Removing obstacles in pink book for a series of apartments

Ho Chi Minh City is determined to remove obstacles to pink books for thousands of apartments. However, the journey to owning ownership certificates for many people is still arduous.

In Ho Chi Minh City, residents of Saigon Gateway apartment building (Thu Duc City) have sent a petition to the authorities and city leaders hoping to soon resolve a series of outstanding issues. The most important of these is the issuance of land use right certificates and property ownership certificates attached to land (pink books).

Tired of waiting for the pink book

Recently, the Department of Agriculture and Environment - the standing agency of Working Group 5013 of Ho Chi Minh City - held a meeting to remove obstacles for housing projects to issue pink books, including Saigon Gateway apartment building.

Saigon Gateway Apartment, invested by Hiep Phu Real Estate Joint Stock Company, consists of 2 blocks with more than 900 apartments and nearly 30 shophouses. According to the investor, the project has completed its financial obligations and social housing obligations.

Mr. Nguyen Toan Thang, Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, requested the HCM City Land Registration Office to review the implementation of social housing obligations at this project. If there are no problems, proceed with the procedure of issuing pink books to residents.

Another problem in this project is that residents sued the authorities for splitting the pink book of the apartment land (14,300 m2) into 2 pink books - with the land of more than 8,300 m2 being residential land for apartment construction and the commercial service land of 5,000 m2, after selling the apartment. This affects the legal rights and interests of residents. People lose the right to use the common walkway and to use other people's land. Residents sued, requesting to revoke the 2 new pink books and restore the old pink book for the apartment.

Regarding the content of the lawsuit, Mr. Nguyen Toan Thang said that when there is a court ruling, relevant agencies will implement the content of the verdict, not waiting for the general impact on granting pink books to residents.

Ms. Duong Thi Quynh Luu (living in Saigon Gateway apartment building) said that residents want to be granted pink books but are concerned about how many square meters of land can be used for common use. Previously, the authorities granted the investor the exclusive use of 5,000 square meters of commercial service land, taking away the residents' right to use the common land of about 4,000 square meters.

"The authorities need to resolve and determine the boundary between the common land use of residents and the boundary between the private land use of the investor. If the investor continues to be granted 5,000 square meters of commercial service land for private use, residents will not agree and there will be prolonged complaints and disputes," Ms. Luu worried.

Meanwhile, in Thu Duc City, the 4S Linh Dong apartment building with 1,100 apartments has been occupied since 2014 but there are still many issues that need to be resolved, from the maintenance fund to the issuance of pink books. At the Topaz Home 2 - Block B apartment building, residents who have been occupied since 2021 have not yet been issued pink books...

While many apartment buildings are being brought to meetings to resolve problems, residents here are still waiting for positive signals. The representative of the apartment building management board said that they have contacted the authorities but the file is "standing still" because the investor has not mentioned the issuance of pink books.

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee requested to thoroughly handle the complaints and recommendations of Saigon Gateway apartment residents

Hope after the wait

Centum Wealth Apartment - consisting of 3 blocks with 544 apartments - held a meeting to resolve obstacles in issuing pink books in April 2025. The investor sent an official dispatch to residents informing them of the implementation of preparation steps such as apartment measurement records, application for certificate issuance... to complete legal procedures before announcing the submission of pink book issuance records; expected to be implemented in June.

Ms. Tran Thi Nhung, Head of the Centum Wealth Apartment Management Board, said that she had sent a dispatch requesting the investor to promptly inform the apartments that are eligible to submit their applications for the pink book; to guide households that are still having problems; to provide progress on implementation... In addition, residents also requested to separate the remaining 5% payment in the sales contract. 2% is the maintenance fund for the common property transferred to the management board according to regulations; 3% is the next payment of the value of the apartment sales contract.

"We hope residents will soon have their pink books, but it will still be difficult. Only when they have the pink books in their hands will people feel secure," Ms. Nhung commented.

Joy also came to residents of M-One Nam Sai Gon apartment building (District 7) when the problem of granting pink books was resolved. Ms. Thanh Hien - a resident here - said that she bought the apartment many years ago from the previous owner. Although worried, her family hopes to soon be granted pink books when the apartment building is subject to additional financial obligations.

Previously, some apartments in this apartment building had been granted pink books but were temporarily suspended. "Recently, the investor called to inform that the pink book was approved. I took the opportunity to go to the ward to complete the related procedures to supplement the necessary documents for the investor to complete the application to submit to the City Land Registration Office" - Ms. Hien happily said.

Thousands more records processed

From the time the 2013 Land Law took effect until April 2023, in Ho Chi Minh City, there were 335 commercial housing projects with 191,101 apartments and individual houses eligible for pink books. Of these, 110,016 units have been granted, 81,085 units have not been granted.

In May 2023, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) deployed a plan to implement solutions to remove obstacles and speed up the issuance of pink books for more than 81,000 remaining apartments/houses, classified into 6 groups and achieved certain results.

By November 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued Decision 5013, establishing a Working Group to resolve issues related to the issuance of pink books to organizations and individuals in commercial housing development projects in the area (Working Group 5013).

After 6 months of implementing the task, Task Force 5013 has organized nearly 30 meetings to remove obstacles for nearly 150 housing development projects in the city. Thereby, more than 71,000 apartments/houses/land plots/officetels/shophouses and nearly 900 other real estate products have been cleared and pink books have been issued early.

Regarding the results of granting pink books in the area, according to the Department of Agriculture and Environment, in the first 5 months of 2025 alone, the department received 10,125 pink book applications. The Ho Chi Minh City Land Registration Office issued 11,860 tax transfer receipts for 2025 (including 6,306 applications received in 2025 and 5,554 applications from the previous year). Of which, 5,353 applications have paid the registration tax, while 6,507 home buyers have not provided documents proving that they have paid the registration tax.

In order to ensure the issuance of pink books to home buyers, the Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment directed the Director of the City Land Registration Office to take measures to rectify and overcome the situation of late processing of records by the office system. In addition, urgently review, compile statistics, and have a specific plan to completely resolve the backlog of records, completing before June 30. Ho Chi Minh City strives to resolve and issue 38,000 records to home buyers at housing development projects according to the plan in February 2025 of the City Land Registration Office.

Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee gives urgent instructions

Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Nguyen Van Duoc assigned the Director of the Department of Construction to urgently preside over and coordinate with the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Thu Duc City People's Committee and related units to inspect and review information and recommendations from residents of Saigon Gateway apartment building. Thereby, consider and take measures to thoroughly handle the case in accordance with authority and legal regulations; publicly announce the results of the settlement to residents, and report the results to the Chairman of the City People's Committee in June 2025.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/go-vuong-so-hong-cho-hang-loat-chung-cu-196250605212048693.htm