Residents of Vinaconex 9 apartment building in Vinh city 'complain' because their house is dilapidated and they don't have a pink book.

Frustration over dilapidated apartment buildings

ApartmentVinaconex 9-CT,BLocated at the intersection of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Avenue and 72m Street, in Hamlet 19, Nghi Phu Commune (Vinh City).This project is by Construction Joint Stock Company No. 9 headquartered inMe Tri Ward, Nam Tu Liem District (Hanoi City) is the investor. Although they have moved in nearly 10 years after buying the house, the households here have not yet been granted the Certificate of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to the land (pink book).

This makes the 100 households living in this apartment building feel like they are in a difficult situation."living temporarily", even though I spent a large sum of money to buy a house here. Not to mention, this apartment building is currently in a state of disrepair, with leaks, perforated ceilings, damaged elevators... making residents extremely upset.

Although Vinaconex 9 - CT,B building was built a long time ago and residents have moved in for nearly 10 years, the land has not been allocated on the ground. Photo: PV

Specifically, according to the residents' complaint, this apartment building currently has 3 elevators, however the elevators are always in a state of disrepair, not working, the level of ensuring safety for residents is not high, there have been many times when the elevators got stuck, making residents extremely confused and scared...

Waterproofing in the attic is very shabby. Photo: PV

Not to mention, the pump system,fire protection systemThere are also many shortcomings in the apartment building, not meeting the requirements. There have been many times when the fire alarm system went off in the middle of the night even though there was no fire, making residents feel insecure. In addition, due to poor management, there have been cases where households arbitrarily drilled and chiseled the ceiling, changing the structure, causing peeling and puncturing of the sanitary drainage pipes, especially in the basement area, causing water from above to overflow onto the basement floor, causing unsanitary conditions and unsafety in the underground parking area...

The corridor ceiling is punctured. Photo: PV

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Anh - representative of the residents in this apartment complex said: the residents have petitioned and reported to the investor and authorities many times about the damaged and degraded state of the building and the issue of granting pink books to the residents. However, up to now, the shortcomings here have not been resolved.

Water leaked into the attic. Photo: PV

According to many residents of this apartment building, although the investor has repeatedly broken promises to residents, failed to fulfill commitments, and provided services of substandard quality, he has frequently "threatened" to cut off services.

Specifically on December 30, 2020, cinvestment jarhas notified the elevator maintenance service provider and security service provider that it will temporarily suspend elevator maintenance service and cut 2 basement parking positions of both buildings CT,A and CT,B from January 1, 2021.

After notifying the two service providers, the investor informed all households in CT,B building that "from January 1, 2021, building services will be stopped so that residents can do it themselves. Nghi Phu Project Management Board is not responsible for any issues related to building services from that time on". After a while, due to problems related to sanitation as well as safety in elevator operation, the services also resumed. However, the elevators often broke down, the basement was unsanitary... making people extremely upset.

No one "dare" to accept management

Regarding the management of the building, at present, according to local residents, the Nghi Phu Urban Area Project Management Board is almost handing it over to the people through a temporary representative board, which has no legal status and no specific organization. In the current complicated situation of the Covid-19 epidemic, the current management work has many shortcomings, from guiding, monitoring, organizing people to prevent the epidemic as well as ensuring good implementation of regulations on disease prevention.

As for the residents of Vinaconex 9 - CT,B building, they have met many times to discuss establishing a Management Board to work with the investor on behalf of the residents and handle the current problems and difficulties. "However, with the seriously degraded infrastructure and conditions not meeting the current standards, the residents of the apartment building do not dare to take it back to manage. This is also the reason why the residents have not agreed to establish a Management Board for the building" - the complaint clearly stated.

Many households on the 11th floor had to contribute money to install a corrugated iron roof on the building's terrace to prevent leaks. Photo: PV

Faced with the prolonged frustration that has not been resolved, residents of this apartment complex are currently continuing to petition and "call for help" from agencies, departments and investors. In particular, residents request that the investor must completely handle the damaged elevator, ensure the safety of residents during operation; ensure that the fire protection system operates according to regulations; complete the procedures for granting apartment ownership certificates to residents; restore the first floor lobby ceiling to its original construction state, not allowing rainwater to flow down the lobby (due to the Management Board's puncture), and at the same time fix the puncture that changes the basement ceiling structure, causing unsanitary conditions and affecting the safety of the building.

In addition, residents also requested to fix the deterioration of the building, fix the leaking, cracked ceilings, peeling walls, damaged windows, etc. Ensure administrative management of the apartment complex. In particular, the investor needs to publicize maintenance fees and carry out maintenance-related contents of the building after consulting with residents.

On June 29, 2021, the Nghi Phu New Urban Area Construction Investment Project Management Board sent a document to residents about the progress of making apartment ownership certificates. According to this document, the reason for not being able to issue apartment ownership certificates to households is because the Nghe An Tax Department has not yet had documents confirming the completion of the obligation to pay the State budget in Nghi Phu urban area so that the investor is eligible to apply for a certificate for the residents.

However, according to the response document dated July 1, 2021 of Nghe An Tax Department, Vinaconex 9 Joint Stock Company has only temporarily paid Value Added Tax and Corporate Income Tax in Nghe An province and has not provided related settlement documents as required by the tax authority.

Not to mention that currently the New Urban Area Project West of Xo Viet Nghe Tinh Avenue still has 20,595.3m2 of land that has not been allocated in the field. Of which, low-rise residential land is 17,398.3m2 corresponding to 73 plots of land and 3,197m2 of high-rise residential land belonging to the 12-storey apartment building CT,B.

In response to the frustrations of residents at the Vinaconex 9 - CT,B apartment building, we contacted Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong - Director of the Nghi Phu New Urban Area Construction Investment Project Management Board, who signed the notices of service cuts as well as the progress notices of making ownership certificates for CT,B apartments sent to residents. Mr. Cuong replied that "he is not the person in charge".

On May 10, 2021, Construction Joint Stock Company No. 9 (investor of Vinaconex 9 - CT,B building) was administratively sanctioned by the People's Committee of Vinh City for not establishing an apartment building management board as prescribed, with a fine of 15,000,000 VND.