Lifespan of apartment buildings as of January 1, 2025 in Vietnam (Law on Housing 2023)

Currently, Article 99 of the Law on Housing 2014 stipulates the lifespan of apartment buildings as follows:

- The useful life of an apartment building is determined according to the class of the construction and conclusion on quality assessment provided by the housing authority of province where the apartment buildings prescribed in Clause 2 of Article 99 of the Law on Housing 2014 are located. The People’s Committee of the province shall grant funding to carry out the housing quality assessment.

- When the useful life of the apartment building expires as prescribed in law on construction or the apartment building is seriously damaged, or in danger of collapse, or unsafe for its occupiers, the housing authority of province shall carry out the housing quality inspection following procedures below:

+ In case the apartment building is still quality and safe for occupiers, its owner(s) entitled to use it for a period stated in the conclusion, except for cases prescribed in Clause 2 and Clause 3 Article 110 of the Law on Housing 2014;

+ In case the apartment building is seriously damaged, in danger of collapse, or unsafe for its occupiers, the housing authority of province shall issue the conclusion on housing quality inspection and send a report to the People’s Committee of the province, then send a notification to the homeowner; the content of the notification must be disclosed on the website of the People’s Committee and the housing authority of province, and by means of local mass media.

The owner(s) of the apartment building must demolish the apartment building to renovate or rebuild a new apartment building or transfer it to the competent agency to demolish or rebuild another construction as prescribed in Clause 3 of Article 99 of the Law on Housing 2014.

- Any apartment building and the piece of land on which an apartment building is located prescribed in Point b Clause 2 of Article 99 of the Law on Housing 2014 shall follow the procedures below:

+ In case the piece of land on which the apartment building is located is still conformable with the planning for housing construction, the owner(s) is/are entitled to renovate or rebuild a new apartment building as prescribed in Section 2 of Chapter VII of the Law on Housing 2014;

+ In case the piece of land on which the apartment building is located is no longer conformable with the planning for housing construction, the owner(s) must return this apartment building to the competent agency in order to demolish and rebuild another construction according to the approved planning;

+ In case the owner(s) of the apartment building fails to implement the decision on demolition or return the apartment building, the President of the People’s Committee of the province shall enforce the housing demolition or enforce the relocation;

+ The settlement of dwelling provided for the owners of the apartment building which is demolished shall comply with Article 116 of the Law on Housing 2014.

In case the apartment building is demolished to rebuild a new apartment building, the owners are entitled to keep using the piece of land on which that apartment building is located; in case the apartment building is demolished to build another construction, the settlements of the piece of land on which that apartment building is located shall comply with regulations of law on land.