Mini-apartment buyers face ownership concerns

Published: 25/05/2011 05:00

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Many people, especially low income
earners in Ha Noi, have taken a risk to buy mini apartments in shared blocks as
their first property, despite legal concerns over the stability of this type of
real estate.


Nguyen
Van Dung, an accountant for an IT company in Ha Noi, said he decided to buy a
42-square-metre apartment located in a small-sized apartment building in Lang
Street, Dong Da District, three months ago.


The
building was constructed by a landlord who divided his land into two pieces;
with one part devoted to the mini-apartment block and the other for his own
home.


“I’ve
chosen this apartment as it was a quite reasonable VND1 billion (US$49,000), and
it includes two bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen and a bathroom. For this
amount of money, it’d be really hard to find a better one”, he said.


Dung
said he had been told that five months after moving in this August, he would be
given a house ownership certificate.

“It’s
not vital to have the certificate, as I’ve got the house sale contract. But, the
certificate will prove useful as it means I can offer the apartment as
collateral if for example, I need a loan,” he said.


Mini
apartment block resident Huynh Ngoc Thu, in Cau Giay District, agreed, saying
that her neighbour had just re-sold his apartment for more than VND1 billion,
double the initial selling price.


“There’s
no need to have housing ownership certificate,” she said.


Thu
herself bought the apartment two years ago and had yet to receive the
certificate.


Pham
Ngoc Hien, official of Thanh Xuan District People’s Committee’s Urban Management
Unit, said no request for permission for the construction of the mini apartment
had been sent to the authority and the unit had yet to approve any housing
ownership certificates for any mini apartment resident in the district.


Thanh
Xuan District is home to a large number of private mini apartment blocks in the
city.


According to Hien, investors needed to get permission from the planning and
architecture departments before building mini apartments. The apartments must
occupy at least two floors in the building, with two or more apartments
measuring at least 30 square metres per floor. The blocks must be equipped with
fire equipment, meet overall planning considerations and meet other safety
criteria in order to obtain ownership certificates.


However,
many investors, who were only licensed to build a residential house, had changed
their architectural plans and built multi-apartments for sale. In this case,
certificates would not be granted, Hien said.


Freelance lawyer Vu Phuong Ha in Ha Noi said buyers must ensure that they have
the required legal papers such as a sales contract and house use certificate.


“Handwritten contracts are very common in this business, but they have no legal
validity. Therefore buyers could be forced to return the apartments to the
owners if a conflict occurs,” Ha said.


Deputy
director of Ha Noi’s Department of Construction Nguyen Quoc Tuan said that the
department had asked the city authority to strengthen controls over mini
apartment blocks.


Those
who violated the regulations on construction would be fined and more strict
punishments needed to be added to give the regulations some teeth, he said.


He
affirmed that the ban on this type of housing development was difficult due to
increasing demand.


Tuan
suggested that buyers must be cautious about the security and legitimacy of the
housing purchase before deciding to buy such an apartment, in order to avoid any
unpleasant legal complications.


A mini
apartment building is defined as a private building with many flats of 30-40
metres. This type of accommodation has proved popular due to their reasonable
prices. The apartments were legally recognised following a Government decision
last August which stimulates that the owners of houses with at least 30 square
metres per floor would be granted housing ownership certificates.


VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News

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