Is it possible to enter into oral rental agreements in Vietnam? Do rental agreements need to be notarized in Vietnam?

1. Is it possible to enter into oral rental agreements in Vietnam?

In Article 121 of the Law on Housing 2014, housing agreements are as follows:

A housing agreement shall be concluded by contracting parties and made in writing, including:

1. Full names of individuals, names of organizations and addresses of contracting parties;

2. 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;

3. 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;

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

5. 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;

6. Rights and obligations of contracting parties;

7. Commitments of contracting parties;

8. Other agreements;

9. Effective date of the agreement;

10. Date of agreement;

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

Thus, according to the provisions of the housing agreements in Vietnam, it must be agreed upon by the parties and made in writing. Mr. T entering into a rental agreement with you orally is breaking the law. Because real estate-related transactions are very complicated, it is necessary to make documents, so that when a dispute occurs, there is still a basis for handling and settlement.

The conclusion of an oral rental agreement is not transparent enough and certain things are agreed upon by the parties, so if there is a dispute, it is also very difficult to adjudicate. You should carefully consider renting a house with Mr. T.

2. Do rental agreements need to be notarized in Vietnam? 

According to Article 122 of the 2014 Housing Law, notarization and authentication of agreements and effective date of housing agreements are 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.

2. Regarding transactions in giving houses of gratitude; sale or lease purchase of state-owned housing; sale or lease purchase of social housing, housing serving the relocation; contributed housing which one entity of contracting parties is an organization; housing lease, lending, permission for stay, or authorization of housing management, it is not required to notarize or authenticate the agreement, unless contracting parties wish to notarize or authenticate the agreement.

Regarding any agreement prescribed in this Clause, the effective date of the agreement shall be agreed by contracting parties; if the contracting parties do not agree, the effective date of agreement shall be the date on which the agreement is signed.

3. The documents on housing inheritance must be notarized or authenticated as prescribed in law on civil.

4. The notarization of housing agreement must be carried out at a notary; the authentication of housing agreement must be carried out at the People’s Committee of the commune where the house is located.

Therefore, according to the provisions of the rental agreement in Vietnam, there is no need to notarize unless the parties want to notarize it.

Best Regards!