interesting thing is the financial mechanism, as well as the notes in the procedure of buying and selling houses with these objects.
The fear of risk
A lot of foreigners after many years working in Vietnam want to continue living in Vietnam, have a need to buy houses in Vietnam. They come to the owner, and are advised to sign a purchase contract with the owner of the apartment and wait until the project is allowed to sell to foreigners, then they are allowed to own the red book. This act contains a lot of risk because of red book valuation and red book scams.
“The investor is not sure whether the project is eligible for sale to foreigners. If I later decide not to sell to foreigners, I will be at risk” – said a foreign specialist who wants to settle in Vietnam.
Not many foreigners find it difficult, many investors also urgent to know whether the problems in determining whether the project is sold to this object or not also makes investors fall into awkward situations when selling, not to mention many investors lose the opportunity to have more customers of foreigners buying property in Vietnam.
Investors of a project in District 2 said that they had sold their houses to foreigners and were having troubles and were being repatriated by the buyers.Because the contract is due for delivery, but no procedures can be made, the customer demanded to liquidate the contract.
However, after studying the issue of sovereignty, most decided not to buy due to risk aversion of meeting red book scams, others make agreements for Vietnamese wife in the name, potentially more risky when there are problems in married couple.
Waiting to determine the permitted project portfolio
The provincial People’s Committee will specify the list of qualified housing projects that will allow foreigners buying property in Vietnam
Mr.Tran Trong Tuan, director of Ho Chi Minh city’s Department of Construction, said that Decree 99 (effective December 12th to 15th) stipulated that the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Public Security would be responsible for identifying the equipment. The areas in need of security and defense in each locality.
On that basis, the provincial People’s Committee will specify the list of qualified housing projects that will allow foreigners buying property in Vietnam, as well as the ratio and number of houses (apartments, separate houses odd) that this object is owned by each project.
However, according to Mr.Tuan, although the agency has worked with the responsible agencies, so far has not identified the list of housing projects sold to foreigners.
With the new projects not included in the list, after the City People’s Committee announces the decision to recognize the investor, the department will make a list to send each quarter to the city police and police to determine the project sold to foreigner.
“According to Vietnamese real estate law, within 15 days, if these two units do not reply, as if the project is fully qualified and this policy will be implemented in the third quarter of 2017” – said Mr.Tuan.
Special guide to buying real estate in Vietnam
There are some special procedures when buying and selling houses that foreigners need to be aware of: foreigners who bring foreign currency (ies) larger than $5,000 USD into Vietnam must carry out customs declaration procedures, in case of a house purchase transaction, the amount of foreign currency transferred into Vietnam will not exceed the value of the transaction (as stated in the house purchase contract). The payment to the investor, the seller should do through the bank, avoiding the maximum payment in cash, because the risk can occur in the process.
In addition, the purchase of houses from individual sellers should be through notary public. They will help the buyer to verify that the property is legally valid.
These are especially important for foreigners who want to buy a house and settle in Vietnam, so make sure you have a good understanding of the situation before making a decision to avoid fraud.
Thang Tran – Mogi.vn
