Owning property in vietnam?

[Tuanv 2]

My mother bought a couple properties and put them in my grandma's name. My grandma lives in Vietnam so it was easy for her to put her name on the red books. Now, we are trying to transfer the titles/ red books to my mother's name but the Da Nang government does not allow it. Is there anytime we can do?

[ScottThuy 140]

Mom lives here?

[aaron2020 11,651]

My mother bought a couple properties and put them in my grandma's name. My grandma lives in Vietnam so it was easy for her to put her name on the red books. Now, we are trying to transfer the titles/ red books to my mother's name but the Da Nang government does not allow it. Is there anytime we can do?

Coffee money. It's the only grease that gets the wheels turning in Vietnam.

Edited March 21, 2012 by aaron2020

[ScottThuy 140]

even with hoi lo its not worth the risk if mom lives in the states...

[aaron2020 11,651]

even with hoi lo its not worth the risk if mom lives in the states...

Alluding to US tax issues (like not declaring income from properties own in Vietnam)? What risks are you alluding to?

[ScottThuy 140]

As a USC you can't 'own' the property.. if someone who wanted the property found out that you were a USC, that lease could easily be terminated with the right connections... If the grandmother has her name in the redbook it makes it a little more difficult for someone to take it away... best case scenario is to have a relative live on the property with it in thier name (trustworthy relative)...

We have property there, in wifes name, but we also have relatives that live adjacent to ensure that anyone snooping will get ejected and since she is still technically a VNC that protects us to a degree...

I like to compare it to eminent domain here in the US but it is far easier to get done there. Someone or the govt decides they want your land, a red book is needed along with someone living on the land to make it a little more difficult to steal away.

[luckytxn 2,264]

As a USC you can't 'own' the property.. if someone who wanted the property found out that you were a USC, that lease could easily be terminated with the right connections... If the grandmother has her name in the redbook it makes it a little more difficult for someone to take it away... best case scenario is to have a relative live on the property with it in thier name (trustworthy relative)...

We have property there, in wifes name, but we also have relatives that live adjacent to ensure that anyone snooping will get ejected and since she is still technically a VNC that protects us to a degree...

I like to compare it to eminent domain here in the US but it is far easier to get done there. Someone or the govt decides they want your land, a red book is needed along with someone living on the land to make it a little more difficult to steal away.

Wow.

[aaron2020 11,651]

Can't Viet Kieu own property in VN?

[ScottThuy 140]

Can't Viet Kieu own property in VN?

yes,but...

they technically still have VN citizenship so the documentation/ redbook can be done, but the absent owner aspect is the issue... thats why we have relatives living adjacent to the property/home... and have agreements with some influential people in govt. to look out for our interests.IMO either one alone would be insufficient.

ooops... I said yes based on the existing VN citizenship, but if it has been documented as having been renounced.. then the viet kieu can only lease the property.....

Edited March 22, 2012 by ScottThuy

[aaron2020 11,651]

Found this article using Google. http://vnre.blogspot.com/2010/07/rules-seen-clearer-for-viet-kieu.html

Rules seen clearer for Viet Kieu housing ownership (July 2010)

Vnre.blogspot.com - Overseas Vietnamese or Viet Kieu will be offered favorable conditions for buying a property in their homeland in the coming time under new regulations in the Decree 71/2010/ND-CP, which will take effect on August 8.

"Unlike previous rules providing a general frames, new regulations are clearer, offering more favorable conditions for Viet Kieu who wants to buy a property in Vietnam,” lawyer Truong Thi Hoa told the Daily when asked on Tuesday for a comment on the new decree.

Accordingly, Viet Kieu can buy or receive an unlimited number of houses as gift and inheritance if they are of Vietnamese citizenship and their Vietnamese passports are valid. In case they are Vietnamese descendants and hold foreign passports, they must produce one of the documents certified by authorized organizations proving that they are Vietnamese.

In addition, they should be either direct investors, or those recognized to have made contributions to the country, or cultural activists, scientists, highly-skilled people and those whose spouses are Vietnamese.

Hoa cited the Law of Nationality saying that to benefit from the new policy, they have to register to continue holding their Vietnamese nationality before July 2014 once their Vietnamese passports are invalid as of July 2009.

She highlighted a new provision in the new decree, saying it allows Viet Kieu to receive a transfer of land use right in housing projects developed by real estate companies to build houses for their own and families in Vietnam.

“This helps create an equal platform for homebuyers who are both Viet Kieu and locals,” Hoa says.

The lawyer, however, wondered whether Viet Kieu can access bank loans, like locals, to buy their properties or not. The new decree does not mention that.

“I think they should be allowed to access loans because it is not all Viet Kieu who are rich enough to buy houses in Vietnam without having financial support,” Hoa said, adding that is the way encouraging them to bring money from abroad to the country.

However, those who are not in the above group will only be allowed to buy a single house or apartment in Vietnam, and when they receive another property as a gift they can give or sell to others for money.

The lawyer noted a limitation in the decree saying that for those who are allowed to own a single property, once they are found violating the regulation, they will be forced to resell their properties within 120 days. That means they will be stripped of their housing ownership in Vietnam.

Tran Hoa Phuong, vice chairman of the Overseas Vietnamese Committee in HCMC, told the Daily on the phone that he was upbeat about the new decree as it helped concretize procedures to translate the issue into reality, as well as to create a clear mechanism for Viet Kieu buying houses in Vietnam.

“Many of them have bought houses in the country under their relatives’ name for years,” Phuong said.

Phuong said the committee had plans to inform the new regulations to Viet Kieu living in countries around the world in the coming time.

According to a preliminary statistic released late last year, there are some four million overseas Vietnamese living in 100 countries around the world. Some half of them used to live in HCMC. Last year, oversea remittance was recorded at US$6.8 billion.

Reported by Dinh Dung/ The Saigon Times Daily

Edited March 22, 2012 by aaron2020

[ScottThuy 140]

Yep, but that can be overridden by the local powers that be such that Tuan noted in the original post... they want US money to be brought back to VN, but its not a 100% thing... In VN all things local take precedence... it could have to do with the requirement of "they have to register to continue holding their Vietnamese nationality " in Tuans case...

the kicker is "a transfer of land use right in housing projects developed by real estate companies to build houses for their own and families in Vietnam."... does transfer of land use = own?

[aaron2020 11,651]

Yep, but that can be overridden by the local powers that be such that Tuan noted in the original post... they want US money to be brought back to VN, but its not a 100% thing... In VN all things local take precedence... it could have to do with the requirement of "they have to register to continue holding their Vietnamese nationality " in Tuans case...

the kicker is "a transfer of land use right in housing projects developed by real estate companies to build houses for their own and families in Vietnam."... does transfer of land use = own?

All land is legally own by the Vietnamese government (the people according to Communist doctrine). All land sales in Vietnam are legally transfers of land use.

http://www.business-in-asia.com/news/land_in_southeast_asia.html

Vietnam

Vietnam follows the Communist system of land ownership. All land belongs to the people and is managed by the State on behalf of the people. People receive land-use rights – not land ownership. Law recognizes no fee simple title. The maximum ownership rights for Vietnamese are leasehold of land, although buildings are improvements can be owned directly. Foreigners are not allowed to own land. Overseas Vietnamese who were born in Vietnam but later took up residence overseas can buy properties under gradually broadening criteria that are giving them property rights more akin to local Vietnamese.

• Starting in 2009, Foreigners who are legally residents in Vietnam on a longer-term basis are permitted to purchase apartments in certain developments under a 50-year leasehold. The Vietnam National Assembly approved this law overwhelmingly in 2008 but the implementing regulations have yet to be published. Those eligible to buy apartments under the law include foreign firms purchasing housing for staff, and four categories of individuals.
  
• These include foreigners working at Vietnamese firms, foreigners married to Vietnamese, foreigners with special skills needed by Vietnam’s economy, and foreigners who have been awarded medals or other honors by the government.
  
• They can own a house but not the land on which it is built. They have the option to lease the land from the State.
  
• A foreign investor may also invest in Vietnamese real property by forming a joint venture company with a local partner, or a wholly foreign-owned company, or by forming a Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) company or one of its variants.
  
• Foreigners who are residents in Vietnam can own dwelling houses but cannot sub-lease these dwellings. Foreign residents can also sell, donate, inherit, or give dwelling houses as gifts. But where they terminate their residence in Vietnam without disposal of their dwelling, 90 days after their departure from Vietnam their dwelling house certificates will automatically cease to be valid, and the Vietnamese State will manage and use their houses.
  
• One thing that separates real estate transactions in Vietnam from the rest of the world is it's done in pure gold. It is very important to keep this in mind when looking for a property. The buyer must be aware of the prices and conversion rates for currency to gold at all times.
  

Edited March 22, 2012 by aaron2020

[ScottThuy 140]

yup thats it....

but when it comes to things in VN, if someone has the right connections and you have something they want.. they can in many cases take it..... the 50 year lease is not something that can't be terminated mid lease... "hey I like that guys house... he's outside the country or not around or has no connections, lets do what we have to do to relieve him of that house" when guy gets back he no longer has house... and as it noted foreigners can only have an apt.

The government is taking great strides to make things better, but there is still a great deal of corruption... My students are the powerful and the elite in VN and I see what they are able to do, unchallenged... its really sad that it still takes place...

[aaron2020 11,651]

yup thats it....

but when it comes to things in VN, if someone has the right connections and you have something they want.. they can in many cases take it..... the 50 year lease is not something that can't be terminated mid lease... "hey I like that guys house... he's outside the country or not around or has no connections, lets do what we have to do to relieve him of that house" when guy gets back he no longer has house... and as it noted foreigners can only have an apt.

The government is taking great strides to make things better, but there is still a great deal of corruption... My students are the powerful and the elite in VN and I see what they are able to do, unchallenged... its really sad that it still takes place...

Word. Too true.

Happens to my family several times in Vietnam. Government would seize land and pay a very low price as compensation, sell the land to his relatives or those higher up the Communist Party ladder, and the next thing you know there was a hotel there.

[ScottThuy 140]

Word. Too true.

Happens to my family several times in Vietnam. Government would seize land and pay a very low price as compensation, sell the land to his relatives or those higher up the Communist Party ladder, and the next thing you know there was a hotel there.

Same ####### happens here too.. eminent domain.. whats in the best interest of the community or what someone says is in the best interest... I want to put a hotel here... and someone has a house there... Hey Mr councilman.. I will build a hotel thee if you get me the land cheap... (free rooms for you)