Can I buy a house with handwritten paper in Vietnam?

Can I buy a house with handwritten paper in Vietnam?

Is buying a house with handwritten paper valid? And is the handwritten paper land transfer effective? My neighbor and I did not notarize the contract, only paying 1/3 of the obligation. I bought Ms. Hoa's house for 520 million VND (apartment house), but both parties only made a handwritten contract without notarization or authentication. At the time of making the contract, I gave Ms. Hoa 385 million VND in advance. But on the day of handing over the house in the contract, seeing that the house price was increased, Ms. Hoa did not hand over the house and paid 385 million VND to me. Asking if a handwritten house sale contract is valid? Is it legal for Ms. Hoa to not deliver the house and pay the money?

Reply:

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 122 of the Law on Housing 2014, notarization and authentication of agreements and effective date of housing agreements, specifically as follows:

1. Regarding agreements on housing sale, giving, exchange, capital contribution, mortgage, or transfer of agreement on commercial housing sale, it is required to notarize or authenticate the agreement, except for cases prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article.

Regarding any agreement prescribed in this Clause, the effective date of the agreement shall be the date on which the agreement is notarized or authenticated.

Thus, the housing law stipulates that the form of a house purchase contract between an individual and an individual must be in the form of a notarized and authenticated contract in accordance with the law in Vietnam.

On the other hand, Clause 2, Article 129 of the 2015 Civil Code provides as follows:

2. If the form of a civil transaction, required to be established in writing, violates against regulations on notarizing or authorization, but a party or the parties has/have fulfill at least two third of the obligations in the transaction, a court, at his/her/their request(s), shall issue a decision on recognition of the validity of such transaction. In this case, the parties need not perform the notarizing or authorization.

According to this Article, the house purchase contract between you and Ms. Hoa is a written contract and you give Ms. Hoa 385 million (ie more than 2/3 of the value of the contract), so you have done more than 2/3 contractual obligations.

Therefore, the handwritten contract without notarization or authentication as prescribed between you and Ms. Hoa has legal effect in Vietnam. Therefore, it is against the law for Ms. Hoa to not hand over the house and return the money.

Is handwritten paper land transfer effective in Vietnam?

Pursuant to Point a, Clause 3, Article 167 of the 2013 Land Law stipulates:

3. The notarization and certification of contracts and documents on the exercise of the rights of land users shall be conducted as follows:

a/ Contracts on transfer, donation, mortgage or contribution of land use rights as capital or the rights to use land and land-attached assets must be notarized or certified, except the case of real estate business prescribed at Point b of this Clause;

Clause 2, Article 117 of the 2015 Civil Code provides:

2. The forms of civil transactions shall be the conditions for its effectiveness in cases where it is so provided for by law.

Thus, the land use right transfer contract must be notarized or authenticated to be legally valid. The land use right transfer contract between you and your neighbor is not notarized or authenticated, so it will be invalidated due to non-compliance in terms of formality in Vietnam.

Do I need to register for a temporary residence in the place where the house is located in Vietnam?

I live in District 3 and want to buy a house in District 7, do I need to register for temporary residence in a place where there is a house in District 7?

Reply:

According to Point a, Clause 2, Article 119 of the Law on Housing 2014, there are provisions on conditions of house buyers as follows:

2. If the entity who buys, rents, rents and purchases housing, or receives agreements on commercial housing sale, receives housing exchange, gives, inherit housing, receives housing as capital contribution or mortgage, borrows, or stays in housing, or is authorized to manage housing is a person, he/she must satisfy following requirements:

a) If the entity is a Vietnamese person, he/she must have full civil capacity to enter into transactions in housing as prescribed in law on civil and he/she is not required to register permanent residence in the place where the house under transactions is located;

This point does not stipulate the case of mandatory temporary residence in the place where the house is traded and it is not required to have permanent residence registration. Therefore, it is not necessary to have a temporary residence registration in the place where the house is located in Vietnam. So you do not need to register for temporary residence in the place where the house is located.

Can I buy a house that is being used for a bank loan in Vietnam? 

I have this question, hope you can advise me:

Currently, I want to buy a house including house and residential land, but currently the certificate of that house is being loaned 2 billion from the bank and is about to pay interest, if not, it will be sealed. However, the homeowner (the husband has borrowed money from Mrs. A to play gamble, Ms. A is filing a lawsuit) if she buys that house with the amount of 1.5 billion, is it possible? The owner wants to sell the house to pay the bank loan. Please answer me, thank you!

Reply:

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 118 of the Law on Housing 2014 stipulating requirements applied to houses entered into transactions, the following requirements must be met:

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.

Therefore, based on the above provisions in Vietnam, you can still buy this house because there has not been a decision on foreclosure by the competent authority and Mrs. A's lawsuit against the landlord is related to the loan, not to the ownership. Therefore, the house has met the conditions in the above regulations, so according to the Law on Housing 2014 you can completely buy this house.

Above is the content of advice from us sent to you.

Best regards!