Cases of repossession and enforced repossession of public housing in Vietnam

Cases of repossession and enforced repossession of public housing (Image from the Internet)

1. Cases of repossession and enforced repossession of public housing in Vietnam

The cases for the repossession and enforced repossession of public housing in Vietnam as stated in Article 127 of the Housing Law 2023 are as follows:

- Repossession of public housing is conducted in one of the following cases:

+ Leasing, leasing for purchase, or selling housing without proper authority, or not to the right individuals, or not meeting the conditions as prescribed by housing laws;

+ Upon expiration of the lease tenure per the contract when the lessee does not wish to continue or both parties agree to terminate the housing lease contract;

+ The lessee, lease-purchaser returns the currently leased, lease-purchased housing;

+ The lessee no longer qualifies for housing lease conditions as stipulated in the Housing Law 2023;

+ The lessee dies or is declared missing by the Court without any cohabitants; the person renting official houses dies or is declared missing by the Court;

+ The lessee, lease-purchaser fails to pay the full rent for 03 months or more without a legitimate reason as per the contract;

+ The rental, lease-purchase housing must be demolished for renovation, reconstruction under the decision of a competent state authority; housing that does not ensure safety in usage as specified under construction laws;

+ The lessee, lease-purchaser uses the housing contrary to the agreed purpose in the lease, lease-purchase contract or unilaterally transfers, sells, subleases, lends, or alters, expands, renovates, demolishes the rented or lease-purchased housing;

+ The lessee of official houses is relocated or assigned to work in another location;

+ Illegal occupation of housing.

- Persons currently leasing, lease-purchasing, purchasing housing, or using housing, in cases subject to repossession as regulated in Clause 1, Article 127 of the Housing Law 2023, must return the housing to the management unit. If housing is not returned, the representative of the public housing owner decides on compulsory repossession. The Provincial People's Committee is responsible for organizing compulsory housing repossession or can assign the District People's Committee where the housing is located to implement compulsory repossession within 30 days from the issuance date of the compulsory repossession decision.

After repossession, based on specific cases, competent authorities will either change the function or continue managing, arranging for leasing, lease-purchasing, selling as per the Housing Law 2023.

2. Regulations on the Management and Use of public housing in Vietnam

Regulations on the management and use of public housing in Vietnam according to Article 125 of the Housing Law 2023 are as follows:

- public housing must be utilized for the right purpose, efficiently, and to avoid loss and waste; leasing, lease-purchasing, and selling housing must be to the right individuals who meet the legal requirements in accordance with the Housing Law 2023. Proceeds from sales, lease-purchases of public housing, after deducting reasonable costs, must be allocated in the budget estimate for investing in the construction of social housing being public property.

- For official houses, it is only used for leasing; for social housing and housing for the people's armed forces, it is built for leasing, lease-purchase, or selling; if invested with public investment capital, it is only for leasing or lease-purchase.

In case there is a need to invest in constructing social housing, housing for the people's armed forces, the representative owner of public housing may propose a plan to sell social housing, housing for the people's armed forces currently rented, except for social housing, housing for the people's armed forces invested in with the capital source specified at point b, clause 1, Article 113 of the Housing Law 2023, sent to the Ministry of Construction for appraisal, and report to the Prime Minister for a decision according to the government's regulations.

- Leasing or selling public housing as stipulated in point d, clause 1, Article 13 of the Housing Law 2023 is only executed when there is no dispute or litigation concerning the right to use that housing as per the laws governing dispute resolution, complaints, and denunciations, and must fall under the cases allowed for leasing or selling under housing law.

The cases of assigning and using public housing regulated in point d, clause 1, Article 13 of the Housing Law 2023 effective from January 19, 2007, shall be managed and used according to the Housing Law 2023 and laws on the management and usage of public property; if the State no longer needs to use it, the sale shall be conducted according to public property sale laws.

- Tenants of official houses who no longer meet the conditions for renting or relocate or violate housing management and use regulations, which are subject to repossession, must return the official houses to the State.

Persons returning official houses not subject to repossession due to regulation violations at points a, e, and h of clause 1, Article 127 of the Housing Law 2023 and who do not have other housing at their residence after returning official houses, the managing agency or organization is responsible for cooperating with the Provincial People's Committee at the resident's location to resolve matters of purchase, lease-purchase, or lease of social housing or allocate homestead land for building housing.

- The management and operation of public housing are conducted as follows:

+ Managed by an organization or enterprise with functional and professional competencies in housing management and operation and entitled to preferential policies as public utility services;

+ The representative owner of public housing invested with the capital stated at point a, clause 1, Article 113 of the Housing Law 2023 assigns the managing unit to implement the housing management and operation; for apartments, this unit must meet the competency conditions as prescribed by the Housing Law 2023 to manage and operate; if there is no managing unit or the unit lacks operational capacity, a bidding process will select an appropriate management and operation unit.

- The management and use of housing post-repossession are implemented as regulated in Article 127 of the Housing Law 2023.

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