Article 78 of the 2023 Housing Law stipulates that people from one province have to satisfy two requirements regarding housing conditions and income to be eligible to buy social housing products in another province.

Dung said previously people in Hanoi were only allowed to buy social housing in Hanoi. But now, they just need to prove they don’t have housing in HCM City.

The new law also marks a milestone in administrative reform. People only have to prove that they don’t have their names listed in land or property use right certificates in the cities or provinces where social housing projects are located to be eligible to register to buy social housing. 

The new regulation includes adjustment in income threshold to be able to buy social housing. One individual can have monthly income of no more than VND15 million, and a married couple can have income no higher than a total of VND30 million.

Also, the social housing development procedures under the new law have been simplified.

In the project preparation period, the new law requires 1/2000 sub-division planning or 1/500 detailed planning.  The investors of social housing projects are exempted from land use fees. They don’t have to follow the procedure on defining land prices, and calculating land use and land leasing fees.

If investors carry out construction work within the sphere of social housing projects, the land price determination and land use fee calculation must be implemented in accordance with laws on land.

The two steps in project implementation and completion are nearly the same as regulations applied to commercial housing projects.

Under the 2023 Law Real Estate Business, the signing of documents on transferring sale contracts can only be implemented with housing to take shape in the future. The question is whether the regulation is also applied to ready-built houses.

According to Dung, the question was put forward during the law compilation. In general, the process of signing contracts and handing over housing to take shape in the future will last a long time, so investors may want to transfer the contracts.

“For existing construction works, there are no specific regulations in the Law on Real Estate Business, but there are no prohibitions,” Dung said.

Hong Khanh