Two rules should not be ignored when 'buying a house on paper'

To buy an apartment under construction, customers need to ask the business to present two legal bases issued by the Department of Construction and the bank.

Deputy General Director of Him Lam Real Estate Company, Ngo Quang Phuc, shared that currently the law has stipulated many legal bases to protect future home buyers.

In this legal jungle, the two simplest and most effective types of documents are the project notification document that is eligible to sell houses issued by the Department of Construction and the bank guarantee certificate. Customers have the right to request to check the two types of documents that are considered the current standards. If one of these two "passports" is missing, customers need to be careful when deciding to spend money to buy a house.

The document confirming that the project is eligible to sell future housing announced by the Department of Construction means that the project has completed all legal documents and completed the foundation. This is the legal time (as stipulated by law) for the project investor to mobilize capital from customers. The added safety for buyers is that the progress of projects announced by the Department of Construction is usually eligible to mobilize capital, meaning that the project is about to enter the construction of the main part.

The law stipulates that if investors want to sell houses on paper (projects formed in the future), they must have a bank guarantee certificate and be notified by the Department of Construction that the project meets the conditions.

Meanwhile, the guarantee certificate issued by the bank is meaningful, if the investor does not hand over the house on time, the credit institution will compensate the customer for damages on behalf of the investor. The guarantee certificate has two forms: one is unsecured loan (based on the assessment of the business's reputation), the other is secured loan (mortgaged property). If buying a house formed in the future, checking with this certificate, the customer can rest assured that the project's legality has been screened by credit institutions in many strict stages. This is also a provision stipulated in the law.

According to Article 56 of the amended Law on Real Estate Business, effective from 2015, before selling or leasing future housing, project investors must have their financial obligations guaranteed by a commercial bank. In case the investor fails to deliver the housing according to the committed schedule, the buyer or lessee has the right to request the bank to refund the advance payment and other amounts according to the signed contract.

This provision has been applied for nearly 2 years and has contributed to increasing transparency, safety for the project and avoiding risks for home buyers. This regulation positions real estate development businesses in 2 directions. One is that selling or leasing future houses must be guaranteed by a commercial bank. Two is that if the business wants to avoid the guarantee process, it must complete the project before selling.

Mr. Phuc added that, in addition to the two simple and easy-to-check legal bases above, to avoid risks, investors and project home buyers can filter information using some manual methods.

For example, look up the history of the project's formation and operation on the mass media. Another equally effective way is to spend a few hours in the area (the area where the project is located) to do fieldwork. You should sit in the restaurants near the project to listen to information from local people or randomly interview in this area to grasp the news outside the real estate broker's advertisements to have more basis when making investment decisions.

» New regulations on legal documents for housing construction

According to VNE