Recently, owning an Apartment in urban areas has become more and more popular, because of the benefits and prices – apartments are the primary choice of real estate buyers in Vietnam. However, there are a lot of apartments in which a Pink Book has not been issued. So, the questions of concern are:

1. Will a Pink Book for all apartments be issued or not?
2. What is the procedure for a Pink Book being issued?

Therefore, CNC has prepared the following information to answer questions pertaining to: Apartments – Major Legal Problems, in detail, relative to the Pink Book, and providing an analysis of legal issues for a client’s sale and purchase decisions.

What is included?

• What is an Apartment?
• Terms of apartment ownership.
• Are all apartments issued a Pink book?
• Pink book Issuing procedures.
• Documents included in issuing the Pink book.
• Regulations for issuing the Pink book for Foreigner owned apartments.
• Notes.

What is an Apartment?

The 2014 law on housing defines an Apartment as being a house with the following:

Condominium ownership period

The “shelf life” of apartments is determined by the level of construction works and the results checked by the Authorities (Housing management agencies). Specifically:

Upon expiration of apartment buildings, as prescribed by law on construction, the apartment building is in disrepair, or unsafe for occupants, the provincial housing authority will conduct a housing quality inspection, to determine the property is:

Are all apartments issued a Pink Book?

“Pink book” – Certificate of home ownership and land use.
“Red book” – Certificate of land use.

In 2009, the Vietnamese Government agreed on a common, all-inclusive certificate – the Pink Book – which combines the ownership of residential property and land use rights.  However, all Certificates (Red book or Pink book) issued prior to December 12, 2009 remain legally valid and will be renewed or replaced as owner wishes to.

Pink Book Application Responsibility

Regulations for issuing the Pink Book for Apartments

Occupant Conditions:

Housing Conditions

Competent Issuing Agency: Land Registration Authority
Timeline: 30 days.
Procedures for issuing Apartment Pink Books:

Preparation of the Pink Book application

Notes

All owners hope to be issued a Pink Book to ensure ownership of their house(s). In the event that the owners plan to transfer, lease, or mortgage… not only will it be more convenient, but the value of the property will be higher. Therefore, clients or owners can easily investment in or complete transactions regarding apartments based on all information pertaining to regulations, processes, documents, applications, and dossiers to issue the Pink Book provided by CNC. In Particular:

Firstly, review all documents provided by the Investor(s):

In fact, construction on many projects has been suspended as a result of investors unable to provide the legal status for the construction and/or transaction of that Land.
Secondly, it is necessary to ensure that the project is mortgaged with the Bank. Concurrently, owners should verify fulfillment of the Investor’s financial obligations to minimize any risks or barriers when applying for the Pink Book.
Thirdly, carefully review the regulations of the deposit/sale and purchase/transfer agreement, for:
Completion of the constructed Apartment, and especially review the terms related to the right to transfer the agreement, payment and application obligations of the Pink Book.
Apartments developed in the future. Carefully inspect to be built areas by the investor(s). Because, according to the Law on Real Estate Trading, the foundation of apartment buildings must be completed and issued a written record of completion prior to being established for business.

Can Foreigners Buy Apartments?

The 2014 law on housing allows foreigners to own apartments in Vietnam in certain forms. Moreover, CNC has published an article regarding foreigner ownership of apartments for your reference, at [Link]