The process of appraising social housing prices has not ensured fairness.

The Vietnam Federation of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) has some initial comments on the Draft Decree on the development and management of social housing (hereinafter referred to as the Draft).

Procedures for appraising selling prices and rental prices for social housing

According to VCCI, Point b, Clause 2, Article 32 of the Draft stipulates that the investor's dossier requesting price appraisal must include "Legal documents of the project (including: investment policy approval; Land allocation decision; 1/500 planning approval; Construction permit and other relevant documents)".

Requiring investors to provide these documents is unreasonable, because state management agencies already have them. To facilitate administrative procedures, VCCI proposes that the Drafting Committee remove the requirement to have these documents, that is, remove point b, clause 2, Article 32 of the Draft.

Regarding the appraisal procedure, according to the provisions of Point d, Clause 3, Article 32 of the Draft, within 60 days from the date of the appraisal deadline, the specialized agency of the provincial People's Committee must issue a written notice of the appraisal results. "When there is a written notice of the appraisal results and the appraisal price is higher than the price signed by the investor, the investor is not allowed to collect more; if it is lower, the investor must re-sign the contract or adjust and supplement the contract appendix and must refund the difference to the home buyer or lessee."

This regulation needs to be reconsidered because it unreasonably disadvantages the investor. The investor has carried out the appraisal procedure, but the competent state agency, within the prescribed time limit, does not issue a price appraisal document. The investor has the right to sign a contract for the purchase and sale or lease-purchase of social housing with customers according to the price plan submitted for appraisal or the proposed price in the bidding documents (point c, clause 3, Article 32).

Thus, it is legal for the investor to sign a contract with a home buyer with the price plan submitted for appraisal or the price proposed in the bidding documents. The Draft's requirement that the investor must readjust the selling price in case it is lower than the appraisal result of the state management agency is baseless, while the late issuance of the appraisal document is the fault of the state agency.

On the other hand, in terms of fairness, using the same document announcing the results of the price appraisal of the state agency as the basis for considering the selling price and the rental price, but in the case where the investor sells at a lower price but is not allowed to adjust, while selling at a higher price but must adjust, is not ensuring fairness for the parties in the transaction. Requiring the contract to be re-signed and refunding the difference to the home buyer or rental buyer will affect the contract performance for both the investor and the customer.

To ensure rationality and increase responsibility from the state price appraisal agency, it is proposed that the Drafting Committee remove the provision at Point d, Clause 3, Article 32 of the Draft.

In addition, Clause 4, Article 32 of the Draft stipulates that “in case the investor uses the winning bid price, it is not required to re-evaluate the selling price or the rental price of the house”. This provision is unclear at the point that, in case the winning bid price is used, does the investor have to carry out the procedure of notifying the selling price or the rental price of the social housing to the state management agency before signing the contract?

VCCI requests that the Drafting Committee clearly stipulate this issue to ensure convenience in the implementation process.

Procedures for selling social housing invested in and built according to projects and not using public investment capital or trade union financial resources

Point b, Clause 1, Article 35 of the Draft stipulates that before carrying out the sale, the investor of the social housing construction investment project is responsible for reporting in writing the total number of apartments to be sold and the time of starting the sale for the Department of Construction to know and check.

According to the provisions of Point c, Clause 3, Article 88 of the 2023 Housing Law, before selling, leasing, or renting future social housing, it is necessary to carry out the procedure of notifying the provincial-level state management agency that the housing is eligible for sale or leasing.

The above regulation in the Draft is unclear. Is there a connection between the reporting procedure specified in Point b, Clause 1, Article 35 of the Draft and the notification procedure on housing eligibility for sale or lease-purchase specified in the Housing Law 2023? If these are two independent procedures, it is recommended to reconsider, because the investor has to carry out too many administrative procedures in the process. On the other hand, this regulation is unclear. What issues will the Department of Construction check?

To ensure clarity and convenience of procedures, VCCI recommends that the Drafting Committee clearly stipulate the above issues and consider integrating procedures to reduce administrative procedures for businesses.

Paragraph 3, Clause 2, Article 35 of the Draft stipulates that in case the project targets people with revolutionary contributions or people with disabilities, they will be given priority to buy, hire-purchase, or rent housing without having to draw lots with a “certain ratio”. This regulation is unclear as to which entity decides this ratio? Based on what criteria? VCCI requests the Drafting Committee to clearly stipulate this issue.

Wisdom

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