Pink book for condotel is still stuck

Nearly 2 months after Decree 10/2023/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of the decrees guiding the implementation of the Land Law (Decree 10) took effect, the two localities with the largest number of resort villas and resort apartments (condotels) in the country, Da Nang and Khanh Hoa, still have not had any condotels granted a certificate of house ownership (also known as a pink book). The main reason is that there is no guiding circular yet.

Build the process

Mr. Vu Chi Hieu, Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (TN-MT) of Khanh Hoa province, said that Decree 10 allows buyers of projects such as apartments - hotels, officetels, condotels on commercial and service land to register ownership. However, there is currently no procedure for receiving and processing documents. Therefore, the department is developing this procedure and sending it to relevant departments for comments, synthesizing a report to the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province for approval before officially receiving the documents.

In addition, to avoid problems and difficulties during the implementation process, the department is taking condotel purchase and sale contracts to study situations in advance. "This is a very new issue, we also consulted many other localities but no locality has a specific process. Therefore, many projects have registered to apply for certificates, but we recommend waiting until there is a specific process before submitting to avoid waiting. After submitting the application, the department must continue to compare the regulations to determine whether or not they are eligible for a certificate," said Mr. Hieu.

Cocobay Danang condotel project is temporarily suspended and waiting for the day to be granted the pink book. Photo: BICH VAN

Mr. Pham Nam Son, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Da Nang City, also confirmed that the locality has not yet implemented the issuance of pink books for any condotel projects because it is waiting for the guiding circular. According to Mr. Son, while waiting for the guiding circular, the department is synthesizing a number of problems and sending them to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to gradually resolve them.

Specifically, the Department of Land Management, Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Da Nang City said that according to regulations, the land use term for construction works used for tourist accommodation purposes, including condotels, is determined to be 50 years from the date the investor is decided to allocate land, lease land, or change the land use purpose. However, for construction works used for tourist accommodation purposes, the investment preparation stage is often long, so if the pink book is issued according to the land use term, many projects will only have a usage period of about 40 years, or even less than 40 years.

Therefore, the Department of Land Management proposed that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment provide further guidance on the term of use granted to condotel buyers. At the same time, it proposed to remove this obstacle in the direction of not granting the term of use of construction works used for tourist accommodation purposes according to the land use term, but granting according to the term of use of the work calculated from the time the work is put into use to ensure the rights of buyers, as well as increase socio-economic efficiency and unlock resources, remove difficulties, and promote the real estate market.

In addition, condotel purchase contracts also have some problems, such as: many projects are not commercial service land but "residential land without forming residential units" - a type of land not included in the law; many apartment purchase contracts do not clearly state whether the assets are attached to the land or only the assets on the land...

Buyers continue to wait

According to Nha Trang Bay Construction Investment Joint Stock Company, the investor of Panorama Nha Trang project, one of the first units in Khanh Hoa to invest in resort real estate, from 2019 to now, the company has sent more than 11 petitions to the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee to issue certificates to more than 1,000 condotel buyers of the Panorama Nha Trang project.

After Decree 10 was issued, it has provided more specific and clear regulations on the procedures for granting certificates for construction works used for tourist accommodation purposes. Therefore, investors expect localities to soon implement procedures for granting pink books to provide maximum support to customers who have purchased condotels.

Many investors of condotel projects in Da Nang City are also very happy with the birth of Decree 10 and hope that the issuance of pink books will be implemented soon. Mr. Vo Thanh Nga, Deputy General Director of Thanh Do Investment Development and Construction Joint Stock Company (investor of Cocobay project, Ngu Hanh Son district), said that up to now, the authorities have not yet had specific instructions on the issuance of pink books for condotels.

However, according to his research, after Decree 10, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment sent an official dispatch to localities to guide the implementation of the decree. The dispatch is relatively clear, but it is not yet known how local land registration offices will apply it.

According to Mr. Nga, the Cocobay project has more than 1,000 condotels that are temporarily suspended. "If the issuance of pink books comes into practice, it will be very good for condotel projects. Homebuyers' psychology depends on the pink books. When the books are available, this market will definitely be vibrant. Buyers will trust and make better transactions," Mr. Nga expected.

To speed up the process of issuing certificates, the People's Committee of Khanh Hoa province has just issued a decision to announce a list of amended and supplemented administrative procedures in the land sector under the jurisdiction of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment. Accordingly, the Provincial People's Committee allows the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to receive registration and issue certificates of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to land (commonly known as red books, pink books) for transferees of land use rights, purchasers of houses, construction works in housing development projects and real estate business projects that are not housing development projects. The time limit for issuing certificates is 30 days from the date of receipt of valid documents from investors and 15 days for issuing certificates to transferees of land use rights, purchasers of houses, construction works.

Tighten condotel business activities

According to the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee, the locality has 26 projects with 12,100 tourist apartments and more than 2,580 tourist villas, mainly in the Bai Dai area. In addition to issuing certificates, the Khanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee also issued a document requesting relevant authorities to tighten the business of accommodation services for condotels and tourist villas.

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