Vietnam: What do house and premises lease contracts include?

Thank you for your question. Lawnet would like to answer your question as follows:

House and premises lease contracts are considered property lease contracts in civil transactions.

According to the Civil Code 2015 of Vietnam, the contracts for lease of property is defined as follows:

"Contracts for lease of property

Contract for lease of property means an agreement between parties whereby a lessor delivers property to a lessee for use during a fixed term and the lessee is required to pay rent.

Lease contracts of houses or lease contracts of houses for other purposes shall comply with this Code, the Law on Housing and relevant laws."

When searching and renting space, you need to pay attention to the following points:

Firstly, not all houses can be used in civil transactions. A house must satisfy the conditions specified in Article 118 of the Law on Housing 2014 before it can be leased, specifically:

1. Any house regarding transactions in housing sale, lease purchase, gifting, mortgage, or capital contribution shall meet the requirements below:

a) There is the Certificate as prescribed, except for cases prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article;

b) There is no dispute, complaint, or proceedings for homeownership; the term of homeownership has not expired if the house is under a term contract on housing;

c) The house is not distrained;

d) There is no decision on land revocation, notification of housing clearance or demolishment issued by the competent agency.

The requirements prescribed in Point b and c of this Clause shall not apply to transactions in off-the-plan housing sale or lease purchase.

2. The following transactions in housing are not required the Certificate:

...

c) Transactions in state-owned housing sale or lease purchase; social housing or non-state-owned housing serving the relocation sale or lease purchase; housing sale prescribed in Clause 4 Article 62 in this Law;

d) Transactions in housing lease, lending, permission for stay, management authorization;

...

Any documentary evidence on requirements pertaining to the house to be entered into the transaction as prescribed in this Clause shall comply with regulations of the Government.

3. Any house under lease contract shall both comply with Point b, c, and d Clause 1 of this Article and satisfy requirements pertaining to quality, safety regarding the lessee, electricity system, water supply and drainage, hygiene and environment.

Thus, before accepting the lease of the premises, you should pay attention to checking the actual condition of the premises. In addition, the quality of the premises must be checked; it is necessary to have an adequate electrical, water supply, and drainage system; ensure environmental sanitation; and ensure safety for users.

Second, when signing a rental contract, it is necessary to pay attention to the content and form of the contract.

The housing lease contract is agreed upon by the parties and must be made in writing. The contract must contain all the terms specified in Article 121 of the Law on Housing, specifically:

- Full names of individuals, names of organizations and addresses of contracting parties;

- Description of characteristics of the house and the piece of land attached to that house. Regarding agreements on apartment sale or lease purchase, contracting parties must state the common areas or common-using areas; private areas; floor area; purposes of the common areas or common-using areas in the apartment building according to approved design;

- The value of contributed capital, the transaction price of housing if there is a term on pricing in the agreement; regarding transactions in housing sale, lease, or lease purchase which is regulated pricing by the State, contracting parties shall comply with that regulations;

- Deadline for and method of payment regarding transactions in housing sale, lease, lease purchase or transfer of agreements on housing sale;

- Deadline for housing transfer; housing warranty duration regarding transactions in buying or renting and buying new house; terms of agreements on housing lease, lease purchase, mortgage, lending, permission for stay, authorization of housing management; deadline for capital contribution;

- Rights and obligations of contracting parties;

- Commitments of contracting parties;

- Other agreements;

- Effective date of the agreement;

- Date of agreement;

- Signatures and full names of contracting parties, or stamps (if any) and positions of the signatories regarding organizations.

In terms of form, the rental contract is not required to be notarized or authenticated, unless the parties so request. This is specified in Clause 2, Article 122 of the Law on Housing 2014. However, if the property is of great value, like the premises you are looking to rent, you should still notarize and authenticate the contract.

Regarding the rights and obligations of the parties, you can refer to Articles 475 to 482 of the Law on Housing 2014.

The above are some general provisions and should be kept in mind when entering into a house and premises lease contract. If you have any questions, please contact the hotline for more details.

Best regards!

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