Preventing the 'illegal' sale of mini apartments

In fact, there are many households that build buildings with many mini (small) apartments for rent with construction permits issued as individual houses, but immediately after construction is completed or during the construction process, they illegally sell these apartments for rent to many people. Some cases have been promptly detected by competent agencies and local authorities, but this situation needs to be prevented because this buying and selling is against the law on housing and real estate business.

The building at K38/25 Le Huu Trac Street has 31 apartments sold, the investor was fined 275 million VND by the City People's Committee. Photo: NT

Apartment buyers will not be granted pink books.

On some social networking sites and real estate websites, there is a lot of information about selling mini apartments in a building located in a narrow alley of Phan Thanh Street (Chinh Gian Ward, Thanh Khe District). Accordingly, the completed mini apartment building includes 1 basement and 6 floors of apartments with 34 regular apartments, 3 penthouses (top floor). Of which, the 1-bedroom apartment, combining the bedroom, kitchen and living room into a common space, without partitions except for the bathroom and toilet) is ^26m2 wide and has a selling price of 610 million VND; the 1-bedroom apartment has an area of ^31-33m2 , selling price from 800-850 million VND; the 2-bedroom apartment is ^45m2 , priced at 1.17 billion VND; 1 shophouse (a house for both living and business) has an area of ^38m2 , priced at 1.05 billion VND...

In particular, according to the advertisement, legally, these apartments have unusual signs such as joint pink books (certificates of land use rights, house ownership rights), co-ownership, signing direct sales contracts with the investor... However, when we contacted the sellers, they all replied that they were sold out.

A real estate broker said: “Because these mini apartments are cheap, they sell out quickly and the buyers are mainly those with real housing needs.” According to actual research, from mid-2022, when this apartment building was in the process of completion, many brokers brought many customers to see the house, put down deposits and the investor sold it “underground” to many people in the form of signing illegal sales contracts.

Recently, many real estate brokers have also advertised to find buyers for 200 cheap mini apartments in the central alleys for sale in the alleys of Ngo Quyen, Le Duan, Le Huu Trac, Phan Thanh, Nguyen Tri Phuong... with the legal status of the apartments being a joint pink book, co-ownership; making a direct sales contract with the investor... This can easily cause legal risks for many buyers, especially those who have a real need to live (due to the cheap price) because according to the affirmation of the Director of the City Land Registration Office Nguyen Hong Song: buyers of these apartments will not be granted a pink book.

“No agency allows households to build houses on residential land to sell apartments. Those who buy this type of apartment are also not allowed, and the apartment sale and purchase contract is drawn up by the seller and the buyer themselves, there is no such regulation. Only sellers who circumvent the law do that. In cases where they already have residential land, they must establish an apartment project and have it appraised and approved by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and other relevant agencies, and have sufficient conditions to be able to sell apartments to be granted pink books for each apartment owner, not to sell them “underground” like that,” said Mr. Nguyen Hong Song.

Not allowed to buy or sell apartments

Expanding our search in Son Tra district, we also found an advertisement for a mini apartment in an alley of Le Huu Trac street (An Hai Dong ward) with an area of ^32m2 , selling price 760 million VND. When contacting the seller, this person only showed the front cover of the apartment sale contract with the name "Combined apartment complex on Le Huu Trac street" and said that the investor has a shared pink book. The buyer signs the contract and receives a contract for the sale of the apartment directly with the investor, with long-term joint ownership with the investor. The buyer can sell or transfer it freely to others...

When we learned more about this apartment complex, we were surprised to discover that this building is located at K38/25 Le Huu Trac Street, which is the project that the People's Committee of Son Tra District issued Official Dispatch No. 1269/UBND-QLDTh dated April 26, 2023 stating that the buying and selling of apartments here is not in accordance with regulations. Specifically, the project at K38/25 Le Huu Trac Street has been granted a construction permit by the People's Committee of Son Tra District as a single-family home.

According to the law on housing and real estate business, this project is not allowed to do business or buy and sell apartments. However, the specialized agencies and the People's Committee of An Hai Dong Ward have determined that out of 35 rooms in the project with each room measuring from ^25-35m2 , 31 rooms have been sold. At the same time, during the actual inspection, the investor also illegally built rooms on the roof floor, while according to the granted construction permit, it was the elevator penthouse.

In addition to the project at K38/25 Le Huu Trac, the People's Committee of An Hai Dong Ward has coordinated with departments and specialized units of Son Tra District to inspect and handle violations of construction order at the projects at K38/50 Le Huu Trac, 91 Thu Khoa Huan, K905/7 Ngo Quyen and 181 Nguyen Van Thoai. The Ward has organized a review of the collective responsibility of the Ward People's Committee and related individuals for violations in the field of construction order.

Vice Chairman of Son Tra District People's Committee Hoang Cong Thanh said: "Recently, the district and wards have inspected and discovered signs of illegal construction in some apartment buildings for rent, so they have requested immediate handling of illegal construction and refunds to apartment buyers if they have been sold. These apartments are not eligible for pink books. The investor must refund the money to the apartment buyers, if the buyers sue, the investor risks going to jail. This problem has just appeared so it must be dealt with decisively."

Fined 275 million VND for selling apartments against regulations
Son Tra District People's Committee said that the City People's Committee has just administratively sanctioned Mr. TNM (Van Chuong Ward, Dong Da, Hanoi ) for real estate business without fully meeting the conditions as prescribed. Specifically, Mr. TNM built a single-family house at K38/25 Le Huu Trac Street (An Hai Dong Ward, Son Tra District) and sold the apartments in the above-mentioned project, which is against the law. The aggravating circumstances are the large quantity and high value of the administrative violations. Mr. TNM was fined 275 million VND by the City People's Committee and had his real estate business suspended for 6 months.

NAM TRAN

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