VietNamNet Bridge – Representatives of five major apartment buildings in Ha Noi sent a petition to the municipal People's Committee on Monday calling for the immediate intervention by instituting a price ceiling in management fees for apartment buildings in the capital.
The petition, which voices concerns of thousands of tenants in the high-rises, claimed service fees currently in practice were unreasonably high in comparison with average incomes of homeowners and didn't correspond to the quality in service provided.

Up to now, the buildings' property developers have been chosing service providers themselves with service charges based on their own estimates, not any legal process.

The petition also stated that dialogue between tenants and property developers had only brought about ludicrous explanations which failed to address homeowners' concerns.

Representative for the homeowners association in Keangnam Ha Noi Landmark Tower on Pham Hung Street Trinh Thuy Mai said the situation was unfair.

"As service charges are decided solely by the developers, we have no choice but to pay whatever charges the developers may come up with," Mai said.

She said monthly charges were set at VND18,691 (US$0.89) per square metre, so a family in her building would have to pay, on average, VND2 million ($96) for service charges and VND3 million ($144) for parking, not to mention electricity and water bills, which were calculated based on inflated rates.

Representative for homeowners in the Golden Westlake Building on Thuy Khue Street To Hong Son said the long-standing disputes between homeowner communities and developers could be settled only when there was a legal document for everyone to abide by.

Speaking to Viet Nam News yesterday, deputy director of construction department Nguyen Quoc Tuan said his department had already submitted a draft that defined the price ceiling in management fees for apartment buildings to the People's Committee for approval. However, he said, he had no clues as to when a law would be passed.

"We have to peruse our due diligence when it comes to judging whether the fees are excessive or not - it's logical if five-star services come at higher charges, but if the charges don't reflect the quality, the tenants have a right to speak for themselves," Tuan said.

In the draft, the maximum price ceiling is suggested at the level of VND4,000 per square metre per month.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News