Decree No. 30/2021/ND-CP amending Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of the Housing Law

DECREE

On amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP dated October 20, 2015 on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Housing Law

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Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated June 19, 2015; the Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Organization of the Government and the Law on Organization of Local Administration dated November 22, 2019;

Pursuant to the Housing Law dated November 25, 2014;

Pursuant to the Construction Law dated June 17, 2020;

Pursuant to the Investment Law dated June 17, 2020;

At the proposal of the Minister of Construction;

The Government hereby promulgates the Decree on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP dated October 20, 2015 on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Housing Law.

Article 1. To amend and supplement a number of articles of the Government’s Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP dated October 20, 2015 on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the Housing Law

1. To supplement Clause 2a after Clause 2, Article 4 as follows:

“2a. The modification of housing development programs and plans shall be implemented as follows:

a) 06 months before the end of the implementation course of the housing development program as defined which is approved by a provincial-level People's Council, the provincial-level People's Committee shall formulate the new housing development program to submit it to the People's Council at the same level for approval according to the housing laws; after the housing development program is approved, the provincial-level People's Committee shall approve the program, formulate and approve the local housing development plan according to housing laws.

In case of changes in the national housing development strategy or changes in local planning on socio-economic development or where the local practical situation requires to adjust contents of the housing development program, the provincial-level People's Committee shall organize the making of program adjustment contents and submit them for approval of the People's Council at the same level;

b) The Construction Department shall take responsibility to preside or cooperate with consulting units, district-level People's Committee in making the contents to adjust the housing development program and report to the provincial-level People's Committee for consideration and giving opinion to submit to the People's Council at the same level for review and approval. For centrally run cities, before submitting the program contents which need to be adjusted to the same-level People’s Councils for approval, the People’s Committees of cities shall send such contents to the Ministry of Construction for its opinions;

c) The adjustment of the housing development program must clearly show the following contents: the reasons, the need to adjust the program, evaluation of the results, the shortcomings and limitations of the content to be adjusted, solutions to implement the adjusted contents, progress, responsibilities of the concerned agency to implement the adjusted content, the relationship and influence of the adjusted content to other contents of the program, implementation resources and other relevant contents (if any); localities which are not allowed to issue resolutions to add the list of housing construction investment projects to the program; adjusted contents shall be implemented as prescribed at Points c, d, dd, e, g, h, Clause 2, Article 3 of this Decree;

d) After the approval of the provincial-level People's Council, the provincial-level People's Committee shall issue the decision on approving the adjustment of the housing development program;

dd) On the basis of the approved contents of housing development program adjustment, the Department of Construction shall formulate or coordinate with the consulting unit in formulating the adjustment content of the housing development plan to submit to the provincial-level People's Committee for approval;

e) The adjustment of the housing development plan specified at Point dd of this Clause may be made in the year the provincial-level People's Committee approves the program adjustment or in the following year of the plan year. In case of adjusting the housing development plan in the following year of the plan year, the provincial-level People's Committee must approve this adjustment plan before December 31 of the previous year of the plan year to be adjusted;

g) In case of adjusting the plan which contains the regulations on using the source from state budget funds for housing development, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall seek opinions of the People’s Council at the same level on the capital use plan before approving it.”

2. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 4 as follows:

“3. After approving the housing development programs and plans (including the adjusted programs and plans), the provincial-level People’s Committees must publicly post these program and plans on their portals and request the Departments of Construction to post them on portals of the Departments of Construction; and at the same time send these programs and plans to the Ministry of Construction for monitoring and management. The provincial-level People's Committees shall allocate local budget funds for the formulation of housing development programs and plans (including the adjusted programs and plans) in accordance with this Decree.

In case the formulated and approved housing development programs and plans (including the adjusted programs and plans) fail to comply with requirements of the Housing Law and this Decree, the Ministry of Construction shall request in writing the provincial-level People's Committees to formulate or adjust housing development programs and plans in accordance with the provisions of the housing laws.

The Ministry of Construction shall specify criteria for determining housing needs in the contents of housing development programs and plans and provide specific guidance on funding levels for formulating housing development programs and plans of the localities (including the adjusted programs and plans).”

3. To amend and supplement Article 9 as follows:

“Article 9.  Obtain housing state agencies’ appraisal opinions about housing construction investment projects

1. The approval of investment policy on housing construction investment projects must comply with the investment law.

2. During the appraisal process for approval of investment policies for housing construction investment projects, the Ministry of Planning and Investment shall obtain opinions from the Ministry of Construction on the contents specified in Clause 3 of this Article if the project’s investment policy is approved by the Prime Minister; the investment registration agency shall consult the Department of Construction on the contents specified in Clause 3 of this Article if the project’s investment policy is approved by the provincial-level People's Committee or the management board of an industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech park or economic zone.

3. Contents of appraisal opinion collection with the state management agency in charge of housing include:

a) Name of the project owner (for cases in which the investment policy and the investor are both approved and the investor are eligible to act as the project owner of the housing construction investment project under the provisions of this Decree);  name of the project as prescribed by housing laws;

b) Investment objectives and forms; location, land area for housing construction of the project;

c) The conformity of the housing construction investment project with the detailed planning (for cases in which the detailed planning is approved) or the subdivision planning (for cases in which there is no approved detailed planning). In case the detailed planning or subdivision planning has not been approved by a competent authority, the conformity of the housing construction investment project with the general planning shall be assessed;

d) The conformity of the proposals in the contents of the housing construction investment project with the housing development program and plan which have been already approved by the competent agency;

dd) The conformity of the preliminary housing product structure (type of house, housing market segmentation, form of product business for each type of house); in case of project on building of commercial houses or urban areas with houses, there must be an estimated land area for construction of social housing;

e) The uniformity of the preliminary investment phase plan, the division of the component projects (if any) and the preliminary construction investment plan, management of the technical and social infrastructure systems related to the project.”

4. To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 1, Article 12 as follows:

“a) The name of the project must be in Vietnamese, if the project owners want to name the commercial housing investment project in a foreign language, the full Vietnamese name must be written first and the foreign language name after;”

5. To amend and supplement Article 18 as follows:

“Article 18. Cases of investor selection as project owner in commercial housing construction project, urban housing projects

The selection of investors of commercial housing construction projects and urban housing projects (including projects with land use rights transfer in the form of plots for sale for people to build houses) shall comply with the following provisions:

1. If the investor who wins the bidding or wins the auction of land use rights to implement the housing construction investment project fully meets the conditions for the project owner as prescribed in Article 21 of the 2014 Housing Law, Clause 2 Article 119 of the 2013 Land Law and the laws on real estate business, such investor shall be the project owner of commercial housing construction project;

2. The investor that has the land use right in one of the cases specified below and fully meets the conditions for the project owner as specified in Article 21 of the 2014 Housing Law, the law on real estate business and other related laws, shall be identified at the same time as the project owner of the commercial housing construction project in the decision approving the investment policy:

a) To have lawful residential land use rights;

b) To have lawful residential land use rights and other types of land permitted by a competent state agency to change the purpose of land use to residential land;

c) To receive the transfer of residential land use rights according to the provisions of land laws for the construction of commercial houses.

3. In case more than one investor in a commercial housing construction project that has been approved for investment policies according to the law on investment, these investors may authorize a qualified investor or establish enterprises or cooperatives that fully meet the conditions specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article to carry out procedures for recognition of project owner in the housing construction project as prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article. The authorization to be the project owner of the housing construction project specified in this Clause shall be carried out via an authorization contract, which clearly defines the rights and responsibilities of the parties.

4. Procedures for recognition of project owner in the housing construction project specified in Clause 3 of this Article shall be as follows:

a) An application dossier of project owner recognition includes: the investor's written request (which clearly states the name and address of the investor, proposals and expected progress of the project); certified copies or copies with originals of the following documents for comparison: a written approval of the project investment policy issued by a competent agency, enterprise registration certificate or investment registration certificate, a document proving the land use rights for project implementation, an authorization contract as specified in Clause 3 of this Article; papers proving the financial capacity to implement the project in accordance with land laws; papers proving the deposit capital or bank guarantee on the escrow obligation to implement the project in accordance with the law on investment;

b) In case the project is under the Prime Minister’s authority to approve investment policy, the investor identified in Clause 3 of this Article shall send 01 set of documents specified at Point a of this Clause, directly or by post, to the Ministry of Construction to consider and decide to recognize the project owner; in case the project is under the authority of the provincial-level People's Committee, the Management Board of an industrial park, export-processing zone, hi-tech park or economic zone to approve investment policy, the investor shall send a set of documents as mentioned above to the local Construction Department for considering and submitting to the provincial-level People's Committee to decide to recognize the project owner;

c) Within 20 days, from the day on which the complete application is received as prescribed at Point a of this Clause, the Ministry of Construction or the provincial-level People's Committee shall consider and issue a decision on recognition of the project owner of the housing construction project according to its competence. If the investor is not eligible for project owner recognition, within 05 days from the date of receipt of the dossier, the application receiving agency shall notify in writing the investor of the reasons therefor;

d) Contents of the decision on recognition of the project owner of a housing construction project include: the legal basis for issuing the decision, the name of the recognized project owner; the validity of the recognition document, the responsibility of the investor in the implementation of the project in accordance with law provisions.

5. An investor recognized as project owner of housing construction project as prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article is responsible for formulating, appraising, approving and implementing the project in accordance with provisions of this Decree, land laws, construction laws and other relevant laws. The profit sharing agreement between the parties in the case specified in Clause 3 of this Article shall comply with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 19 of this Decree; in case the parties have an agreement on the distribution of profits by housing products, the party receiving the distribution of housing products (other than the project owner) shall only enter into a house purchase and sale or lease-purchase contract with the customer after having been granted a certificate for that house.

6. The selection of an investor as project owner in an urban area project with houses must satisfy the provisions of this Article, other provisions of the construction laws, real estate business laws, urban development laws and other relevant laws.”

6. To amend and supplement Article 36 as follows:

“Article 36. Handover of funds for maintenance of multi-owner apartment buildings’ sections under common ownership

“1. Purchasers, rent-purchasers, project owner shall contribute an amount equal to 2% of the apartment value to the funds for maintenance of the apartment building’s sections under common ownership as prescribed in Article 108 of the 2014 Housing Law; this amount is a pre-tax amount (the State shall not collect tax on this amount). Before signing contracts to purchase, sell, rent-purchase apartments or other areas in the apartment building, the project owner is responsible for opening a payment account at a credit institution or foreign bank branch (hereinafter referred to as credit institution) which is currently operating in the locality where the purchased or rent-purchased apartments are located to receive maintenance funds paid by purchasers and rent-purchasers of apartments or other areas and by the project owner in accordance with law provisions; when opening the account, the project owner must clearly state that the account name is the deposit for the maintenance funds of the apartment building. Before handing over the maintenance funds to the Management Board of the apartment building as prescribed, the investor is responsible for coordinating with the credit institution to transfer money from this current account to term deposit.

For each housing construction investment project with apartment building, the project owner must open an account as prescribed in this Clause to manage the maintenance funds of the apartment building of that project; after opening the account, the project owner must notify in writing the Department of Construction where the project is located of the account name, account number, name of the credit institution where the account is opened and the deposit term.

2. When signing a contract to purchase, rent-purchase apartments or other areas, the parties must clearly specify in the contract information about the account opened as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article (account name, account number, name of the credit institution where the account is opened and the deposit term). Purchasers and rent-purchasers, before the handover of apartments or other areas of the apartment building must pay maintenance funds as prescribed to the account stated in the contract and send the copy of documents confirming payment of maintenance expenses in accordance with regulations to the project owner; if the purchaser or rent-purchasers fail to pay the maintenance expense to this account, the apartments or areas shall not be handed over, if the project owner still hands over it, the investor must pay such amount of maintenance funds.

3. For the areas of the apartments or other areas not to be sold or not yet sold or rent-purchased by the project owner by the time of handover and putting of the apartment building into use, and subjected to pay 2% maintenance funds under the 2014 Housing Law, the project owner shall transfer this amount to the account mentioned in Clause 1 of this Article. In case the project owner fails to pay the maintenance funds or fails to hand over the maintenance funds as prescribed, the project owner shall be administratively sanctioned and be forced to hand over according to Article 37 of this Decree; in addition, on a case-by-case basis, the project owner will also be examined for penal liability in accordance with law provisions.

4. The project owner must not request the credit institution to deduct the amount that the parties have paid into the opened account prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article to use for any other purpose before handing over it to the Management Board of the apartment building. If during the time when maintenance funds have not been handed over to the Management Board of the apartment building, maintenance of items and equipment of sections under the common ownership of the apartment building has expired as prescribed, the project owner shall be responsible for the maintenance of these items and equipment, but must comply with the established work maintenance plan and process in accordance with the law on construction. When handing over maintenance funds to the Management Board of the apartment building, the project owner is entitled to a refund of the amount used for this maintenance, but there must be a specific report enclosed with the established maintenance plan and process and invoices and documents proving the expenses for this maintenance.

5. When the Management Board of the apartment building sends a written request to hand over the maintenance funds, the project owner and the Management Board of the apartment building shall consent to make a record of finalization of maintenance fund data; based on the settlement data agreed by the two parties, the project owner shall make a written request enclosed with the data settlement record and send them to the credit institution that is managing the maintenance fund account to request the transfer of this funds to account opened by the Management Board of the apartment building via transfer method and refund of maintenance expenditure previously performed by the project owner (if any). Based on the written request and data finalized by the parties, the credit institution that is managing the account of maintenance funds is responsible for transferring this maintenance funds to the account opened by the Management Board of the apartment building; and at the same time, return the expenses to the project owner (if any).

6. The Management Board of the apartment building is responsible for opening an account to receive funds for maintenance of the sections under common ownership handed over by the project owner according to the Regulation on management and use of the apartment building promulgated by the Ministry of Construction. Expenses arising from the transfer of maintenance funds to the Management Board of the apartment building are deducted from the maintenance funds of sections under the common ownership of the apartment building.

7. After fully transferring the maintenance funds to the management board, the project owner shall close the account according to the law regulations and report such in writing to the Department of Construction of the locality where the apartment building is situated, for monitoring.”

7. To amend and supplement Article 37 as follows:

“Article 37. Procedures for coercing handover of funds for maintenance of apartment buildings’ sections under common ownership

1. Procedures for coercing handover of funds for maintenance in case the project owner fails to hand over the collected funds as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 36 of this Decree shall be carried out as follows:

a) In case the investor fails to hand over the maintenance funds as prescribed in Article 36 of this Decree, the Management Board of the apartment building shall send a written request to the provincial-level People’s Committee where the apartment building is located to request the project owner to hand over maintenance funds as prescribed;

b) Within 10 days from the date of receipt of the document from the Management Board of the apartment building, the provincial-level People's Committee shall send a written request to the credit institution where the project owner opens a deposit account for maintenance funds, to provide information about the account number and the amount in the account. Within 07 days, from receiving the document of the provincial-level People’s Committee, the credit institution shall have the responsibility to provide information to the provincial-level People’s Committee;

c) Based on the information provided by the credit institution, the provincial-level People's Committee shall issue a decision on enforcement of the recovery of maintenance funds to hand over it to the Management Board of the apartment building. This enforcement decision shall be sent to the Department of Construction, the project owner, the Management Board of the apartment building and the credit institution where the project owner opens the account to transfer maintenance funds;

d) Within 05 days from the date of receiving the enforcement decision of the provincial-level People's Committee, the credit institution managing the maintenance fund deposit account is responsible for transferring this funds to the account opened by the Management Board of the apartment building for management and use in accordance with the law on housing;

dd) After transferring the maintenance funds to the account of the Management Board of the apartment building, the credit institution must send a written notice to the provincial-level People’s Committee, the Department of Construction, the project owner and the Management Board of the apartment building for acknowledge.

2. Procedures for coercive handover of maintenance funds from the project owner’s business account in case the project owner has no money left or there is not enough money to hand over as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article shall be carried out as follows:

a) In case there is insufficient money for maintenance funds in the deposit account or there is no money left for handing over, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall request in writing to the credit institution to provide information about its business account of the project owner and the amount in this account. Within 07 days from the date of receipt of the document from the provincial-level People’s Committee, the credit institution is responsible for providing relevant information to the provincial-level People’s Committee;

b) Based on the information provided by the credit institution, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall issue a decision on coercive withdrawal of funds from the project owner’s business account to transfer to the Management Board of the apartment building. This coercion decision shall be sent to the Department of Construction, the project owner, the Management Board of the apartment building and the credit institution where the project owner opens an account for implementation;

c) Within 05 days from the date of receipt of the coercion decision, the credit institution is responsible for transferring money from the project owner’s business account to the account of the apartment building’s Management Board according to the correct amount stated in the coercion decision. After completing the money transfer, the credit institution must send a written notice to the provincial-level People's Committee, the Department of Construction, the project owner and the Management Board of the apartment building for acknowledge.

3. Procedures for coercively distraint of property of the project owner, in case there is no funds for handover as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, shall be carried out as follows:

a) In case the project owner has a business account but has no money left or there is not enough money left to deduct as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall direct the Department of Construction to assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with the Security department and relevant agencies to inspect and determine specifically the area of houses and land of the project owner in the project where the apartment building is located or in another project to carry out the distraint and organize the auction to recover the maintenance funds. In case the project owner does not have a house or land area or has an area of house or land for distraint but the value for sale to recover maintenance funds is insufficient, the project owner’s other properties shall be determined for auction to recover the sufficient funds to transfer to the Management Board of the apartment building.

The provincial-level People’s Committees shall only distrain the area of houses, land or other properties with a value equivalent to the amount of maintenance expenses to be recovered to hand over to the Management Board of the apartment building and expenses for organizing the enforcement and auction of such properties;

b) On the basis of the area of house, land or other property of the project owner which has been determined according to Point a of this Clause, within 10 days, the Department of Construction must send a written report to the provincial-level People’s Committee to promulgate a decision on coercive distraint of the project owner properties for auction to recover funds for maintenance of the apartment building. The decision on coercive distraint of properties must clearly state the legal grounds for promulgation of the Decision, name and head office of the project owner to be distrained, amount of maintenance funds to be recovered, type and quantity of properties to be distrained and the location of the distraint;

c) The order and procedures for distraint of properties, valuation of distrained properties, and auction of distrained properties to recover maintenance funds shall comply with the law on coercive execution of decisions sanctioning administrative violations, the law on asset distraint and auction and other relevant laws;

d) The handover of maintenance funds after the property auction must be made in writing with the signatures of the concerned parties. In case the property auction amount is more than the total of maintenance funds to be handed over and costs for the implementation of the coercive auction of the properties, within 30 days from the date of property auction, the Department of Construction is responsible for coordinating with the property auction organization in carrying out procedures to return the difference value to the project owner whose property is distrained for auction.

4. In the course of coercing the handover of the maintenance funds for the Management Board of apartment building, if detecting that the project owner commits a criminal offense, the provincial-level People’s Committee shall request a competent agency to investigate and handle the offense in accordance with law.”

8. To supplement Point dd, Clause 2, Article 57 as follows:

“dd) In case a person who is actually using a house under the management of the State, does not have one of the papers specified at Point a, b, c or d of this Clause but has one of the papers proving the use of houses issued before January 19, 2007 (including permanent residence registration or temporary residence registration; house declaration registration or annual land use levy payment receipt) and this house is not in any disputes or lawsuits, certification of the housing management agency in the application to rent the house that the current use is not illegal appropriation of this house, such person may sign a house lease contract with the operation management unit as prescribed in Article 60 of this Decree.”

9. To supplement Point b, Clause 1, Article 60 as follows:

“b) One of the papers proving the use of the house as prescribed at Points b, c, d and dd, Clause 2, Article 57 of this Decree.”

10. To amend and supplement Point a, Clause 1, Article 62 as follows:

“a) Houses located in areas planned for construction of official-duty houses, works in national key projects in accordance with law provisions;”

11. To amend and supplement Point b, Clause 2, Article 63 as follows:

“b) Having paid house rentals under the rent contract as well as house operation and management expenses (if any) by the time of signing the house sale and purchase contract;

In case the lessees have used the house before the time of signing the house lease contract or has a house lease contract but the State has not yet collected the house rent, the lessees must pay arrears of the house rent according to the actual time of using the house with rental prices as follows: for the time of house using before January 19, 2007, the rental shall comply with the Decision No. 118/TTg dated November 27, 1992 of the Prime Minister on housing rental prices and inclusion of housing costs into salaries; for the time of house using after January 19, 2007, the rental shall comply with the Decision No. 17/2008/QD-TTg dated January 28, 2008 of the Prime Minister on the promulgation of the standard price list for rent of state-owned houses that have not been renovated or rebuilt.”

12. To supplement Point dd, Clause 3, Article 36 as follows:

“dd) In case an old house is transferred by an agency or unit with a self-managed housing funds to a housing management agency to receive and manage it, but at the time of receipt, this house has been demolished or rebuilt, the housing management agency will still receive it and on a case-by-case basis sell it to the current lessees at the selling price specified in Article 65 or Article 70 of this Decree without preparing procedures to sign a rental contract.”

13. To supplement to the end of Clause 1, Article 65 as follows:

“For grade-I, grade-II, grade-III houses that the lessees have demolished or rebuilt before the effective date of this Decree, the residual value of those houses shall be determined according to the current state of the houses at the time of arrangement stated in the decisions or documents on distribution, arrangement or in the house lease contracts or according to the time of house use, which is determined according to the papers specified at Point dd, Clause 2, Article 57 of this Decree.”

14. To supplement Points e and g, Clause 2, Article 65 as follows:

“e) In case the land has been allocated by an agency or unit for self-construction of residential houses but the funding for this construction is not from the state budget, the settlement shall be carried out in accordance with the land law;

g) In case the State has liquidated and discounted houses according to the previous regulations on policy on liquidation and discount of houses, but the State has only collected house rent and has not yet collected land use levy, the land use levy collection shall be carried out according to Article 65 of this Decree.”

15. To amend and supplement Clause 3, Article 65 as follows:

“3. In case of a single-storey house with many households or a multi-storey house with many households having a common area of housing or residential land, this common use area shall be sold to existing households if only having consent in writing by all households and clearly defining the allocation of area for each household; the calculation of house and land use levy for the common use area in this case shall comply with the provisions of Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article.

Without such consent among the households, the housing management agency shall not sell this area and shall take responsibility to manage it in accordance with this Decree and housing laws.”

16. To supplement Point g, Clause 2, Article 69 as follows:

“g) In case the buyer does not sign the house purchase and sale contract within the notice period, the housing management agency shall issue a second notice to the house buyer to acknowledge, clearly stating the time limit for the house buyer to sign the house sale and purchase contract which is 30 days from the date of receipt of the second written notice. Within 10 days after the expiration of the time limit according to the second notice, if the buyer fails to sign the house purchase and sale contract, the housing management agency shall request the provincial-level People’s Committee to issue a decision to cancel the signed house sale decision and continue to manage the house lease according to this Decree.”

17. To supplement to the end of Point c, Clause 1, Article 70 as follows:

“For houses that have been demolished or rebuilt, the residual value of such houses shall be determined according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 65 of this Decree.”

18. To supplement to the end of point b, Clause 2, Article 71 as follows:

“For the adjacent land area within the premises of old state-owned houses that have high profitability at the location of the streets as determined by the provincial-level People’s Committee, the coefficient k shall be applied to adjust the land price as prescribed at Point d, Clause 2, Article 65 of this Decree to calculate and collect land use levy when transferring the land use right to the buyer.”

19. To amend and supplement Clause 4, Article 71 as follows:

“4. Housing management agencies shall assume the prime responsibility for, and coordinate with district-level People’s Committees in, managing house areas under common use not purchased by house owners or not eligible to be sold in accordance with this Decree and the laws on housing and land.”

20. To amend and supplement Clause 5, Article 71 as follows:

“5. The provincial-level People’s Committees shall handle the cases specified in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article according to the order and procedures specified in Article 71a of this Decree; be responsible for allocating funds for measuring, drawing, documenting and managing the house area under common ownership as prescribed in Clause 4 of this Article.”

21. To supplement Article 71a after Article 71 as follows:

“Article 71a. Dossier, order and procedures for dealing with the sale of a common-ownership part of the house, land or the transfer of the rights to use adjacent land or the transfer of land use rights of houses built on vacant land in the premises of the state-owned old houses

1. The proposal dossier shall contain the following papers:

a) An application form, made according to the form in the Appendix issued with this Decree;

b) The identity card or citizen identification card or passport which is still valid or the People’s Security officer identification card or the identity document proving the applicant is working in the People’s Army in accordance with regulations of the Ministry of National Defense of the applicant offering to buy the house; if they are spouses, they must have a household status registration book or a marriage certificate;

c) One of the following evidencing papers:

For cases specified in Clause 1, Article 71 of this Decree, a Certificate is required for the purchased land area. If the Certificate is not available, there must be a contract for sale and purchase of the residential area which is signed with a competent authority.

For cases specified in Clause 2, Article 71 of this Decree, a Certificate is required for the house purchased. In case the Certificate is not available, there must be papers proving that the house has been liquidated or discounted or the house purchase and sale contract. In case a person who is currently renting the house wishes to buy it and settle the adjacent land area, there must be the house lease contract.

For cases specified in Clause 3, Article 71 of this Decree, the application must contain a certification of the commune-level People’s Committee that the use of the house or residential land is not under any disputes or lawsuits, and consistent with the housing construction planning;

d) The applicant shall submit a copy and present the original of the evidencing papers specified in this Clause to the receiving agency for comparison (if the application is submitted directly) or submit a notarized or authenticated copy (if the application is submitted by post).

2. The order and procedures for settlement shall be carried out as follows:

a) The applicant submits 01 set of documents specified in Clause 1 of this Article directly or by post to the unit currently managing and operating the house or to the Department of Construction (as decided by the provincial-level People’s Committee);

b) The application-receiving agency is responsible for receiving and examining the dossier and recording a receipt or notifying the applicant in writing of the date of receipt of the results. In case the application does not contain sufficient documents as prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the receiving agency shall provide instructions immediately (if the application is received directly) or within 3 days from the date of receipt of the application (if the application is received by post), a written request must be send to the applicant to supplement the dossier as prescribed.

In case the receiving agency is the housing operation management unit, within 05 days from the date of receipt of a valid dossier, the housing operation management unit is responsible for inspecting and making a list enclosed with the dossier to report to the Department of Construction;

c) Within 30 days from the date of receipt of the report from the housing operation management unit, the Department of Construction shall hold a meeting of the Council to determine the house selling price to calculate the house and land use fee according to regulations and report in writing to the provincial-level People’s Committee for consideration and decision;

d) Within 10 days after receiving the report from the Department of Construction, the provincial-level People's Committee shall consider and issue a decision to sell part of the house or land for common use or transfer the land use rights for adjacent land or transfer the land use rights of houses built on vacant land in the premises of the state-owned old houses to the applicant. This decision shall be sent to the Department of Construction and the housing operation management unit to notify the applicant to implement the next procedures. In case the applicant fails to comply with the notice specified at this Point, the settlement shall comply with the provisions of Point g, Clause 2, Article 69 of this Decree;

dd) After the applicant has fulfill the financial obligations as prescribed, the housing management agency shall transfer the dossier to the competent agency to issue a Certificate to the applicant or adjust the issued Certificate according to regulations of the land laws.”

22. To amend and supplement Clause 2, Article 75 as follows:

“2. The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security shall specify national defense and security areas in each locality and notify such in writing to provincial-level People’s Committees as the basis for directing Construction Departments to make a specific list of commercial housing investment projects in which foreign organizations and individuals are permitted to own houses.”

23. To amend and supplement Points a, b, Clause 1, Article 76 as follows:

“a) List of housing construction investment projects in the locality located in areas where foreign organizations and individuals are allowed to own houses;

b) Number of houses (including apartments and separate houses) that the foreign organizations and individuals are entitled to own in each housing construction investment project specified at Point a of this Clause; the number of apartment in each apartment building, the number of separate houses of each project that foreign organizations and individuals are entitled to own;”

24. To supplement Clause 2a after Clause 2, Article 77 as follows:

“2a. Foreign individuals and organizations, upon requesting for extension of time limit for house ownership, may submit copies and present the originals for comparison, or submit notarized or authenticated copies of the papers specified in Clause 1, Clause 2 of this Article.”

Article 2. To amend and repeal a number of regulations related to procedures for investment in housing construction and real estate business

1. To repeal Article 10, Article 11, Clause 4 Articles 13, provisions related to investment in the form of build-transfer (BT) specified in Article 14, Clause 2 Articles 26, Point c Clause 2, Points c and dd Clause 4 Articles 27, Clause 3 Articles 29 of the Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP dated October 20, 2015 of the Government on detailing and guiding the implementation of a number of articles of the 2014 Housing Law.

2. In case of transferring all or part of a real estate business project as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 12 and Clause 1, Article 13 of the Decree No. 76/2015/ND-CP dated September 10, 2015 of the Government on guiding a number of articles of the Law on Real Estate Trading, when submitting the transfer application, the project owner may choose to submit a copy and present the original for comparison, or submit a notarized or authenticated copy when submitting the application to carry out these procedures.

3. To replace the phrase “submit 02 dossiers” with the phrase “submit 01 dossier” in Clause 1, Article 54; Point a, Clause 2; Points a, b, Clause 3, Article 60 of the Decree No. 99/2015/ND -CP dated October 20, 2015 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the 2014 Housing Law.

Article 3. Transitional provision

1. For housing development programs and plans that have been approved (including adjusted housing development programs and plans) before the effective date of this Decree, the provincial-level People’s Committees shall take the responsibility for sending those programs and plans to the Ministry of Construction for monitoring and management in accordance with law provisions.

2. For housing construction investment projects implemented in the form of build-transfer (BT), the transitional settlement shall comply with the provisions of law on investment in the form of public-private partnership.

3. In case the competent authority has issued a document on selection of the project owner to implement a housing project before the effective date of this Decree, it is not required to implement the re-selection according to this Decree and the law on investment; in case the competent authority has received the application for selection of project owner of a housing construction project before the effective date of this Decree but has not yet issued a document on project owner selection, the selection shall be carried out according to the provisions of this Decree and the laws on investment.

4. If by the effective date of this Decree, the project owner of housing construction project has not yet collected all the maintenance funds for the sections under common ownership of the apartment building as prescribed, the project owner is responsible for opening a separate account according to the provisions of this Decree to transfer the collected amount and notify the purchasers, rent-purchasers to pay the maintenance expenses to this account; the project owner is responsible for paying the maintenance expenses payable to this account and handing over all the funds to the Management Board of the apartment building as prescribed.

5. In case of the application for settlement of the land area adjacent to state-owned houses at profitable location on the street, if until the effective date of this Decree, the competent authority has not yet issued a decision to determine the price for this adjacent land area, the coefficient k shall be applied to calculate the land use levy in accordance with the provisions of this Decree; in case the competent authority has issued the decision on price determination before the effective date of this Decree, the issued decision shall be applied.

6. For cases as specified in Clause 21, Article 1 of this Decree, if an applicant has submitted an application but by the effective date of this Decree, the competent authority has not yet issued a settlement decision, the settlement shall comply with the provisions of this Decree; in case the competent authority has issued a settlement decision before the effective date of this Decree, the issued decision shall be applied.

Article 4. Implemention provision

1. This Decree takes effect on the signing date.

2. In case Vietnamese citizens have been granted personal identification numbers and the national population database, investment registration and business registration databases are connected and operated, they may use their personal identification number instead of personal identification documents (copy of identity card, citizen identification card, passport and other personal identification papers) when carrying out procedures related to housing and real estate business in accordance with the laws on housing and the laws on real estate business.

3. The Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government-attached agencies, and chairpersons of provincial-level People’s Committees shall implement this Decree.

For the Government

The Prime Minister

Nguyen Xuan Phuc

* All Appendices are not translated herein.