This issue has remained unsolved over the years as the current relevant laws treat land used for tourism purposes as commercial and service land, which businesses can only lease and make one-off land use fee payments for the entire project lifespan of 50 years.

Therefore, local authorities have not issued ownership certificates for owners of condotels, tourist villas, shophouses and officetels built on such commercial and service land.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha just signed Decree 10 revising and supplementing the decrees guiding the implementaion of the Land Law. The new decree will come into force from May 20 this year.

Ownership certificates will be issued to residential units for tourists, which have been built on commercial and service land provided that the projects satisfy the conditions required by the land, construction and real estate business laws.

The validity of such ownership certificates will not exceed 50 years. In special cases, the term could be extended to 70 years.

Pursuant to the new decree, the ownership of condotels, tourist villas, shophouses and officetels constructed on commercial and service land will be recognized in the form of ownership certification.

Statistics of the HCMC Real Estate Association showed that as of the end of 2022, there were 83,000 condotel units whose ownership certificates had not been issued. Most of them belong to resorts with a land lease ranging from 50 to 70 years.

For officetels and shophouses, HCMC now has 10,019 units that have not been granted ownership certificates.

Source: Saigon Times