The procedures for foreigners to buy houses in Vietnam

Under the provisions of the Housing Law 2014, the conditions for participation in housing transactions are: foreign individuals, overseas Vietnamese must have the capacity for civil acts to perform housing transactions under the provisions of the law of Vietnam, must be subject to own houses in Vietnam under the provisions of the Housing Law and are not required to have temporary residence registration or permanent registration in the area where the houses for transaction are located.

Housing purchase contracts must include the following contents:

- Full name of the individual, the organization and addresses of the parties;

- Characterization of the house and the land plot in association with the house. For contracts for apartments, the parties must indicate the area of common ownership, common use; the area under private ownership; the floor area of the apartment; the purpose of use of the area of common ownership under the design initially approved;

- The value of the capital contribution, the transaction price of housing if there is agreement on the price; in the case of the purchase of a house with a price regulated by the state, the parties shall have to comply with such regulations;

- The duration and method of payment;

- The time of delivery of the house; the warranty period for newly-built houses;

- The rights and obligations of the parties;

- The commitment of the parties;

- Other agreements;

- The starting time of validity of the contract;

- The date of signing the contract; the signatures and the full names of the parties; the seal if the parties are organizations and the position of the signer.

The file for land and housing ownership certification

Records and procedures for getting housing and land use rights ownership for foreign institutions and individuals owning houses in Vietnam:

- The application for being granted the certificate of ownership of housing and land use rights in Vietnamese and English in the prescribed form.

- Valid documents on housing ownership of the seller

For apartments in residential development projects of real estate businesses, it is required to have the relevant body’s decision on the approval of the project, the land lease agreement or decision on land allocation or certificate of land use rights granted to the project developer; the sketch of the apartment.

For the case of purchasing apartments of individuals, valid certification papers are required.

- The original contract or inheritance papers in accordance with the law of Vietnam.

- A certified copy of the foreign passport;

- Receipts of tax and fee payment prescribed by law.

PLTPHCM