Condotels, officetels get ownership certificates from May 20

Hanoi - Buyers of condotels, officetels and resort villas will have ownership certificates from May 20 under a new decree guiding the Land Law implementation.

Owners of condotel apartments who fully satisfy the conditions under the land law, construction law and the law on real estate business shall be granted a certificate of ownership of land-attached construction facilities according to the commercial or service land area purpose.

On April 3, 2023, the Government issued Decree No. 10/2023/ND-CP on amending and supplementing several decrees guiding the Land Law implementation from May 20.

The land use term shall comply with provisions of Clause 3 Article 126 and Clause 1 Article 128 of the Land Law. Owners of construction facilities shall take responsibility before the law for fully satisfying conditions prescribed by the construction law and the law on real estate business.

The ownership term of the condotel depends on the purpose of land use following current regulations but not exceeding 50 years of the ownership term for land allocated or leased by the State for commercial or service use.

Buyers may only own land and apartments during the remaining land use period, not for long-term use as residential land.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has urged localities to grant ownership certificates to the buyers of condotels, officetels and resort villas, according to the Official Dispatch No 3382/BTNMT-ĐĐ that the ministry has recently sent to the people's committees of localities.

The ministry has also asked the localities to create conditions on information technology infrastructure to carry out online administrative procedures for granting this certificate.

According to experts, Decree No. 10/2023/NĐ-CP will remove legal bottlenecks for investors and buyers of condotels, officetels and resort villas.

Pham Duc Toan, General Director of EZ Real Estate Investment and Development Joint Stock Company (EZ Property), said that the market had expected the new decree for a long time. When it comes into effect, it will open a way of continuing development for many unfinished projects.

The Government's new decree has created a legal corridor for buyers, making them feel safe in property ownership and value. It will create a new investment wave in the tourist real estate market.

For condotels, officetels and resort villas, transactions in the secondary market are also simplified further. Buyers and sellers only need notary offices to complete the transaction procedures. Before the decree, besides working at the notary offices, the buyer also completed procedures with the investor and paid a fee to the investor, Toan said.

Owners will also be protected under the Real Estate Business and Housing Law for operation management.

Nguyen Van Dinh, vice chairman of the Viet Nam Real Estate Association, said that many investors expect Decree No.10/NĐ-CP and it creates a breakthrough in the synchronisation of the legal system.

With this new policy, the unfinished projects in major tourist and resort centres, such as Da Nang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc, will benefit from removing legal obstacles, Dính said.

Experts say that if legal problems in the condotel, officetels and resort villa market are resolved, it can restore nearly 239 frozen projects nationwide, with a total value of about VND682 trillion (US$30 billion).

According to the experts, it is necessary to study and issue regulations to ensure secondary investors' rights and interests when they invest in resort real estate projects. It makes the investors feel safe when they invest a lot of capital in resort real estate.

For many years, resort real estate development has been seen as a way to develop tourism infrastructure to achieve the goals of the Viet Nam Tourism Development Strategy.

According to this strategy, Vietnam targets to become an attractive tourist destination by 2030 and in the world's top 30 countries in terms of tourism competitiveness.

The General Statistics Office reported that Vietnam's tourism industry recorded a strong recovery with a year-on-year increase of 19 times in foreign tourists to 3.7 million in the first four months of 2023.

The number of domestic tourists during the period was estimated at 38 million.

Total revenue from tourists was estimated at VND196.6 trillion ($8.3 billion).

The strong growth of the tourism industry in the first four months will revive the resort real estate market after two years of losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic and return on rental income will bring confidence to investors.

Ownership certificates will be granted to buyers of condotels, officetels, resort villas and other properties which are built on commercial and services land and used for accommodation and tourism purposes.

Despite some unresolved issues, the licence to grant ownership rights for resort and condotel property investments has fulfilled investors' hopes after decades of waiting.