National Assembly passes Housing Law, no regulations on apartment ownership period

On the morning of November 27, with 423/468 (85.63%) National Assembly deputies participating in the vote in favor, the National Assembly officially passed the Housing Law (amended) project. The law consists of 13 chapters and 198 articles.

Before the National Assembly passed the report, on behalf of the National Assembly Standing Committee, Chairman of the Law Committee Hoang Thanh Tung said that there are still many different opinions on the development of multi-storey houses with many apartments of individuals for sale, lease-purchase, and rent (mini apartments).

The National Assembly Standing Committee assessed that recently, many localities have been lax in management, lacking strict inspection, and failing to promptly handle violations, leading to many consequences and overloading of the urban infrastructure system. In particular, there is a potential risk of fire and explosion, and in fact, a number of fires have occurred, causing serious damage to people and property.

To overcome shortcomings and limitations, while still meeting the housing supply for low-income people, the National Assembly Standing Committee accepted and revised the draft law in the direction of more suitable regulations for a number of requirements.

Specifically, it does not stipulate specific requirements but refers to the management conditions issued by the Minister of Construction and the requirements of the law on fire prevention and fighting. At the same time, it decentralizes the authority to the provincial People's Committee to regulate traffic routes for fire fighting vehicles to perform fire fighting tasks...

Regarding the renovation and reconstruction of apartment buildings, there are opinions that the regulations on the term of use of apartment buildings are determined according to the design documents or that when the term of use has not expired but the house is damaged or unsafe, the Provincial People's Committee decides to demolish it (according to the life of the building) which is not in accordance with the provisions of the Land Law. The reason is that residential land does not have a term of use.

The review agency also said that there were suggestions to supplement regulations on the ownership period of apartment buildings. It is necessary to distinguish between the ownership period and the duration of use of apartment buildings. For residential land, it is stable and long-term. For land in housing projects with a duration, the ownership period of apartment buildings is determined according to the duration of use of the land assigned to implement the project.

The National Assembly Standing Committee proposed to keep these contents as in the draft law. The National Assembly Standing Committee said that the draft law does not stipulate the ownership period, but only stipulates the period of use of apartment buildings on the basis of inheriting the current Housing Law.

When an apartment building expires and is at risk of collapsing and must be demolished, the value of the house will no longer exist, but the value of the right to use land for long-term stability according to the provisions of the Land Law will still exist and people will still be compensated, ensuring consistency with the Land Law.

In addition, the proposal to regulate the ownership period of apartment buildings has been discussed and consulted many times and has been carefully considered. The Standing Committee of the National Assembly, the Government, and the majority of delegates agreed that the ownership period of apartment buildings should not be regulated in the draft revised Housing Law this time.

Regarding the regulation that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is the governing body for social housing investment projects, the Chairman of the Law Committee said that many opinions agree with this plan. Some opinions say that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor should only be assigned to invest in model and typical social housing projects.

Another opinion is that each option has its advantages and disadvantages, so it is recommended to vote on each option.

The National Assembly Standing Committee would like to accept the opinions of the majority of National Assembly deputies and revise the draft law in the direction of stipulating that the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor is the governing body for social housing construction investment projects. This plan has received high consensus among the National Assembly Standing Committee, the Government, the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor and the majority of National Assembly deputies.

Mr. Hoang Thanh Tung said that this regulation ensures strictness, synchronization, high enforcement effectiveness, and removes obstacles in previous pilot practices according to the Prime Minister's decision because it was not yet regulated by law.