Circular No. 16/2010/TT-BXD provides specific regulations and guidelines for implementing certain contents of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP dated June 23, 2010, issued by the Government to detail and guide the implementation of the Law on Housing.

CIRCULAR

Provides specific regulations and guidance on implementing certain contents of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP dated June 23, 2010, of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Housing.

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WHEREAS, Decree No. 17/2008/NĐ-CP dated February 4, 2008 of the Government stipulates the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Construction;

Pursuant to Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP dated June 23, 2010 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Housing;

The Ministry of Construction provides specific regulations and guidance on implementing certain contents of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP dated June 23, 2010, of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Housing as follows:

PART I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope of Regulation

This Circular provides specific regulations and guidance on implementing certain contents of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP dated June 23, 2010, of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Housing (hereinafter referred to as Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP) regarding ownership of housing, development of housing, management of housing use, transactions related to housing, and state management of housing.

Housing within the scope regulated by Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and stipulated in this Circular includes: housing (detached houses, individual houses, condominium units) constructed for sale, lease, or lease-purchase according to market demand and mechanisms (including housing in new urban areas, ecological tourism and resort areas, mixed-use construction projects); state-owned housing; housing constructed for sale, lease, or lease-purchase according to mechanisms prescribed by the State (social housing); resettlement housing; individual houses of households and individuals in urban and rural areas.

Article 2. Applicability

This Circular applies to the following entities related to the field of housing in Vietnam:

1. Domestic organizations and individuals;

2. Foreign organizations and individuals, overseas Vietnamese;

3. Other organizations and individuals related to the field of housing.

Chapter II

HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

Article 3. Classification of housing development projects

Housing development projects specified in Article 4 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP include the following types:

1. Housing development project with the purpose of investing in the synchronous construction of technical infrastructure systems, social infrastructure systems, housing buildings, and other architectural works within the scope of the project.

2. Independent housing development project, including:

a) Class II housing project within a housing area project as specified in Clause 1 of this Article or within a new urban area project or within an ecological tourism and resort area project;

b) Independent housing project that only constructs one building or a cluster of housing buildings in an existing residential area or urban area already equipped with technical infrastructure systems;

c) Mixed-use housing building (for residence, office, shopping center, service).

Article 4. Procedures and formalities for selecting the investor of commercial housing development projects through direct assignment of the investor

1. In the case where there is only one investor registering to be the investor of a commercial housing development project on a single land plot, the following procedures shall be implemented:

a) Within the time limit for announcing information about the commercial housing development project as stipulated in Clause 2 of Article 14 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, the investor shall submit a written request (either directly or via postal service) to the Department of Construction at the location of the project to participate in registering as the investor of the housing development project.

If, within the time limit stipulated in Clause 2 of Article 14 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, there is only one investor registering to be the investor of the housing development project, the Department of Construction shall issue a written request requiring the investor to submit two sets of capacity files directly to the Department (including: copies of documents as stipulated in Article 12 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP; the investor's experience file; proposals from the investor and the provisional total investment amount of the project).

b) Based on the capacity files of the investor, the Department of Construction shall report to the People's Committee of the province or centrally-administered city (hereinafter collectively referred to as the Provincial People's Committee) to establish a specialized team with the participation of representatives from the Departments of Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, Planning and Investment, Finance, Architecture - Urban Planning (for provinces and cities with an Architecture - Urban Planning Department) to review and evaluate the capacity files of the investor. In cases where the investor meets the conditions to be the investor of the project, the Department of Construction shall prepare a report along with the minutes of the working session of the specialized team to report to the Provincial People's Committee to propose recognition of the investor of the housing development project. The format of the investor recognition document is stipulated in Appendix No. 1 issued together with this Circular.

If the investor does not meet the conditions to be the investor of the project, the Department of Construction shall issue a written notice informing the investor of the reasons and reporting to the Provincial People's Committee to designate another investor as the project investor.

c) In cases where the investor is recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as the investor of the project, the investor shall organize the preparation and submission for approval of the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 (for new project areas with a planning scale of 1/2000) or request approval of the general layout plan, architectural design scheme, and technical infrastructure solutions (collectively referred to as the general layout plan) of the project in cases not required to prepare a detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 according to the law on planning.

After obtaining approval of the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 or approval of the general layout plan, the investor shall proceed with the procedures to obtain investment approval and organize the preparation, examination, and approval of the housing development project in accordance with Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, Articles 5 and 6 of this Circular, and the provisions of the law on construction.

2. In cases where the investor has lawful rights to use the land according to the law on land, is consistent with the housing construction planning, and has submitted a registration document to be the investor of the project, the following procedures shall be implemented:

a) The investor shall submit two sets of capacity files directly to the Department of Construction at the location of the project (including: copies of documents proving lawful rights to use the land according to the law on land; copies of documents as stipulated in Article 12 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP; proposals from the investor and the provisional total investment amount of the project).

b) After receiving the capacity files of the investor, the Department of Construction shall implement the procedures stipulated in point b of Clause 1 of this Article. If the investor does not meet the conditions to be the investor of the project, the Department of Construction shall issue a written notice informing the investor of the reasons.

c) In the case where the investor is recognized by the People's Committee of the province as the project owner for housing development projects, such investor shall be responsible for performing the tasks as stipulated in point c, Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 5. Procedures and formalities for examination and approval of housing development projects funded by state budget

1. For housing development projects with investment capital of VND 30 billion or more (excluding land use fees, except in cases provided for in Clause 5 of this Article), the project owner must submit directly to the Construction Department at the location of the project two sets of documents requesting examination and approval of the housing development project as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article; in the case of housing development projects with investment capital under VND 30 billion (excluding land use fees) and approved by the Chairman of the People's Committee of the district upon delegation from the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province, the project owner must submit directly the documents to the Office having the function of managing housing at the district level where the project is located.

2. Documents requesting examination and approval of housing development projects include:

a) A proposal from the project owner addressed to the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province (for projects within the approval authority of the provincial People's Committee) or to the Chairman of the People's Committee of the district (for projects within the approval authority of the district People's Committee) requesting examination and approval of the housing development project according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 2 issued together with this Circular;

b) The housing development project dossier established in accordance with Article 6 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP;

c) Copies of decisions approving the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 and the planning drawings at a scale of 1/500 that have been approved by the competent authority; in cases where detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 is not required, there must be copies of the general layout plan drawings that have been approved by the competent authority on planning in accordance with the laws on planning;

d) Copies of documents assigning the project owner by the competent authority.

3. The Construction Department or the Office having the function of managing housing at the district level shall be responsible for checking, if the conditions are met, accepting the documents and issuing a receipt for the documents, setting a date for returning the results; if the documents do not meet the conditions, guiding the project owner to supplement the necessary documents and complete the dossier in one go.

After receiving the documents, the Construction Department or the Office having the function of managing housing at the district level shall take the lead in examining the project and soliciting opinions from relevant agencies: Natural Resources and Environment, Finance, Planning and Investment, and other relevant agencies (if deemed necessary); for provincial level, the Construction Department shall also seek opinions from the Department of Architecture - Planning (in provinces and cities with a Department of Architecture - Planning) and the People's Committee of the district where the project is located. The maximum time for relevant agencies to respond to opinions is 10 days from the date of receipt of the document from the Construction Department or the Office having the function of managing housing at the district level. After receiving the opinions of relevant agencies, the leading agency shall prepare a Proposal according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 3 issued together with this Circular to report to the Chairman of the People's Committee at the same level for approval of the project.

In the case where the Construction Department is assigned as the project owner for housing development projects, the Construction Department shall be responsible for organizing the establishment of the project, soliciting opinions from relevant agencies as prescribed in this clause, and preparing a Proposal requesting the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province to approve the project according to the content prescribed in Appendix No. 2 issued together with this Circular.

4. Based on the requirements for housing development projects stipulated in Article 5 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, based on the Proposal of the Construction Department (for provincial level) or the Office having the function of managing housing at the district level (for district level) and the opinions of relevant agencies, the Chairman of the People's Committee of the province or the Chairman of the People's Committee of the district shall issue a decision approving the housing development project according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 4 issued together with this Circular. The project owner shall directly come to the location where the project approval decision was received to collect the Decision approving the housing development project as recorded in the receipt for submission of the dossier.

5. In the case of constructing houses using central government budget funds (except for housing development projects decided by the Prime Minister to invest), before submitting the project for examination and approval by the investment decision-maker, the project owner must directly submit two sets of documents requesting approval of investment at the People's Committee of the province where the housing development project is located for the provincial People's Committee to approve the investment according to the procedures and formalities prescribed in Article 6 of this Circular.

Documents requesting approval of investment include: A proposal from the project owner according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 5 issued together with this Circular; copies of documents assigning the project owner by the competent authority; copies of decisions approving the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 and the detailed planning drawings at a scale of 1/500 that have been approved by the competent authority; in cases where detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 is not required, there must be copies of the general layout plan drawings that have been approved by the competent authority on planning in accordance with the laws on planning.

Based on the documents requesting approval of investment submitted by the project owner, the People's Committee of the province shall issue an investment approval document according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 7 issued together with this Circular. After the People's Committee of the province issues the investment approval document, the project owner shall organize the establishment of the project to submit it for examination and approval of the housing development project by the authorized investment decision-maker according to Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and the provisions of this Article.

6. In the case where the project has already been approved but the project owner proposes to change one of the contents of the project as stipulated in Clause 4 of Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, the project owner must submit a Proposal requesting approval to supplement the project content along with the approved project dossier to the Construction Department (if the project is within the approval authority of the provincial People's Committee), or to the Office having the function of managing housing at the district level (if the project is within the approval authority of the district People's Committee).

The Department of Construction or the Room with housing management functions at the district level shall be responsible for receiving, inspecting, evaluating, and submitting to the Chairman of the People's Committee at the same level for approval of supplementary contents of the residential development project. In case of non-approval, the agency receiving the dossier must issue a notification letter clearly stating the reasons for the investor to be aware.

In cases where the project uses central government budget funds as stipulated in Clause 5 of this Article, and if the investor requests to change the project content different from the approved investment content by the provincial People's Committee, the investor must submit a request for supplementary approval from the provincial People's Committee before submitting to the competent authority for supplementary approval of the changed project content.

7. Provincial People's Committees and local functional agencies when implementing the examination and approval of residential development projects must base on the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, the provisions of Resolution No. 33/2008/NQ-CP dated December 31, 2008 of the Government on pilot implementation of some administrative procedures in construction investment for new urban area projects, residential area projects, and industrial infrastructure projects (hereinafter referred to as Resolution No. 33/2008/NQ-CP), the detailed regulations stipulated in Circular Joint No. 30/2009/TTLT-BXD-BKH dated August 27, 2009 of the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Planning and Investment regarding certain points of Resolution No. 33/2008/NQ-CP (hereinafter referred to as Circular No. 30/2009/TTLT-BXD-BKH), and the provisions of this Circular, without requiring investors of residential development projects to obtain additional investment certificates. For Class II projects, they are not required to complete additional investment registration procedures.

8. The time limit for the competent authority to implement the examination and approval of projects or supplementary approval of residential development projects as stipulated in this Article shall be carried out according to the provisions of Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP. The collection of fees for project examination of residential development projects shall be implemented according to the current regulations on fees for project examination of construction works.

Article 6. Procedures and formalities for approving investment in residential development projects funded by non-state budget sources.

1. The procedures and formalities for requesting approval of investment in residential development projects (excluding Class II residential projects) funded by non-state budget sources and having less than 2,500 housing units (detached houses, individual houses, apartment units) shall be implemented according to the following provisions:

a) In cases where there is no need to conduct bidding to select the investor of the residential development project:

- The investor is responsible for directly submitting two sets of investment approval application dossiers to the Room with housing management functions at the district level (for projects with less than 500 housing units), or directly submitting them to the Department of Construction (for projects with 500 to less than 2,500 housing units).

The investment approval application dossier includes: The investor's application report according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 5 issued together with this Circular; copies of documents: the certificate recognizing the project investor issued by the provincial People's Committee; documents as prescribed in Article 12 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP; decision approving the master plan at a scale of 1/2000 and the corresponding drawings at a scale of 1/2000 which have been approved by the competent authority (for areas without a master plan at a scale of 1/2000) or copies of the decision approving the detailed plan at a scale of 1/500 and the corresponding drawings at a scale of 1/500 which have been approved by the competent authority (for areas with a master plan at a scale of 1/2000); in cases where it is not necessary to prepare a detailed plan at a scale of 1/500, a copy of the general layout drawing that has been approved by the competent authority for planning must be provided.

- The Department of Construction or the Room with housing management functions at the district level is responsible for checking the dossier; if the dossier meets the conditions, it will accept the dossier, issue a receipt for the dossier, and set a date for returning the result; if the dossier does not meet the conditions, it will guide the investor to supplement and complete the dossier once.

After accepting the dossier, the Department of Construction or the Room with housing management functions at the district level is responsible for leading the review, soliciting opinions from relevant agencies: Natural Resources and Environment, Finance, Planning and Investment, and other relevant agencies (if deemed necessary) within the time limit stipulated in Clause 3 of this Article; for provincial level, the Department of Construction will also solicit additional opinions from the District People's Committee where the project is located and the Department of Architecture - Planning (for provinces and cities with such departments). After obtaining the opinions of the relevant agencies, the leading reviewing agency will prepare a report according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 6 issued together with this Circular, requesting the same-level People's Committee to issue an investment approval letter.

- Based on the report of the Department of Construction or the Room with housing management functions at the district level, along with the investor's investment approval application dossier, the opinions of relevant agencies, and based on the content stipulated in Point b, Clause 2, Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, the provincial People's Committee or the district People's Committee will issue an investment approval letter according to the model prescribed in Appendix No. 7 issued together with this Circular. The investor will directly come to the location where the dossier was received to collect the investment approval letter as stated in the receipt for the dossier submission.

In the investment approval letter, besides the contents stipulated in Point b, Clause 2, Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, it must clearly state the social infrastructure works that the local authorities must invest in (public works) and the deadline for completing the construction of these works. If the local authorities fail to carry out the construction of social infrastructure works within the deadline specified in the investment approval letter, the investor has the right to proceed with the construction according to the approved purpose and can deduct the cost from the financial obligations to the State or the investor may transfer the management form of the work from public to private ownership under the investor's possession.

- After being approved for investment by the competent state agency, the investor shall be responsible for organizing the preparation and submission to the competent authority for examination and approval of the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 (for new project areas with a planning scale of 1/2000). Subsequently, the investor shall organize the preparation, examination, and approval of the housing development project in accordance with regulations. In cases where the project area already has a detailed planning at a scale of 1/500 that has been approved or has a master plan layout drawing that has been approved by the competent authority on planning (in cases where it is not necessary to prepare a detailed planning at a scale of 1/500), the investor shall organize the preparation, examination, and approval of the housing development project in accordance with regulations.

b) For cases where a tender must be conducted to select the investor of the housing development project:

- In cases where the housing project has a number of units from 500 to less than 2,500 units, the Provincial People's Committee shall organize the tender, and in the decision selecting the winning investor, the Provincial People's Committee shall clearly specify the contents of the investment approval for the housing development project, and this decision shall replace the investment approval document.

- In cases where the housing project has fewer than 500 units, before issuing the tender invitation documents, the Provincial People's Committee shall instruct the Department of Construction to send a letter seeking investment approval from the District People's Committee where the project is located, in accordance with point b, clause 2, Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP. The documents sent to seek investment approval from the District People's Committee include: a letter from the Department of Construction seeking approval from the District People's Committee, specifying the contents stipulated in point b, clause 2, Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP; copies of the decisions approving the planning at a scale of 1/2000 and the planning drawings at a scale of 1/2000 that have been approved by the competent authority.

After receiving the investment approval opinion from the District People's Committee, the Department of Construction shall issue the tender invitation documents and report to the Provincial People's Committee to organize the tender to select the investor according to regulations.

- The unit selected as the investor of the housing development project shall be responsible for organizing the preparation and submission to the competent authority for examination and approval of the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500. Subsequently, the unit shall organize the preparation, examination, and approval of the housing development project in accordance with regulations. In cases where it is not necessary to prepare a detailed planning at a scale of 1/500, there must be a master plan layout drawing that has been approved by the competent authority on planning in accordance with the law on planning.

2. The procedures and formalities for requesting approval of the investment orientation for housing development projects (regardless of the source of investment funds and land usage scale, including houses in new urban areas) with a number of housing units of 2,500 units or more (including detached houses, individual houses, and apartment buildings) shall be implemented as follows:

a) For cases where a tender is not required to select the investor of the housing development project (except in cases decided by the Prime Minister to select the investor in accordance with clause 5, Article 73 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP):

- The investor directly submits two sets of documents to the Provincial People's Committee for review and submission to the Prime Minister for approval of the investment orientation for the housing development project.

The documents submitted to the Provincial People's Committee include: the investor's application report in the prescribed form attached as Appendix 8 to this Circular; copies of relevant documents (certificates recognizing the investor issued by the competent authority; documents as stipulated in Article 12 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP; decisions approving the planning at a scale of 1/2000 and the planning drawings at a scale of 1/2000 that have been approved by the competent authority).

- Based on the investor's application documents, the Provincial People's Committee shall check and send letters seeking opinions from related Ministries in accordance with clause 3, Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP.

- On the basis of the replies from the related Ministries, the Provincial People's Committee shall be responsible for submitting two sets of documents to report to the Prime Minister (including the Provincial People's Committee's application report to the Prime Minister in the prescribed form attached as Appendix 9 to this Circular and the documents stipulated in clause 3, Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP) for the Prime Minister to examine and approve the investment orientation for the housing development project.

- After receiving the approval of the investment orientation from the Prime Minister, the Provincial People's Committee shall issue a notification document (attached with the Prime Minister's approval document for the investment orientation) for the investor to organize the preparation and submission to the competent authority for examination and approval of the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500. Subsequently, the investor shall organize the preparation of the housing development project to submit to the competent authority for examination and approval (for projects using state budget funds) or organize the examination and approval of the project (for projects using non-state budget funds).

b) For cases where a tender must be conducted to select the investor of the housing development project:

- Before issuing the tender invitation documents, the Provincial People's Committee must send documents seeking opinions from the related Ministries in accordance with point b, clause 11, Article 14 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP. After receiving the replies from the related Ministries, the Provincial People's Committee shall submit a report to the Prime Minister in the prescribed form attached as Appendix 9 to this Circular, along with the documents stipulated in point b, clause 11, Article 14 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP.

- After the Prime Minister approves the investment orientation, the Provincial People's Committee shall instruct the Department of Construction to issue the tender invitation documents and organize the tender in accordance with regulations. The bidding process and methods for selecting the investor of the housing development project shall be applied as for the case of bidding to select investors for other projects using land.

- The unit selected as the investor of the housing development project shall be responsible for preparing and submitting to the competent authority for examination and approval of the detailed planning at a scale of 1/500. Subsequently, the unit shall organize the preparation of the housing development project to submit to the competent authority for examination and approval (for projects using state budget funds) or organize the preparation, examination, and approval of the project (for projects using non-state budget funds).

3. In case a housing development project that has been approved proposes to change one of the contents of the project as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, the project investor must submit a Memorandum along with the project dossier that has already been approved, requesting the competent authority to approve the additional content of the project. For projects with 2,500 or more housing units, the project investor must submit a Memorandum along with the project dossier that has already been approved, requesting the Provincial People's Committee to consider and submit to the Prime Minister for approval of the additional content.

In cases where a second-level project investor requests to change the content of a housing development project which differs from the content of the investment approval document issued by the competent authority to the first-level project investor, the second-level project investor must have a document requesting the first-level project investor to submit a Memorandum to the competent authority to request approval of the additional project content; if within 30 days from the date of receipt of the document from the second-level project investor, the first-level project investor does not submit a Memorandum to request the competent authority to approve the additional content, then the second-level project investor has the right to directly request the competent authority to approve the additional content of the project. Upon receiving the Memorandum from the second-level project investor, the competent authority will review and issue a document approving the additional content; if it does not approve the additional content, it must issue a document clearly stating the reasons for the second-level project investor to be informed.

If the competent authority approves the additional content, the second-level project investor must send a notification letter along with a copy of the approval document to inform the first-level project investor; the change in the project content in this case must comply with the detailed planning that has been approved.

4. The time limit for the competent authority to implement procedures for approving investment or approving additional content of housing development projects as provided in this Article shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP.

5. The number of dossiers that the project investor of a housing development project must submit to the competent authority for review and approval of the project or investment approval as stipulated in Articles 5 and 6 of this Circular is two sets; in cases where the reviewing authority needs to seek opinions from related agencies, when receiving the dossier, the receiving authority may require the project investor to make additional copies (photocopies) of only the documents included in the dossier that need to be sent for opinion.

6. The Provincial People's Committee and local functional agencies, when implementing investment approval for housing development projects, must base on the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, the provisions of Resolution No. 33/2008/NQ-CP, Circular No. 30/2009/TTLT-BXD-BKH, and the provisions of this Circular; for domestic projects, they do not require the project investor to obtain an Investment Certificate, and for the second-level projects of domestic investors, they do not require additional registration for investment.

The Department of Construction is responsible for establishing a database to compile, statistically analyze, and monitor the number of housing development projects, new urban area projects, eco-tourism and resort projects with housing construction investments; the number and type of houses built in these projects; the number and type of houses and the target groups allocated under capital mobilization contracts as stipulated in Article 8 of this Circular within its jurisdiction.

Article 7. Implementation of Housing Development Projects

1. Investors (Level I and Level II) shall be responsible for implementing housing development projects in accordance with Article 8 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP. The investor must carry out investment and construction of housing in accordance with the contents and progress of the project that have been approved, in compliance with the investment approval documents issued by competent state agencies and relevant laws.

2. In cases where investors of commercial housing development projects are assigned to invest in constructing social housing within such commercial housing projects or new urban area projects, they must complete the investment and construction of social housing before completing the investment and construction of commercial housing in areas designated for social housing.

3. The provisions prohibiting investors from transferring land use rights through the sale of undeveloped land plots as stipulated in Clause 5, Article 16 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP shall apply to housing development projects, new urban area projects, eco-tourism and resort projects in cities and towns (based on administrative boundaries, regardless of urban and rural areas) or in newly planned urban areas that will become cities or towns; for other areas, investors may transfer land use rights through the sale of undeveloped land plots but must ensure the corresponding technical infrastructure systems are fully in place before signing land use right transfer contracts.

4. Upon completion of housing construction according to the project, investors must comply with the provisions of Articles 10 and 11 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP; additionally, investors must submit additional reports on the project results to the Construction Department where the housing project is located for monitoring and inspection.

Article 8. Mobilizing Capital for Commercial Housing Construction

1. If investors of housing development projects (including new urban area projects, eco-tourism and resort projects, mixed-use residential buildings) need to mobilize capital for the construction of technical infrastructure systems on land designated for housing construction and for housing construction within the project, they can only mobilize capital in accordance with the forms and conditions specified in Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP.

2. In cases where capital is mobilized through loans from credit institutions and investment funds operating in Vietnam, the loan contract signing time shall be agreed upon by the parties in accordance with banking laws, laws on credit institutions, and other related regulations.

3. In cases where capital is mobilized through the issuance of bonds, the bond issuance time and procedures shall be carried out in accordance with corporate laws and securities laws.

4. The condition regarding the clearance of the project site as stated in point a, Clause 3, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP means that when the Level I investor has completed the clearance of the land area to be transferred to the Level II investor (based on investment phases or project implementation progress), this condition is met.

5. For cases where capital is mobilized through contribution agreements, joint venture agreements, or business cooperation contracts (hereinafter referred to collectively as contribution contracts) as stipulated in points c and d, Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, the parties may agree to share profits (in cash or shares) or allocate products as housing units or both profits and housing units.

When the capital contributor is allocated housing units as products, the investor may allocate up to a maximum of 20% of the total number of commercial housing units in each project not sold through real estate trading floors (the investor may allocate all three types of housing units: villas, standalone houses, or apartment units, or one or two types of housing units). However, the contribution contract must clearly specify the number, type, area, and location of the housing units to be allocated to the capital contributors. After allocation, the remaining commercial housing units in each project must be sold, rented, or leased through real estate trading floors when the conditions set forth in points d and e, Clause 3, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP are met.

From the date Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP takes effect, within the administrative boundaries of a province or centrally-administered city, each household or individual may participate in capital contributions through the allocation of housing products (as stipulated in point c, Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP) only once, with a maximum of one housing unit (villa, standalone house, or apartment unit). For other forms of capital contributions, households and individuals can only share profits in cash or shares. If an organization participates in capital contributions to obtain housing units and then allocates these units to other households or individuals, the organization must submit a list of the recipients to the investor for the Construction Department to confirm the list in accordance with Clause 8 of this Article.

The party receiving housing units may not transfer the right to receive housing units to other organizations or individuals until a purchase contract with the investor is signed. If the recipient of the housing unit dies, the heir will continue to enjoy the right to receive the housing unit. After signing a purchase contract with the investor in accordance with Clause 2, Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, if the recipient transfers the contract or sells the housing unit to another person, they must comply with the provisions of Articles 18 and 20 of this Circular.

6. The calculation of the 20% quantity of housing units per project as stipulated in Clause 5 of this Article shall be based on the total number of commercial housing units in housing development projects or new urban area projects or eco-tourism and resort projects (Level I projects) or independent housing development projects (not Level II housing projects) as follows:

a) In cases where the project has an odd number of housing units that cannot be rounded to a whole unit for division, the developer shall round off the number after division according to the principle that if it is half a unit or more, it will be rounded up to one unit, and if less than half a unit, it will not be rounded up. For example, if a project has a total of 219 housing units and divides 20%, it results in 43.8 units, the developer may only divide a maximum of 44 units; if a project has a total of 212 housing units and divides 20%, it results in 42.4 units, the developer may only divide a maximum of 42 units.

b) In cases where the developer constructs housing units according to the project schedule (only constructing one apartment building first or only constructing one plot of housing units first according to the initial investment phase), the developer may only enter into joint venture contracts with product sharing of a maximum of 20% of the number of commercial housing units in that apartment building or plot. The developer may not enter into joint venture contracts to share before 20% of the number of housing units for other apartment buildings or plots within the project that have not yet commenced construction.

c) In cases where a Level I developer enters into a land use right transfer contract with infrastructure for a Level II developer to construct housing units, the Level II developer may only enter into joint venture contracts to share a maximum of 20% of the number of commercial housing units they invest in constructing on the transferred land area from the Level I developer, as illustrated in the following examples:

- Example 1: Enterprise A is the developer of a housing development project with a planned number of housing units approved by the project being 1,000 units (including 800 commercial housing units and 200 social housing units). According to regulations, Enterprise A may only enter into joint venture contracts to share a maximum of 160 units (20% of 800 commercial housing units).

+ In cases where Enterprise A only invests in infrastructure (after constructing the technical infrastructure system, transferring the entire land area to Level II developers), each Level II developer will be able to enter into joint venture contracts to share a maximum of 20% of the number of commercial housing units they invest in constructing on the transferred land area from the Level I developer (for example, Enterprise A transfers to four Level II enterprises B, C, D, E, each Level II enterprise will construct 200 commercial housing units, then each Level II enterprise will be able to enter into joint venture contracts to share a maximum of 40 units (20% of 200 units), the total number of housing units that can be shared through joint venture contracts by the four Level II enterprises is a maximum of 160 units, which is 20% of 800 commercial housing units).

+ In cases where Enterprise A only transfers part of the land to Enterprises B and C (Level II developers) to construct 350 commercial housing units according to the plan; the remaining land area is directly invested and constructed by Enterprise A for 450 commercial units, Enterprises B and C will be able to enter into joint venture contracts to share a maximum of 70 units (20% of 350 commercial units), Enterprise A will be able to enter into joint venture contracts to share products for participants a maximum of 90 units (20% of 450 commercial units).

+ In cases where Enterprise A enters into capital-raising contracts exceeding the value of the number of housing units allowed to be shared (assuming the total value of 160 units allowed to be shared is 160 billion VND, but Enterprise A raises 200 billion VND through joint venture, cooperative investment, and business cooperation forms), Enterprise A is still only allowed to share a maximum of 160 units (160 billion VND), the remaining 40 billion VND raised through joint venture, cooperative investment, and business cooperation must be distributed as profits (in cash or shares) to those participating in the capital raising.

- Example 2: Enterprise A is the developer of an independent housing development project (not a Level II project) with a planned number of housing units approved by the project being 200 units, Enterprise A may enter into joint venture contracts to share products with participants a maximum of 40 units.

7. In cases where, on the date Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP takes effect, the Level I developer has not sold or leased all the housing units in the project according to the laws on real estate business, the Level I developer may enter into joint venture contracts to share housing products according to Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, but the number of housing units shared with participants is only calculated based on the remaining unsold and unleased housing units through real estate trading floors, as illustrated in the following example:

Example: Enterprise A is the developer of a housing development project with a total of 800 commercial housing units planned to be constructed, of which Enterprise A has already constructed and entered into sales contracts through real estate trading floors for 400 units, leaving 400 units under construction and not yet sold, Enterprise A may only enter into joint venture contracts to share a maximum of 80 units (20% of 400 unsold commercial units).

8. In cases of capital raising with housing sharing agreements as stipulated in Clause 5 of this Article, the developer requests the Department of Construction to confirm the housing sharing according to the following provisions:

a) After signing a contract with the participant, the developer submits a request for confirmation along with a list of individuals who have signed joint venture contracts to share housing products and the project content, planning already approved, including the total number of housing units in the project submitted directly to the Department of Construction where the housing project is located.

b) Based on the developer's request, the Department of Construction is responsible for confirming the list of housing units to be shared according to the provisions of Article 9 and Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, the provisions of this Article, and the number of housing units according to the planning and project files already approved, using the model specified in Appendix 10 issued together with this Circular.

c) The maximum period for the Construction Department to confirm the list of housing allocation is 20 working days from the date of receipt of the proposal document from the project investor. In cases where, upon receiving the list proposed for confirmation, it is found that the number exceeds 20% of the total housing units as stipulated or includes individuals or households who have already been confirmed for initial allocation (counting from the effective date of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP), within seven working days from the date of receipt of the proposal document from the project investor, the Construction Department must issue a document requesting the project investor to re-determine the list of housing allocation; the time taken by the project investor to re-determine the list of housing allocation shall not be counted towards the confirmation period specified herein.

The confirmation by the Construction Department regarding the housing allocation as stipulated in this clause replaces the certificate of transaction through the real estate trading floor and serves as the legal basis for the competent authority to issue the ownership certificate for the house purchase object.

d) A household or individual who has been allocated once with one housing unit according to Clause 5 of this Article shall not be confirmed for a second housing allocation, even if the person allocated the housing unit has sold or given away the first allocated housing unit to another person; if the person allocated the housing unit has died, then the lawful heir must submit a letter along with a copy of the death certificate and a valid will or a record of inheritance distribution according to civil law or a final judgment with legal effect to the project investor to sign a new contract with the heir and request the Construction Department to reconfirm the name and address of the housing allocation recipient.

Cases of allocating more than the permitted ratio of 20%, confirming an individual or a household to be allocated multiple housing units within a province or centrally-administered city, or allowing the transfer of allocation rights before meeting the conditions stipulated in Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP are not recognized by law; organizations and individuals violating these provisions shall be subject to legal sanctions.

đ) The Construction Department is responsible for establishing a section of information on the Department's electronic portal (Website) and publicly posting information about the names, addresses of housing allocation recipients, types of housing, locations, and quantities of housing allocated on the Website within three working days from the date of confirming the allocation list to inform the public and allow them to monitor. Annually in June and December or at any urgent request, the Construction Department is responsible for compiling and reporting to the Ministry of Construction the number of housing allocation recipients and the quantity and type of housing allocated according to regulations on its territory.

9. The case where the land use right has not yet been transferred from the primary project investor to the secondary project investor as provided for in point a, Clause 3, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP refers to the situation where the secondary project investor has not yet received the handover of land from the primary project investor (no handover record exists). In such a case, the secondary project investor’s contract for capital contribution and product allocation must be agreed to in writing by the primary project investor.

When the secondary project investor sends a document to the Construction Department requesting confirmation of the list of product allocation recipients as stipulated in Clause 8 and notifying the capital raising as stipulated in Clause 11 of this Article, they must attach a copy of the handover record from the primary project investor. If there is no handover record, they must attach a copy of the written agreement from the primary project investor allowing the signing of the capital contribution and product allocation contract.

10. The construction completion of the foundation of the housing project as stipulated in point đ, Clause 3, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP applies to all types of housing (including detached houses, single-family houses, apartment units, and mixed-use housing projects). In cases where the project investor implements the top-down construction method (constructing upper floors of the housing project before constructing the foundation or the lowest floor slab) according to the approved design plan, the project investor can only sell housing after completing the construction of the first floor slab of the housing project but must have a technical acceptance record for the completion of this floor slab as required by construction laws.

The project investor is responsible for sending a copy of the technical acceptance record confirming the completion of the foundation of the housing project (stamped with the investor's confirmation seal on the copy) to the real estate trading floor so that the floor can organize the sale of housing according to the law.

11. For the cases of raising capital through the forms stipulated in points b, c, and đ, Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, at least 15 days before signing the capital-raising contract, the project investor must provide a document clearly stating the contents stipulated in point e, Clause 3, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP to notify the Construction Department (this notification is for the Construction Department to know and monitor, without requiring approval from the Construction Department to sign the contract). In cases where it is discovered that the project investor raises capital in violation of Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and this Article, the Construction Department must issue a document requesting the project investor to stop raising capital, cancel all signed capital-raising contracts, and comply with the law.

12. The capital contribution contract, joint venture contract, or business cooperation contract stipulated in Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP must clearly state the following contents: the parties involved; the form of capital raising; the amount of capital to be raised; the periods of capital raising; the profit-sharing method (in cash or shares) or by housing products, if the profit is shared in housing products, the type, location, and area of the housing products must be clearly stated; the repayment period or delivery period of housing; the rights and obligations of both parties; dispute resolution and other agreements.

13. Developers at both Level I and Level II may only enter into capital mobilization contracts for constructing residential properties in accordance with the forms and conditions stipulated in Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP. In cases where capital mobilization contracts and product distribution contracts involving residential properties are not in compliance with the provisions of Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and this provision, such contracts shall be deemed void and not recognized by law; violators will be subject to current legal regulations.

Chapter III

OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT, USE AND TRANSFER OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

Section 1

 OWNERSHIP, MANAGEMENT AND USE OF RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES

Article 9. Recognition of Ownership Rights over Residential Properties

1. The recognition of ownership rights over residential properties for organizations and individuals eligible to own residential properties in Vietnam shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Government Decree No. 88/2009/NĐ-CP dated October 19, 2009 on Issuing Land Use Right Certificates, Ownership Certificates of Residential Properties and Other Assets Attached to Land, Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, guiding documents for implementing Decree No. 88/2009/NĐ-CP, and the provisions of this Circular.

2. When applying for certificates of ownership for individual residential properties belonging to households and individuals under the provisions of Article 43 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, in addition to legal documents proving the lawful establishment of residential properties as required by laws on issuing land use right certificates, ownership certificates of residential properties and other attached assets, households and individuals must also provide the following documents:

a) For individual residential properties under the provisions of Clause 2, Article 43 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, a copy of the Construction Permit (in cases where construction requires a Construction Permit) and a copy of the Certificate of Structural Safety issued by a competent authority in accordance with construction laws must be provided;

b) For cases where ownership certificates are issued for each apartment within individual residential properties under the provisions of Clause 3, Article 43 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, a copy of the Construction Permit for that residential property (in cases where construction requires a Construction Permit) along with floor plans and apartment layout drawings drawn up either by the owner or by a competent surveying organization must be provided. In cases where the owner conducts the survey, the issuing authority must organize inspections regarding the minimum area of each apartment, common usage areas, and private usage areas as stipulated in Clause 3, Article 43 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP.

Article 10. Management and Use of Public Service Housing

1. Public service housing is state-owned housing intended for lease to specified groups as defined in the Law on Housing and Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and must be strictly managed. The entity entrusted with managing the public service housing fund is responsible for managing and collecting rent from tenants in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Housing and Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP.

2. Tenants of public service housing are responsible for using the housing for its intended purpose, maintaining the housing and accompanying assets, and paying rent in full and on time to the housing management entity as agreed upon in the lease contract.

3. The authority responsible for deciding on investment projects for developing public service housing selects the entity to manage and operate the public service housing fund.

4. The determination of rental prices for public service housing is carried out in accordance with Clause 1, Article 26 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP. Based on guidelines for determining rental prices for public service housing, the Department of Construction establishes and submits a framework of rental prices for public service housing for approval by the People's Committee of the province for uniform application in the region. On the basis of the framework price set by the provincial People's Committee, the entity entrusted with managing and operating the public service housing fund requests the investment decision-maker to approve the rental prices for the public service housing it manages.

5. The management and use of public service housing shall be implemented in accordance with specific guidelines issued by the Ministry of Construction.

Article 11. Management and use of social housing funded by non-state budget sources

1. Social housing funded by non-state budget sources may be sold, rented, or leased for rent-purchase according to the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and related legal documents on the development of housing for students and trainees at educational institutions, workers in industrial zones, and low-income individuals in urban areas.

The selection of eligible buyers, renters, and lease-purchasers of social housing and the management and operation of such housing as stipulated in this Article shall be carried out in accordance with Circular No. 36/2009/TT-BXD dated November 16, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction, guiding the sale, rental, lease-purchase, and management and use of housing for low-income individuals in urban areas.

2. The project investors developing social housing as stipulated in this Article may use model designs and typical designs for social housing in accordance with Circular No. 14/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction, concerning typical designs and model designs for student housing, worker housing, and housing for low-income individuals.

3. The methods for determining the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing shall be implemented in accordance with Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction, concerning the methods for determining the rental price for student housing and worker housing, the selling price, and the rental price for housing for low-income individuals.

4. Based on the guidance provided by the Ministry of Construction regarding pricing methods, the investor shall establish the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing and submit them to the People's Committee of the province where the project is located for review. Within thirty days from the date of receipt of the proposal for price review submitted by the investor, the People's Committee of the province shall organize the review and issue a review document to the investor, clearly stating the agreed contents and the contents requiring revision.

The Department of Construction or specialized agencies of the province, under the direction of the People's Committee of the province, shall assist the People's Committee of the province in reviewing the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing established by the investor. Based on the review document of the People's Committee of the province, the investor shall issue the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing applicable to the housing they have invested in constructing.

If the People's Committee of the province does not issue a review document within thirty days, the investor has the right to issue the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing they have invested in constructing. The investor shall send one copy of the price list they have issued to the People's Committee of the province.

From the effective date of this Circular, the People's Committee of the province shall only organize reviews and issue review documents to the investor (without approval) regarding the rental price for student housing, worker housing, and housing for low-income individuals, the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price for housing for low-income individuals in projects funded by non-state budget sources.

5. When reviewing for loan disbursement for the construction of social housing, credit organizations shall base their decisions solely on the content of the project dossier; if there is no review opinion on the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing from the People's Committee of the province, they shall base their decisions on the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing established by the investor in accordance with the pricing methods guided by the Ministry of Construction.

Article 12. Management and use of apartment buildings; management and use of villa houses in urban areas

1. The management and use of apartment buildings shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Housing, Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and Decision No. 08/2008/QD-BXD dated May 28, 2008 of the Ministry of Construction on promulgating the Regulation on the management and use of apartment buildings.

2. The management and use of villa houses in urban areas shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and Circular No. 38/2009/TT-BXD dated December 8, 2009 of the Ministry of Construction guiding the management and use of villa houses in urban areas.

Article 13. Construction and management of individual residential houses for households and individuals

1. Households and individuals when constructing individual residential houses must comply with the provisions of Articles 41, 42, 43, and 44 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and the laws on construction.

2. In cases where households and individuals construct individual residential houses that meet the requirements stipulated in Clause 3, Article 43 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP when selling separate units, they will be considered and granted Certificates of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Houses and Other Assets Attached to Land for each unit by competent state authorities. After completing the sale of units and processing the ownership certificate for the buyer, the land use rights (including the premises) of the entire building become the common land use rights of the owners of the units according to the regulations on land use rights for apartment buildings with multiple owners.

3. The sale and lease of units as provided in Clause 2 of this Article do not necessarily have to go through real estate trading floors, but the purchase and sale contracts must be certified by a notary or authenticated by an authorized agency to be legally valid.

The contents of the purchase and sale, lease contracts of units, in addition to complying with the provisions of Article 63 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and Article 21 of this Circular, must also clearly record the following additional information: the area belonging to individual ownership and the area belonging to common ownership of the unit owners; the floor area of the unit (expressed according to the method of recording the floor area of apartment units as stipulated in Clause 2, Article 21 of this Circular); the land use area of the building, including the area of the premises (if any) which belong to the common land use rights of the buyers; the responsibility for paying related costs during the use of the house (if any), for service fees, they may not exceed the ceiling price set by the provincial People's Committee, except in cases where the parties agree otherwise. The seller has the responsibility to warranty the unit in accordance with the provisions of Article 46 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP.

4. The management of housing with common ownership of multiple owners, housing used by multiple households and individuals in urban areas shall be carried out in accordance with the Regulation on the Management and Use of Common Housing in Urban Areas issued by the Ministry of Construction.

Section 2

 MANAGEMENT AND USE OF SOCIAL HOUSING BUILT WITH FUNDS FROM THE STATE BUDGET

Article 14. Approval of eligible tenants for social housing built with funds from the state budget

1. Eligible tenants for social housing built with funds from the state budget must submit an application form and confirmation letter according to the model attached as Appendices 01, 01a, 01b to Circular No. 36/2009/TT-BXD dated November 16, 2009 of the Ministry of Construction guiding the sale, lease, lease-purchase and management of housing for low-income people in urban areas, and directly submit it to the Department of Construction where the social housing is located.

For those who have returned public service housing as stipulated in Point a, Clause 6, Article 30 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, only an application form with confirmation from the public service housing management agency about the return of the public service housing is required.

2. Based on the application for renting social housing and the confirmation as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article, the Department of Construction shall check and compare with the provisions on eligible tenants and conditions for renting social housing as stipulated in Article 37, Clause 1, Article 38 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and the actual social housing fund of the locality to propose solutions to the provincial People's Committee.

3. The criteria for approving eligible tenants for social housing shall be implemented in accordance with the guidance provided in Article 5 of Circular No. 36/2009/TT-BXD dated November 16, 2009 of the Ministry of Construction on guiding the sale, lease, lease-purchase and management of housing for low-income people in urban areas.

4. Those eligible to buy, rent, or lease-purchase social housing must have a monthly average income that does not fall within the taxable income range under the personal income tax law.

The criteria stipulated in this clause apply to both those eligible to buy, rent, or lease-purchase social housing and low-income housing built with non-state budget funds, replacing the income standard stipulated in Clause 4, Article 4 of Circular No. 36/2009/TT-BXD dated November 16, 2009 of the Ministry of Construction guiding the sale, lease, lease-purchase and management of housing for low-income people in urban areas.

5. The Department of Construction shall be responsible for establishing the criteria for approving eligible tenants for social housing as stipulated in Clause 3 of this Article to be issued by the provincial People's Committee; these criteria must be publicly announced on local mass media, on the website of the provincial People's Committee and the Department of Construction where the project is located.

Article 15. Contents of costs constituting the rental price for social housing constructed using state budget funds

The contents of costs constituting the rental price for social housing constructed using state budget funds include:

1. Construction investment costs: all lawful costs incurred to implement the construction of housing projects for operation and use according to current regulations on project management and construction approved by competent authorities at the time of handover for operation and use.

2. Housing management and operation costs:

Point a) Wages and allowances, social insurance, health insurance, and other deductions from the salary fund for the staff of the housing management unit.

Wages are determined based on the staffing level of employees and current national regulations on salary levels, allowances, and other deductions from the salary fund.

b) Costs for services within the housing area such as security, cleaning, waste collection, garden maintenance, pest control, and other services (if any), determined based on the volume of work required and the agreed service contract terms.

Point c) Office supplies, office furniture, tools, and inexpensive consumables of the housing management unit.

Point d) Electricity and water costs for the management unit's office operations; public lighting in the housing area; elevator operation (if any).

d) Depreciation costs of fixed assets of the management and operation unit such as cars, computers, photocopiers, and other assets. Management and use of depreciation of fixed assets shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Ministry of Finance.

3. Maintenance costs: all costs for routine maintenance, minor repairs, medium repairs, major repairs, and emergency repairs to maintain the quality of the housing. Maintenance costs for housing construction projects are calculated and determined by the investor based on the rental pricing structure for social housing as stipulated in Article 16 of this Circular.

Maintenance funds for housing construction projects are deducted from rental income (based on the pricing structure specified in Article 16 of this Circular) and deposited into a separate commercial bank account with an interest rate of no notice period managed by the housing management and operation unit to serve maintenance activities in accordance with construction maintenance regulations.

Article 16. Method for determining the rental price for social housing constructed using state budget funds

1. The formula for determination:

Where:

- Gt: rental price per square meter of apartment usage for one month (VND/m²/month)²: annual allocation of construction investment costs under the principle of capital preservation (VND/year).

- V (VND/year): is the total investment capital allocated annually for the usable area of social housing for rent, ensuring the preservation of capital, calculated according to the following formula:_đx r(1+r)

Determination Formula V_đ:

+ T_đ + r: capital preservation interest rate decided by the authorized investment decision-maker (annual percentage).

+ n: number of years for capital recovery depending on specific conditions of each project and the authorized investment decision-maker, but not less than 20 years.

: annual management and operation costs (VND/year).

- Q₁ : revenue from operating services within the housing area in the year such as parking services, cafeteria services, and other revenues (if any) from sports activities (VND/year).

Ministry of Construction sets specific price_{organize credit institutions, foreign bank branches are responsible for organizing the implementation of this Circular.} : is the average annual maintenance cost of the project (VND/year).

- T_dv - S: total usable area of rented apartments in the project (m²).

- K: floor height allocation coefficient under the principle of capital preservation, as illustrated below: for a five-story residential building, it may be allocated as follows: K1 = 1.2; K2 = 1.1; K3 = 1.0; K4 = 0.9; K5 = 0.8.

- L: location coefficient of the project, determined based on the project's advantageous location and having a value ≥1.

- Number 12: number of months in one year.

The provision regarding the coefficient K stipulated in this Article replaces the provisions on the coefficient K stipulated in Articles 5, 6, and 7 of Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction, and replaces the provisions on the coefficient K stipulated in Article 4 of Circular No. 17/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction.

2. Based on the guidance on the contents of costs constituting the rental price for social housing stipulated in Article 15 of this Circular and the method for determining the rental price for social housing stipulated in this Article, the Department of Construction shall establish and submit to the People's Committee of the province for issuance the rental price for social housing constructed using state budget funds to be uniformly applied in the locality.

For student housing constructed using state budget funds, the determination of the rental price shall be carried out in accordance with the guidelines set forth in Circular No. 17/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction on the method for determining the rental price for student housing constructed using state budget funds.

For student housing constructed with state budget funds, the determination of rental prices for such housing shall be carried out in accordance with the guidelines set forth in Circular No. 17/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, of the Ministry of Construction regarding the method for determining rental prices for student housing built with state budget funds.

Article 17. Management and use of social housing funded by state budget

1. The State shall invest in building social housing for lease in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and the provisions of this Circular.

2. The management and operation of social housing funded by the state budget must comply with the following principles:

a) The selection of units to manage and operate social housing shall be carried out on the principle of hiring units with the function of managing and operating housing to manage and operate social housing;

b) Units entrusted with managing and operating social housing have the responsibility to strictly manage the housing fund; the managing and operating unit and the tenant may not arbitrarily change the purpose of use or transfer the housing under any form;

c) Activities of leasing and managing and operating social housing shall enjoy mechanisms similar to those for public services as guided by the Ministry of Finance;

d) The rental price of social housing shall cover all costs for recovering investment capital, maintenance, and management and operation of housing, and shall be issued by the People's Committee of the province in accordance with the guidance provided in Articles 15 and 16 of this Circular;

đ) The managing and operating unit of social housing may engage in business activities in other areas within the social housing complex to offset additional management and operation costs;

e) For social housing in the form of apartment buildings, the management and operation of such housing shall be carried out in accordance with the guidance provided in Circular No. 36/2009/TT-BXD dated November 16, 2009, of the Ministry of Construction regarding the sale, lease, lease-purchase, and management and use of housing for low-income people in urban areas;

In the case of student housing, the management and operation shall be carried out in accordance with the guidance provided in Circular No. 13/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, of the Ministry of Construction regarding the leasing and management of student housing and industrial zone workers' housing;

3. Based on the provisions of Section 3 Chapter II of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and the provisions of this Article, the Department of Construction shall be responsible for drafting and submitting to the People's Committee of the province for promulgation of the Regulation on the management of social housing funded by the state budget to be uniformly applied within its jurisdiction;

Section 3

REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS

Article 18. Real estate transactions through real estate trading floors

1. The sale, lease, and lease-purchase of commercial housing by real estate businesses must be conducted through real estate trading floors in accordance with the provisions of Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP and laws on real estate business, except in cases where the developer raises funds through the forms prescribed in points a, b, c, and d of Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP;

For commercial housing of real estate businesses in provinces and centrally-administered cities that already have real estate trading floors (regardless of the source of housing creation), if they do not conduct sales, leases, or lease-purchases through the trading floor as required by Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, laws on real estate business, and the provisions of this Article, then the signed contracts will not have legal validity; in the case of purchase or lease-purchase of housing, the buyer or lessee will not be granted ownership certificates for the housing by the State;

The developer is responsible for submitting to the real estate trading floor one set of legal documents proving that the commercial housing meets the conditions for trading through the trading floor, including copies of the following documents: recognition documents of the project developer issued by competent authorities; decisions approving the master plan and detailed planning drawings at a scale of 1/500 or the overall site plan of the project (in cases where a 1/500 scale plan is not required); decision approving the project; decision allocating land or leasing land or certificate of land use rights issued for the entire project; construction permit for housing requiring a construction permit; design drawings of each type of housing for sale, lease, or lease-purchase that has been approved; technical acceptance record confirming the completion of the foundation of the housing project in accordance with Clause 10, Article 8 of this Circular;

For social housing built for sale, lease, or lease-purchase to the subjects specified in Article 37 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, there is no need to go through the real estate trading floor transaction procedures but shall be carried out in accordance with the regulations on the sale, lease, and lease-purchase of social housing;

2. Real estate trading floors shall not participate in investment or business in housing, nor shall they purchase housing from developers to resell to others; they shall only organize the sale, lease, and lease-purchase of housing according to the authorization of enterprises with housing and carry out real estate service business in accordance with the provisions of the law on real estate business. Real estate trading floors may be authorized by commercial housing project developers to seek investment partners in the forms prescribed in Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP.

In the case where the real estate trading floor is not established by the project investor (not directly affiliated with the project investor), the project investor and the real estate trading floor must execute a power of attorney contract for selling, leasing, or lease-purchase of housing through the trading floor; if the real estate trading floor is established by the project investor (directly affiliated with the project investor), the project investor shall issue a power of attorney document to authorize the trading floor to sell, lease, or lease-purchase housing developed by itself (this document replaces the power of attorney contract). The power of attorney contract for selling, leasing, or lease-purchasing housing through the trading floor must clearly specify the following contents: type of housing, quantity, location of housing sold, leased, or lease-purchased; price of sale, rental, or lease-purchase for each type of housing; method of sale, lease, or lease-purchase of housing (by lottery or auction); registration period for purchasing, leasing, or lease-purchasing housing; transaction fees for buying, renting, or lease-purchasing housing through the trading floor; time limit for publicly announcing the sale, lease, or lease-purchase of housing at the trading floor and on local mass media; timing of organizing the sale, lease, or lease-purchase of housing; responsibilities of the parties and other relevant information about the housing sold, leased, or lease-purchased in accordance with the laws on real estate business. The parties must perform the power of attorney according to the model contract and power of attorney for selling, leasing, or lease-purchasing commercial housing through the real estate trading floor prescribed in Appendix 11 issued together with this Circular.

3. The real estate trading floor must publicly display the following documents at the trading floor: the sales, lease, or lease-purchase power of attorney contract or document; the price list for selling, leasing, or lease-purchasing commercial housing stamped with the confirmation seal of the project investor and the technical acceptance certificate indicating that the foundation of the housing construction project has been completed, provided by the project investor; the real estate trading floor is responsible for providing complete and accurate information and legal documents related to the housing being sold, leased, or lease-purchased to organizations and individuals who have a need to participate in transactions at the trading floor.

4. The real estate trading floor may only organize the sale of housing based on signed contracts or power of attorney documents with enterprises having housing and after the project investor has completed the foundation of the housing construction project (as indicated in the technical acceptance certificate) as stipulated in Point d Clause 3 Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and Clause 10 Article 8 of this Circular.

5. Only after completing the procedures for selling housing through the real estate trading floor (the buyer of housing has been issued a transaction confirmation certificate by the real estate trading floor in accordance with the laws on real estate business) and after notifying the Construction Department of the locality where the real estate is located as required by Point e Clause 3 Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP can the enterprise with housing sign a purchase and sale contract with the buyer of housing. For cases of leasing or lease-purchasing commercial housing, the project investor may only authorize transactions through the real estate trading floor and sign lease or lease-purchase contracts when the housing has been completed (the project investor has been issued a certificate of ownership of the housing or has a completion certificate of the housing construction project in accordance with the laws on construction).

If the sale, lease, or lease-purchase of commercial housing does not comply with the provisions of Article 9 and Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, the provisions of this Article, and the laws on real estate business, then the signed contract will have no legal validity; the violator will be handled according to the law, and if damage is caused, compensation must be made to the aggrieved party. If the real estate trading floor fails to comply with the provisions of this Article, it will have its business registration certificate revoked in the field of real estate trading floor business and will be subject to penalties under current laws.

When the Construction Department or competent authority discovers that the real estate trading floor violates the regulations on selling, leasing, or lease-purchasing commercial housing through the trading floor, they have the right to request the issuing authority to revoke the business registration certificate in the field of real estate trading floor business and issue a report to the Ministry of Construction to remove the name of the real estate trading floor from the website of the Vietnam Real Estate Trading Floor Network.

6. In the case where an organization or individual has purchased housing through a real estate trading floor or has been allocated housing in accordance with Article 9 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and then resells that housing to another person, they must comply with the provisions of Clause 3 Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP. For households, individuals, or organizations without real estate business functions who resell housing to other organizations or individuals, they must also comply with the following provisions:

a) If they have already taken possession of the housing from the project investor, they must follow the procedures stipulated by the Law on Housing and civil law (the seller must have a certificate of ownership of the housing issued by the competent authority, both parties must establish a housing purchase and sale contract and pay taxes to the State as prescribed);

b) If they have not yet taken possession of the housing from the project investor, they are permitted to transfer the housing purchase and sale contract in accordance with Clause 1 Article 20 of this Circular without necessarily going through the real estate trading floor.

7. Every three months and in December each year, or upon urgent request, the real estate trading floor is responsible for compiling and reporting to the Construction Department where it operates the number of commercial housing transactions through the trading floor (sales, leases, lease-purchases), the location of the housing traded, and the name of the project investor authorizing the trading floor to handle transactions. The Construction Department is responsible for compiling and reporting to the Ministry of Construction the results of transactions through the trading floor as required by this clause or upon urgent request.

Article 19. Transactions concerning residential properties of overseas Vietnamese and foreign organizations and individuals in Vietnam

1. Overseas Vietnamese who engage in buying, receiving gifts, exchanging, inheriting residential properties or transferring land use rights to construct residential properties in commercial housing development projects in Vietnam (in cases where the transfer of land use rights is permitted through the sale of land plots for households or individuals to build their own houses according to the provisions of the law on land) must have documents proving that they belong to the specified categories and meet the conditions to own residential properties in Vietnam as stipulated in Articles 66 and 67 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP.

Overseas Vietnamese only need to have documents proving permission to reside in Vietnam as stipulated in Article 67 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP to meet the residency condition to be entitled to own residential properties in Vietnam, without requiring actual residence time (continuous or cumulative residence) of at least three months in Vietnam to own residential properties.

2. In cases where overseas Vietnamese do not belong to the specified categories or do not meet the conditions to own residential properties in Vietnam if they are given or inherit residential properties in Vietnam, they are entitled to gift such residential properties to other subjects entitled to own residential properties in Vietnam or sell such residential properties to enjoy the value thereof. The procedure for selling residential properties to enjoy the value is carried out in accordance with the provisions of Article 72 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP.

3. The confirmation of persons with special expertise and skills as provided for in point b, Clause 2, Article 66 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP shall be implemented based on the following principles:

a) In cases where special expertise and skills are included in the list of occupations prescribed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam, persons with special expertise and skills are those with the highest level of skill as defined by the issuing authority of the skill certificate.

Persons with special expertise and skills must submit a request for issuance of a confirmation certificate along with a certified copy of the highest level skill certificate to the association or professional organization of Vietnam to obtain the confirmation certificate; in cases where there is no association or professional organization in the field requested, the application should be submitted to the ministry responsible for the field to obtain the confirmation.

b) In cases where special expertise and skills are not included in the list of occupations prescribed by the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs of Vietnam, after receiving the application, the association or professional organization of Vietnam (if there is an association or professional organization) or the ministry responsible for the field (if there is no association or professional organization) will base the issuance of the confirmation certificate on the criteria and requirements for special expertise and skills set by the association or professional organization of Vietnam or by the ministry responsible for the field, or inform the applicant of the reasons (if the certificate is not issued).

Associations and professional organizations of Vietnam authorized to issue confirmation certificates for persons with special expertise and skills as provided for in point b, Clause 2, Article 66 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP are associations and professional organizations established in accordance with Vietnamese law and currently operating legally in Vietnam.

4. The People's Committee of the district when issuing Land Use Right Certificate, House Ownership Certificate and Certificates for Other Assets Attached to Land or when processing procedures to transfer house ownership to overseas Vietnamese entitled to own one residential property in Vietnam must report to the Ministry of Construction in the format prescribed in Appendix 12 and Appendix 13 attached hereto for the Ministry of Construction to manage the ownership of one residential property in Vietnam as stipulated in Article 68 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP.

5. Foreign organizations and individuals when purchasing residential properties in Vietnam must comply with the provisions of Resolution No. 19/2008/QH12 dated June 3, 2008 of the National Assembly on piloting the purchase and ownership of residential properties by foreign organizations and individuals in Vietnam and Government Decree No. 51/2009/ND-CP dated June 3, 2009 guiding the implementation of this resolution.

The procedures for issuing Land Use Right Certificate, House Ownership Certificate and Certificates for Other Assets Attached to Land for subjects entitled to own residential properties in Vietnam as stipulated herein shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law on issuing Land Use Right Certificate, House Ownership Certificate and Certificates for Other Assets Attached to Land.

Article 20. Handling cases of transfer of purchase and sale contracts for housing in residential development projects, new urban area projects, ecological tourism and resort projects

1. In cases where households, individuals, or organizations without real estate business functions transfer purchase and sale contracts for future housing after the effective date of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP, the following provisions shall be implemented:

a) The parties must establish a contract transfer document to be certified by a notary office according to the model specified in Appendix 14 attached to this Circular. When requesting certification, the parties must present the purchase and sale contract signed with the developer; if transferring from the second time onwards, they must present the contract transfer document from the previous transfer;

b) Based on the contract transfer document established in accordance with point a of this clause, one of the two parties, as agreed, must submit copies of relevant documents (including the contract transfer document; copies of receipts for capital contributions and house purchase payments made to the developer, and copies of the purchase and sale contract signed with the developer) to the tax authority to process income tax collection in accordance with the law. If the contract transfer is exempted from income tax, a certificate of income tax exemption issued by the tax authority must be provided;

c) After paying taxes as prescribed, the party receiving the contract transfer must submit a set of documents for contract transfer application (including: copies of income tax receipts or certificates proving income tax exemption issued by the tax authority; copies of the purchase and sale contract signed with the developer, and the original contract transfer document certified by the notary) to the developer for confirmation on the contract transfer document. Within a maximum period of five working days from the date of receipt of the application documents from the party receiving the contract transfer, the developer is responsible for confirming the contract transfer document and returning it to the party receiving the contract transfer. The developer shall not charge any fees for this contract transfer;

From the date the developer confirms the contract transfer document, the developer terminates transactions with the party transferring the contract and directly transacts with the party receiving the contract transfer; the party receiving the contract transfer continues to perform the rights and obligations of the transferring party under the purchase and sale contract signed with the developer and is considered the buyer of the house from the date the developer confirms the contract transfer document;

d) In cases of multiple transfers of purchase and sale contracts for houses, starting from the second transfer onwards, all parties must follow the procedures stipulated in points a, b, and c of this clause. The party receiving the contract transfer at each subsequent stage has the responsibility to accept and retain relevant documents related to previous contract transfers;

đ) The final party receiving the contract transfer (which is an organization or individual applying to the competent state agency for a certificate of ownership of the house) shall be named in the Certificate of Land Use Right, House Ownership, and Other Assets Attached to the Land. When processing the issuance of the house ownership certificate, in addition to the documents required by the law on issuing land use right certificates, house ownership certificates, and other assets attached to the land, the developer (or the organization or individual applying for the certificate) must submit to the issuing authority the documents related to the contract transfer as follows:

- The purchase and sale contract signed between the developer and the first buyer;

- Documents confirming transaction through the real estate trading floor (for houses in provinces and centrally-administered cities that have real estate trading floors) or confirmation of house allocation by the Construction Department (in cases of house allocation) of the first buyer;

- The contract transfer document certified by a notary, confirmed by the developer, and accompanied by income tax payment receipts as prescribed or certificates confirming exemption from income tax as prescribed;

In cases of multiple transfers of purchase and sale contracts for houses, the final applicant for the ownership certificate must submit the contract transfer documents and tax receipts from previous transfers or certificates confirming exemption from income tax to the competent authority issuing the certificate according to the guidance provided below:

Example: Mr. B signs a purchase and sale contract for housing with Company A in the form of purchasing future housing, during the period before receiving the handover of the house, Mr. B transfers this purchase and sale contract to Mr. C, then Mr. B and Mr. C must go through the notarization procedure for the contract transfer document, Mr. B pays income tax (if applicable), and then requests Company A to confirm the contract transfer document according to the provisions of points a, b, and c of this clause; if Mr. C transfers the contract again to Mr. D and Mr. D transfers it further to Mr. E (E being the final transferee), then at each transfer, the parties must follow the above procedures;

When Company A (or Mr. E) goes through the procedure for issuing the ownership certificate for the house, it must submit relevant documents related to the contract transfer to the issuing authority: the purchase and sale contract signed between Company A and Mr. B; three contract transfer documents certified by a notary and confirmed by the developer, along with three income tax payment receipts (or certificates of tax exemption issued by the tax authority) for the three transfers (between B and C, between C and D, between D and E); confirmation of transaction through the trading floor between Company A and Mr. B (for houses in provinces and centrally-administered cities that have real estate trading floors) or confirmation of house allocation by the Construction Department for cases where Mr. B was allocated a house product by Company A.

2. In the case where a household, individual has received the transfer of a purchase and sale contract for a future residential property before the effective date of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, the transfer contracts must be confirmed by the People's Committee of the commune, ward, town where the housing project is located. If there is no confirmation, the People's Committee of the commune, ward, town shall publicly post at their office within sixty days from the date of receiving the application for issuance of the ownership certificate from the final transferee; if there is no dispute over the property beyond this period, the People's Committee of the commune, ward, town shall confirm the absence of disputes to allow the competent authority to issue the ownership certificate to the final transferee.

Prior to being issued the ownership certificate for the residential property, all parties must fulfill their financial obligations to the State in accordance with the provisions of the law.

3. In the case where a real estate business has purchased a residential property through a real estate trading floor or participated in capital contribution with the developer to obtain a share of the residential property and then sells it again, they must comply with the following regulations:

a) If the real estate business receives a share of the residential property according to a capital contribution contract or a joint venture investment contract, it can only sell the residential property after signing a purchase and sale contract with the developer in accordance with Clause 2, Article 60 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP;

b) The real estate business must sell the residential property through a real estate trading floor in accordance with this Circular and the laws on real estate business (regardless of whether the residential property has been handed over by the developer or not). When selling the residential property through a real estate trading floor, the real estate business must provide the trading floor with copies of the following documents:

- Purchase and sale contract for the residential property signed with the developer;

- Confirmation from the Construction Department where the residential property is located (for cases where the residential property is obtained through allocation) or a certificate confirming the transaction through the real estate trading floor (for cases where the residential property is sold through the trading floor);

- Documentation about the residential property provided by the developer;

- Receipts for payment of the purchase price of the residential property to the developer;

- Handover record of the residential property (if already received from the developer).

c) Individuals or entities that have purchased a residential property from a real estate business in accordance with this clause and then resell it to another person must comply with the following regulations:

- If they are households, individuals, or organizations without the function of real estate business and have received the handover of the residential property from the seller, they must follow the procedures for purchasing and selling residential properties as stipulated in point a, Clause 6, Article 18 of this Circular. If they have not yet received the handover of the residential property from the seller, they must follow the procedures for transferring the purchase and sale contract for the residential property as stipulated in Clause 1 of this Article;

- If they are real estate businesses, they must follow the procedures for selling residential properties as stipulated in this clause.

Article 21. Contracts concerning residential properties

1. Transactions concerning residential properties must be documented in writing (referred to as contracts concerning residential properties) containing the contents prescribed in Article 93 of the Law on Housing, Civil Code, Clause 63 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, and conforming to the models and contents of contracts prescribed in the appendices attached to this Circular.

2. For contracts for the sale of condominium units, in addition to the contents prescribed in Clause 1 of this Article, the following additional contents must also be clearly recorded: common area, private area belonging to the owner of the condominium unit; the floor area of the sold condominium unit (determined based on the principle of measuring the clear dimensions of the unit or from the centerline of the walls separating the units); maintenance fee of 2% of the sale price; anticipated contributions for management and operation of the condominium building; adjustment principles for contribution fees not exceeding the ceiling price set by the provincial People's Committee where the residential property is located, except in cases where the parties agree otherwise. Accompanying the contract for the sale of a condominium unit is the Management and Usage Regulations for the Condominium Building issued by the developer and a list of construction materials inside and outside the unit.

3. Notarization and certification of contracts concerning residential properties shall be carried out in accordance with the laws on notarization, the Law on Housing, Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, civil laws, and the provisions of this Circular.

In the case of delegating management, use, supervision of residential properties, or delegating the sale, lease, lease-purchase, gift of residential properties (or delegating the disposition of residential properties), the delegator may only establish a delegation document and the competent authority may only notarize or certify such delegation when the residential property has been completed (the delegator has one of the following documents: ownership certificate for the residential property; handover record of the residential property or completion record of the residential construction project in accordance with the construction law).

4. The models of contracts concerning residential properties are specified as follows: the purchase and sale contract for residential properties is specified in Appendix 15, the purchase and sale contract for commercial condominium units is specified in Appendix 16, the rental contract for commercial residential properties is specified in Appendix 17, the rental contract for public service residential properties is specified in Appendix 18, the rental contract for social residential properties applicable to the subjects specified in Clauses 1, 2, and 4 of Article 37 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP is specified in Appendix 19, the lease-purchase contract for social residential properties applicable to the subjects specified in Clauses 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Article 37 of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP is specified in Appendix 20, the gift contract for residential properties is specified in Appendix 21, and the exchange contract for residential properties is specified in Appendix 22 attached to this Circular.

As for student housing rental contracts and industrial zone worker housing rental contracts, they shall be implemented according to the model guidelines set forth in Circular No. 13/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction on renting and managing student housing and industrial zone worker housing. For low-income household apartment purchase contracts, apartment rental contracts, and low-income household apartment lease-purchase contracts, they shall be implemented according to the model guidelines set forth in Circular No. 36/2009/TT-BXD dated November 16, 2009, issued by the Ministry of Construction on selling, renting, lease-purchasing, and managing the use of housing for low-income households in urban areas.

As for other housing contract models and contents not specified in this Circular, they shall be established in accordance with the provisions of civil law and other relevant laws.

Chapter IV

STATE MANAGEMENT OF HOUSING

Article 22. Storage and management of housing records

1. Housing records are stored and managed in accordance with the documents stipulated in Article 66 of the Law on Housing and Article 76 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP.

2. The person responsible for establishing housing records is the owner or the current manager/user of the housing if the owner cannot be identified.

3. The agencies responsible for storing and managing housing records are as follows:

a) The Department of Construction is responsible for storing and managing housing records of organizations; housing of overseas Vietnamese who implement investment projects to build housing in Vietnam; housing of foreign individuals purchased in accordance with the law; and housing under the common ownership of organizations and individuals.

b) The district-level agency responsible for housing management is responsible for storing and managing housing records of domestic individuals; housing of overseas Vietnamese who own housing attached to residential land use rights in Vietnam when participating in housing transactions.

4. The content of storing and managing housing records includes:

a) Storing and managing housing records in accordance with the legal regulations on record storage.

b) Establishing a database to manage housing records using a computer network system to serve statistical purposes, reporting results, and serving housing management requirements.

c) The agency responsible for storing and managing housing records must provide housing data to related agencies upon request in accordance with Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP.

Article 23. Training and professional development in housing development, management, and real estate market

1. Training and professional development for officials and civil servants working in the field of housing development, management, and real estate market, and individuals working in enterprises engaged in condominium management operations shall be carried out in accordance with Article 78 of Decree No. 71/2010/NĐ-CP.

2. The content of training and professional development for officials and civil servants working in the housing and real estate market field includes:

a) Developing programs and plans for housing development;

b) Selecting project developers for housing development projects;

c) Preparing, reviewing, approving, and endorsing housing development project investments;

d) Managing housing projects and condominiums post-investment;

đ) Managing maintenance, renovation, and demolition of housing;

e) Managing sales, rentals, and lease-purchases of social housing and public service housing;

g) Establishing and managing the Housing Development Fund and Housing Savings Fund (if applicable);

h) Organizing surveys, statistics, and building databases on housing;

i) Managing housing transactions, real estate business activities, and housing-related public services;

k) Responsibilities of state management agencies at all levels in the housing sector.

3. Based on the training content stipulated in Clause 2 of this Article, the Urban Construction Management Academy under the Ministry of Construction shall be responsible for coordinating with the Real Estate Market Management Agency under the Ministry of Construction to develop specific training plans, contents, and programs, which will be incorporated into the general training and knowledge enhancement program for construction officials and civil servants to be submitted to the Minister of Construction for approval.

Based on the training plans and programs of the Ministry of Construction, local Departments of Construction shall be responsible for developing training plans and budgets for officials and civil servants working in the housing and real estate market field in their respective localities (including commune, district, and provincial level officials) to be submitted to the Provincial People's Committee Chairman for decision-making and implementation according to the approved training program by the Ministry of Construction.

4. Regarding training and professional development in the management and operation of condominiums for individuals working in enterprises involved in condominium management operations (including mixed-use residential buildings), the Real Estate Market Management Agency under the Ministry of Construction shall be responsible for coordinating with relevant units under the Ministry of Construction to compile training programs and contents to be submitted to the Ministry of Construction for approval, serving as the basis for training and issuing Certificates of Completion for specialized knowledge and skills in condominium management operations for the subjects specified in this clause.

Individuals currently working in enterprises involved in condominium management operations must attend training courses: members of the enterprise's management board, heads of technical, security, protection, fire safety, environmental hygiene teams, and shift leaders of condominium operations. By no later than July 1, 2012, individuals within the scope specified in this clause must complete the training course and obtain a Certificate of Completion for specialized knowledge and skills in condominium management operations; if these individuals fail to obtain the certificate within the prescribed timeframe, they and their enterprises will not be allowed to participate in condominium management operations. It is encouraged for other individuals not covered by this clause to also participate in this training course.

5. Lecturers participating in teaching, training, and enhancing knowledge on housing and real estate market as stipulated in this Article must be individuals with professional expertise, understanding of policies and laws related to housing and the real estate market, experience in managing housing and the real estate market, experience in managing condominiums, and pedagogical qualifications for teaching. Only training institutions that meet the conditions specified by the Ministry of Construction shall be permitted to participate in training and enhancing knowledge in the field of housing and the real estate market as stipulated in this Article.

6. The training and enhancement costs as stipulated in this Article shall be implemented according to the following provisions:

a) Agencies and organizations sending personnel to attend courses and individuals requiring training shall be responsible for paying the training fees to the training institution;

b) In cases where the trainees are civil servants of agencies and organizations receiving salaries from the state budget, the training costs of the trainees shall be deducted from the budget allocated to those agencies and organizations.

Chapter V

EFFECTIVE DATE OF IMPLEMENTATION

Article 24. Responsibilities of the People's Committees of Provinces

1. Based on the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and the Operational Regulations of the Central Steering Committee on Housing Policy and Real Estate Market, the People's Committee of the province shall establish the Provincial Steering Committee on Housing Policy and Real Estate Market and the Expert Groups assisting the Provincial Steering Committee.

2. Organize staffing and allocate sufficient civil servants to effectively manage and develop housing in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Housing, Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, and this Circular.

3. Direct the Department of Construction to perform the following tasks:

a) Coordinate with local functional agencies to develop the Housing Development Program for a five-year period or longer, report to the People's Committee of the province for consideration, and submit to the Provincial People's Council for approval. For centrally-administered cities, after the City People's Council approves, the City People's Committee must submit the Housing Development Program of the locality to the Prime Minister for approval before implementation;

b) Develop programs and plans for training and briefing on professional and vocational matters in the field of housing and the real estate market for local civil servants; coordinate with local mass media agencies to organize publicity, dissemination, and introduction of the provisions of the Law on Housing, Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, and this Circular so that the public can be aware and comply;

c) Coordinate with local functional agencies to inspect, monitor, and handle violations in investment and development activities of housing by organizations, households, and individuals, regarding the division of housing under capital mobilization contracts, the sale, lease, and lease-purchase of housing through real estate trading floors within the jurisdiction;

d) Coordinate with the People's Committee of the district to establish a database to compile and statistically analyze the number of housing development projects, new urban area projects, eco-tourism and resort projects; the number and type of housing constructed in each project; the number, type, and target groups eligible for housing allocation according to the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and this Circular;

đ) Perform other tasks assigned under the responsibility stipulated in Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and this Circular.

4. Allocate funds for the Department of Construction to carry out the tasks: developing the Housing Development Program of the locality; organizing publicity, introduction, and training on housing laws; establishing a database to compile and statistically analyze housing projects, the number of houses, and housing sales within the jurisdiction as stipulated in this Circular.

5. Direct competent agencies to implement the storage and management of housing files within the jurisdiction in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and this Circular.

6. Amend and supplement normative legal documents within their authority that are related to housing to align with the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and the provisions of this Circular.

7. Issue unified service charges for condominiums within the jurisdiction; appraise the selling price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of social housing built using non-state budget funds by developers.

8. Report to higher-level authorities periodically or upon urgent request on issues related to the housing sector within the jurisdiction.

9. Implement according to their authority or direct local functional agencies to implement the provisions of the Law on Housing, Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, and the provisions of this Circular.

Article 25. Responsibilities of the Department of Housing Management and Real Estate Market under the Ministry of Construction

1. Assist the Minister of Construction to monitor, urge, and inspect the implementation of laws and regulations on housing throughout the country.

2. Assist the Minister of Construction to provide guidance and resolve difficulties and obstacles within the authority of the Ministry of Construction during the process of implementing laws and regulations on housing.

3. Study, develop, and submit to the Minister of Construction for revision and supplementation within his authority, or propose to the Minister of Construction to submit to competent authorities for revision and supplementation, issuance of laws and regulations on housing in accordance with actual conditions.

4. Summarize and report the results of implementing housing laws to the Ministry of Construction for reporting to higher-level agencies periodically or urgently.

5. Perform other tasks stipulated in this Circular or as directed by the Minister of Construction.

Article 26. Effective date

1. This Circular takes effect 45 days from the date of signature.

2. From the date of the effectiveness of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP, the mobilization of capital for the construction of technical infrastructure systems for areas designated for housing construction and investment in housing projects, urban development projects, eco-tourism and resort projects shall be carried out in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and the provisions of this Circular.

3. In cases where the project proponent has submitted an application to the People's Committee at the appropriate level for approval of a housing development project before the effectiveness of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP but the People's Committee has not yet approved the project, the following measures shall be taken:

a) For housing development projects with less than 2,500 units (regardless of detached houses, individual houses, or apartment units) funded by state budget, the People's Committee at the appropriate level shall continue to approve the project according to the provisions of Decree No. 90/2006/ND-CP dated September 6, 2006, detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Housing.

b) For housing development projects with less than 2,500 units (regardless of detached houses, individual houses, or apartment units) funded by non-state budget sources, based on the content of the project dossier, the provincial People's Committee shall issue an investment approval document according to the content specified in Appendix 7 attached to this Circular without requiring the project proponent to prepare an Investment Approval Request as stipulated in this Circular. After receiving the investment approval document from the provincial People's Committee, the project proponent shall proceed with project evaluation and approval according to the construction law and the content of the investment approval document.

c) For housing development projects with 2,500 units or more (regardless of detached houses, individual houses, or apartment units, regardless of land scale and investment capital), the provincial People's Committee must submit a request along with the project dossier to the Prime Minister for approval of investment. After receiving the Prime Minister's approval, the provincial People's Committee shall approve the project (for projects using state budget funds) or issue a notification for the project proponent to evaluate and approve the project (for projects using non-state budget funds).

4. In cases where a housing development project has been approved before the effectiveness of Decree No. 71/2010/ND-CP and the project proponent requests changes to the project content, the project proponent shall submit to the approving agency for supplementary approval. If the change in project scale or land area leads to an increase in the total number of housing units to 2,500 or more, the project proponent must submit a request to the provincial People's Committee for consideration and report to the Prime Minister for supplementary approval before proceeding with supplementary approval of the changed content.

5. Abolish the provisions on capital mobilization for housing construction in new urban areas as stipulated in Section VIII of Circular No. 04/2006/TT-BXD dated June 18, 2006, guiding the implementation of the New Urban Area Regulation issued pursuant to Decree No. 02/2006/ND-CP dated January 5, 2006.

6. Replace Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 10 of Circular No. 15/2009/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2009, guiding the method of determining rental prices for student housing, worker housing, low-income housing, and sale prices and lease-purchase prices for low-income housing in projects involving various economic sectors as follows:

"1. Organize the appraisal and issue an appraisal document on the sale price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of housing within thirty days from the date of receipt of the request for appraisal of the sale price, rental price, and lease-purchase price of housing from the project proponent."

7. Repeal the following Circulars:

a) Circular No. 13/2005/TT-BXD dated August 5, 2005, guiding the implementation of Decree No. 95/2005/ND-CP dated July 15, 2005, on issuing Certificates of Ownership of Houses and Construction Works.

b) Circular No. 05/2006/TT-BXD dated November 1, 2006, guiding the implementation of Decree No. 90/2006/ND-CP dated September 6, 2006, detailing and guiding the implementation of the Law on Housing.

c) Circular No. 01/2009/TT-BXD dated February 25, 2009  of the Ministry of Construction stipulating certain contents regarding the issuance of Certificates of Ownership of Houses and guiding the model contract for the sale of apartment units in residential building projects.

8. Provisions related to housing (ownership rights, housing development, management of housing use, housing transactions, and state management of housing) stated in Circulars or Decisions of Ministries and sectors and in documents of provincial People's Committees that differ from the provisions of this Circular shall be implemented according to the provisions of this Circular.

9. During the implementation, if there are difficulties, please send comments to the Ministry of Construction for revision and supplementation within its authority, or for submission to the Prime Minister and the Government for consideration and decision./.