Prohibited acts in management and use of apartment buildings in Vietnam

Prohibited acts in management and use of apartment buildings in Vietnam (Internet image)

1. What is an apartment building?

According to Clause 3, Article 3 of the Law on Housing 2014, apartment building means any multi-storey building which has multiple apartments, public stairs, hall ways, private areas, common areas and common infrastructural works for organizations, households or individuals, including apartment buildings for residential use and mixed-use buildings for both business and residential purposes.

2. Prohibited acts in management and use of apartment buildings in Vietnam

Specifically, in Article 35 of Decree 99/2015/ND-CP, the following acts are prohibited in the management and use of apartment buildings:

- Using the funding for management, operation, and maintenance of shared area against provisions of the Law on Housing 2014, Decree 99/2015/ND-CP, and the Statute on management and use of apartment buildings promulgated by the Ministry of Construction.

- Causing permeation or leakage; make noise beyond the limits specified by law; discharging garbage, wastewater, exhaust gases, toxic substances against regulations of law on environmental protection or internal regulations on management and use of the apartment building.

- Breeding animals in the apartment building.

- Painting, decorating the outer sides of the apartments of apartment building against regulations on its design and architecture.

- Repurpose the share area of the apartment building without permission; repurpose the non-residential area in the apartment building against the designed approved by a competent authority.

- The following business lines are prohibited in the business area of an apartment building:

= Explosive, combustible materials, and business lines that endanger life and property of users of the apartment building as set out in regulations of law on fire safety;

= Discotheque business; repair of motor vehicles; slaughtering, provision of services causing pollution as set out in regulations of law on environmental protection.

= Restaurant, karaoke, and bar business must ensure noise isolation, fulfillment of fire safety requirement, have emergency exits, and conformity with other business conditions prescribed by law.

- Any other prohibited acts related to management and use of apartment buildings specified in Article 6 of the Law on Housing.

3. Regulations on the useful life of apartment buildings in Vietnam

Regulations on the useful life of apartment buildings under Article 99 of the Law on Housing 2014 are as follows:

(1) 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 item (2) are located. The People’s Committee of the province shall grant funding to carry out the housing quality assessment.

(2) 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 item (3).

(3) Any apartment building and the piece of land on which an apartment building is seriously damaged, in danger of collapse, or unsafe for its occupiers 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 this Law.

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.

Thanh Rin

>> CLICK HERE TO READ THIS ARTICLE IN VIETNAMESE