Conditions and procedures for housing transfer

rticle 8 of the 2014 Housing Law stipulates the conditions for recognizing housing in Vietnam for each entity and the legal forms of housing ownership for these entities, as follows:

Currently-owned Housing Entity in Vietnam Conditions for Recognizing Legal Housing in Vietnam Legal Forms of Housing Ownership in Vietnam for These Entities Domestic organizations, households, individuals At the time of applying for the issuance of the Certificate of ownership, domestic organizations, households, and individuals must possess identification documents (ID card, birth certificate, household registration book, etc.) as prescribed by land laws for the issuance of the Certificate of ownership. This entity may own housing through one of the following forms:

• Investing in housing construction.
• Conducting purchase transactions, lease-purchase, gifting, inheritance, or capital contribution related to housing in accordance with Vietnamese law.
• Receiving housing contributions.
• And other forms of housing ownership in Vietnam as stipulated by law.

Vietnamese nationals residing abroad – If Vietnamese nationals residing abroad still hold Vietnamese passports, the passport must be valid and stamped with the immigration seal of the Vietnamese immigration management agency.

• If Vietnamese nationals residing abroad hold foreign passports, the passport must be valid and stamped with the immigration seal of the Vietnamese immigration management agency. Additionally, one of the following documents must be provided:

• Documents proving Vietnamese nationality or confirmation of Vietnamese origin issued by the Department of Justice of provinces, centrally-run cities, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, or management agencies for Vietnamese nationals abroad.
• Or other documents as prescribed by Vietnamese law. The forms of housing ownership for this entity include:

• Purchasing or lease-purchasing commercial housing from real estate businesses or cooperative groups engaged in real estate business in accordance with Vietnamese law.
• Purchasing, gifting, inheriting housing from households or individuals in Vietnam.
• Transferring land use rights within commercial housing construction projects permitted to sell land plots for self-construction in accordance with Vietnamese law.

Foreign entities – Foreign individuals: Must have a valid passport stamped with the immigration seal of the Vietnamese immigration management agency. Additionally, they are not entitled to diplomatic or consular privileges and immunities under the provisions of diplomatic privileges and immunities reserved for diplomatic missions, consular offices, and representative offices of international organizations in Vietnam.

• Foreign organizations: At the time of signing housing transactions, foreign organizations must have a Certificate of Investment Registration or documents issued by competent authorities of Vietnam authorizing their activities in Vietnam. Entities of this type may own housing in Vietnam through one of the following forms:
• Foreign individuals and entities investing in housing construction projects in Vietnam as stipulated by the 2014 Housing Law and related laws.
• Foreign individuals and entities purchasing, lease-purchasing, gifting, inheriting commercial housing (including apartments in apartment buildings and single-family homes in housing construction projects). In the case of foreign individuals holding documents confirming Vietnamese origin: These individuals must choose either Vietnamese nationals residing abroad or foreign individuals to determine their housing ownership rights in Vietnam. This entity may own housing in Vietnam through one of the following forms:
• Foreign individuals and entities investing in housing construction projects in Vietnam as stipulated by the 2014 Housing Law and related laws.
• Foreign individuals and entities purchasing, lease-purchasing, gifting, inheriting commercial housing (including apartments in apartment buildings and single-family homes in housing construction projects). For housing in national defense and security-guaranteed areas according to Government regulations, foreign individuals and entities are not allowed to own. (The Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security have the authority to identify areas requiring security and defense assurance at each locality).

According to Article 118 of the 2014 Housing Law, housing participating in transfer transactions must meet the following conditions:

• Must have a certificate as prescribed by law, except as provided in Clause 2 of this Article (*)
• Not subject to disputes, complaints, or litigations regarding ownership rights; not within the ownership term for cases with a limited term of ownership (not applicable to cases of buying, lease-purchase of housing formed in the future);
• Not subject to mortgage for enforcement of judgments or administrative decisions already in effect by competent state authorities (not applicable to cases of buying, lease-purchase of housing formed in the future);
• Not subject to land recovery decisions, eviction notices, demolition of houses by competent authorities. (*) The certificate is one of the important bases to verify ownership rights to housing for individuals, organizations. However, in some transactions concerning buying, transferring housing as stipulated in Clause 2 of Article 118 of the 2014 Housing Law, housing is not required to have a certificate, including the following transactions:
• Buying housing formed in the future;
• Buying housing under state ownership; buying social housing, resettlement housing not under state ownership; selling housing as stipulated in Clause 4 of Article 62 of this Law;
• Transferring contracts for the purchase of commercial housing built in housing construction projects, including cases already receiving handover of housing from the project investor but have not submitted dossiers requesting competent state agencies to issue certificates for that housing. Documents proving the conditions for housing participating in transactions stipulated in this clause are