Can foreigners own houses in Vietnam?

My friend is a German citizen, does not have any economic activities in Vietnam and wants to buy a house in Vietnam to live. I would like to know if my friend is eligible to buy a house in Vietnam and the conditions for purchasing a house in Vietnam.

FDVN’s opinion:

Sincerely thank you for your concerning our legal consulting service. We are glad to give you our advice on your question. 

[1]. Foreign individuals allowed to enter Vietnam are one of the subjects that are entitled to own houses in Vietnam as prescribed at Point c, Clause 1, Article 159 of the Law on Housing 2014 and own houses in Vietnam through Forms prescribed in Clause 2, Article 159 of the Law on Housing 2014 include:

a) Invest in project-based housing construction in Vietnam as prescribed in this Law and corresponding regulations of law;

b) Buy, rent and purchase, receive or inherit commercial housing including apartments and separate houses in the project for housing construction, except for areas under management relating to national defense and security as prescribed in regulations of the Government.

Based on the Law on House ownership in Vietnam, you must first be allowed to enter Vietnam and own a house in Vietnam through buying, renting or receiving a donation, inheritance of commercial houses, including condominium apartments and separate houses in housing construction investment projects, except for areas of national defense and security prescribed by the Government.

[2]. Conditions for foreign individuals to own houses in Vietnam:

According to Clauses 3 and 4, Article 160 of the Law on Housing 2014, guided in detail by Clause 1, Article 74 of Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP, to own houses in Vietnam, individuals must meet the conditions:

a. must be permitted to enter Vietnam, must have an unexpired passport bearing the entry seal of Vietnam’s immigration authority.

b. Not given diplomatic immunity and privileges according to Ordinance on diplomatic immunity and privileges of diplomatic missions, consular offices, and representative authorities of international organizations in Vietnam.

[3]. Foreign individuals owning houses in Vietnam have the rights of homeowners like Vietnamese citizens but must comply with the provisions of Clause 2, Article 161 of the Law on Housing 201 guided by Article 76 and Article 77 of Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP:

a) He/She may not buy, rent and purchase, receive, inherit and own more than 30% of apartments in an apartment building; or more than 250 houses regarding separate houses including villas, row houses in an area whose population is equivalent to a ward-administrative division.

In case an area whose population is equivalent to a ward-administrative division has multiple apartment buildings or regarding separate houses in a street, the Government shall provide guidance on the number of apartments or number of separate houses that a foreign entity is entitled to buy, rent and purchase, receive, inherit and own;

a) Where the quantity of detached houses of a project is fewer than 2,500, foreign entities may own up to 10% of the houses of such project;

b) Where there is only one project whose quantity of detached houses is equivalent to 2,500 houses, foreign entities may own up to 250 houses of them;

c) Where there are two or more projects where the total quantity of detached houses does not exceed 2,500 houses, foreign entities may own up to 10% of the houses of each project. If there are many apartments or separate houses on a street, the Government shall specify, the number of apartments and the number of separate houses that foreign organizations and individuals are allowed to buy or hire to buy, receive donations, inherit and own.

b) The foreign individuals are eligible for the homeownership as agreed in agreements on housing sale, lease purchase, gifting, or inheritance for not more than 50 years, from the day on which they are granted the Certificate and they may be also granted extension as prescribed in regulations of the Government with the following sequence:

- 03 months before the expiration of the time limit for house ownership, if the owner wishes to have the time limit extended, he/she must file an application for extension which specifies the extension length and enclose it with a certified true copy of the certificate of the house, then send it to the People’s Committee of the province in which the house is located;

- Within 30 days from the receipt of the owner’s application, the People’s Committee of the province shall consider and issues written permission for one extension of the time limit for house ownership at the request of the owner. Such extension must not exceed 50 years from the original expiration date of the time limit for house ownership written on the certificate, except for the case specified in Clause 3 of this Article;

- According to the written permission given by the People’s Committee of the province, the Certificate issue shall write the extension on the Certificate, and send a copy of the Certificate to the Department of Construction of the same province for monitoring.

Upon the first expiration of the house ownership period, if the foreign organization or individual is compelled to leave Vietnam or shut down the operation in Vietnam, no extension as set out their housing shall be dealt with in accordance with the law.

If a foreign individual marries to a Vietnamese citizen or an oversea Vietnamese, he/she qualifies for stable and long-term homeownership and has all rights of homeowner similarly to Vietnamese citizens;

c) Before the time limit of the homeownership prescribed in this Law expires, the homeowner is entitled to gift or sell their house(s) to entities eligible for the homeownership in Vietnam; if not, their house(s) shall be under the ownership of the State.

[4]. The foreign entity prescribed has obligations of homeowners similarly to Vietnamese citizens provided that he/she complies with the following regulations:

a) If the homeowner is a foreign individual, he/she is entitled to lease house(s) for lawful purposes provided that he/she notifies the agency of district in charge of housing where the house is located of housing lease as prescribed in regulations of the Minister of Construction and pays taxes on housing lease as prescribed before leasing houses.

If a foreign individual gets married to a Vietnamese citizen or an oversea Vietnamese, he/she qualifies for stable and long-term homeownership and has all rights of homeowner similarly to Vietnamese citizens;

b) If the homeowner is a foreign organization, its house(s) is/are only provided for their employees but it is not allowed to use their house(s) for lease, offices, or other purposes;

c) They pay off the total amount through credit institutions operating in Vietnam.

Above are the advice of FDVN Limited Law Firm base on studying law provisions and theories. We hope that our opinions would be useful.

Pham Thi Van Anh

FDVN Law Firm

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