What are contents of a housing agreement for leasing in Vietnam?

What are contents of a housing agreement for leasing in Vietnam?

Hello, my family has an apartment in Binh Thanh, now because of my work and my wife, we have to live in Hanoi. We decide to rent it and collect monthly. So please ask, what does content of a housing agreement for leasing comprise? Does the rental contract have to be notarized?

Reply: 

A house lease contract must contain the basic contents specified in Article 121 of the Law on Housing 2014. Specifically:

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.

And according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 122 of the Law on Housing 2014, then:

Housing agreement for leasing is not required to notarize or authenticate the agreement, unless contracting parties wish to notarize or authenticate the agreement.

In which cases are lessors entitled to unilaterally terminate the lease agreement in Vietnam?

Hi, I'm learning about regulations in the field of housing. I have a little problem that needs your help, can you tell me according to the law in Vietnam, in which cases the lessor are lessors entitled to unilaterally terminate the lease agreement? Hope you guys can help me, thank you very much.

Reply: 

According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 132 of the Law on Housing 2014, the lessor is entitled to terminate unilaterally the lease agreement and withdraw the house in one of following cases:

a) The lessor lease out the state-owned houses or social houses ultra vires and not satisfying requirements as prescribed in this Law;

b) The lessee has not paid the rent for 3 months or more without reasonable explanation;

c) The lessee uses the house for improper purposes as agreed in the agreement;

d) The lessee expands, renovates, or demolishes the house under lease agreement without the consent of the homeowner;

dd) The lessee exchanges, lends, sublets the house under lease agreement without consent of the lessor;

e) The lessee still creates disorder or breaches hygiene an environment conditions causing negative effects on activities of the neighborhood although he/she is warned for the third time by the lessor or the chief of neighborhood, the chief of village;

g) Cases prescribed in Clause 2 Article 129 of this Law. (Specifically, if the lessor renovates the house with consent of the lessee although the lease term does not expire, the lessor is entitled to adjust the housing rents. The new rent shall be agreed by contracting parties; if not, the lessor is entitled to unilaterally terminate the lease agreement and pay compensation to the lessee as prescribed.)

Is it possible to get a rental deposit before the expiration of term of the leased house without a prior notice in Vietnam?

6 months ago I rented a house for 7,500,000 VND with a deposit of 1 month, when I rented the house, I had an agreement with the landlord to make me a contract and I rented the whole house, so I wanted to pay the electricity and water bills according to the State price and has been agreed by the landlord. After the first month, when calculating the electricity and water bill, the landlord charged the water price of 20,000, which is 3,000, so I disagreed and the two sides agreed to re-negotiate the final rate of electricity with 10% of the water bill of 10,000/1 block, after I asked once again to make the contract clear but still asked to wait. It's been 6 months and I don't want to continue renting here anymore, so I asked to leave the house in the next half of the month, but the landlord did not agree and asked me to stay for 1 month because I have to give 30 days notice or I will lose money. I would like to ask in this case how I can get my deposit back because the landlord did not mention this issue before (the landlord said I had to know it myself). Please advise. Thankyou.

Reply: 

Lease agreement is an agreement between parties whereby the lessor delivers the house to the lessee for use for a period of time, the lessee must pay rent.

Clause 3, Clause 4, Article 132 of the Law on Housing 2014 stipulates the lessee's right to unilaterally terminate the house lease agreement as follows:

3. The lessee is entitled to terminate unilaterally the lease agreement:

a) The lessor does not repair the house when it is seriously damaged;

b) The lessor increases the rents unreasonably or increases the rents without notification to the lessee;

c) The right to enjoyment of the house is restricted by interests of a third party.

4. If any party unilaterally terminates the lease agreement, the other party must be informed for at least 30 days, unless otherwise agreed; if he/she commits violations mentioned in this Clause and cause damage, he/she must pay compensation as prescribed.

Thus, according to this provision in Vietnam, if there is no other agreement, the party unilaterally terminating the performance of the house rental contract must notify the other party at least 30 days in advance, so it is reasonable to ask the landlord here. If you cannot negotiate with 15 days notice, you should stay for another 15 days at the request of the landlord to receive the deposit back.

Best Regards!