Overseas Vietnamese living abroad who have maintained their Vietnamese citizenship are permitted to own unlimited property, according to the latest decree on implementation of the Land and Housing Law.
Deputy Minister of construction Nguyen Tran Nam said that this is a change from the previous decree, which has been in force since 2001, which stipulated that only selected groups of people of the Vietnamese origin could own unlimited property.
The new decree stipulates that overseas Vietnamese eligible to buy houses in Vietnam may also enjoy other privileges, such as the transfer of land-use rights when selling; using credit organisations to mortgage their land-use rights; or leasing out the property.
This change promotes further equality between overseas Vietnamese and Vietnamese citizens when it came to property ownership in Vietnam, said Truong Thi Hoa, a lawyer from the HCMC Bar Association.
Nam said this decree also provides specific guidance about the papers overseas Vietnamese are required to present to prove their eligibility to buy real estate.
"All the requirements are more concrete and transparent than before, which will hopefully pave the way for better implementation of the law at local levels," he said.
One of the major hurdles for overseas Vietnamese that hinders them from purchasing property in Vietnam is the procedure to prove their origin, Luong Bach Van, chairwoman of the Overseas Vietnamese Committee in HCM City, said.
"If they lose relevant papers, which is often the case for people who have lived abroad for a long time, the whole process may come to a standstill. For those who have already prepared the necessary certificates, it still takes at least three months to verify them," she said.
Chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese Businessmen Club Nguyen Ngoc My said that many overseas Vietnamese commonly get around the red-tape procedures by putting their real estate transactions under the name of a Vietnamese citizen.
Nguyen Thi Thu Van, who owns an auto dealership in San Francisco and divides her time between Vietnam and the US , said she has bought several houses in Vietnam but asked her relatives to register for ownership.
"This is much quicker, but I am luckier than other overseas Vietnamese who may not have trustees in Vietnam . The new decree is a good signal for all of us, but I am a little bit concerned about its implementation in practice," she said.
My, a Vietnamese Australian, said he bought a house at the beginning of this year but is still waiting for his property ownership certificate.
"I hope the changes in relevant legal documents will help procedures go more smoothly, which will in turn make it easier for overseas Vietnamese to take part in Vietnam's property market," he said.
Deputy Minister Nam said the new regulations will provide incentives for overseas Vietnamese to return to the country to buy houses, which would help boost the real estate market in Vietnam .
He also refuted the concern that overseas Vietnamese could utilise the loosened regulations to find their way into real estate speculation, potentially leading to a housing market bubble.
"In fact, property prices in Vietnam are comparatively high and the housing market is not that attractive," he said.
Nguyen Quang Tuyen, head of Hanoi Law University 's Land Law Department, said the new regulations may create more demand in the housing market but not enough to create a boom because the relevant administrative procedures are still not working very well.
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