The National Assembly passed the Law on Prices (amended)

Panorama of the working session on the afternoon of June 19 at Dien Hong Hall, National Assembly House. Photo: Quang Vinh

Previously, at the working session at Dien Hong Hall, the National Assembly voted to pass the Resolution approving the 2021 State budget settlement with 473 National Assembly deputies participating in the vote in favor, accounting for 95.75% of the total number of National Assembly deputies, and voted to pass the Law on Prices (amended) with 92.91% of deputies participating in the vote in favor.

National Assembly delegates from Nghe An vote on the Resolution approving the 2021 state budget settlement. Photo: Quang Vinh

Next, the National Assembly discussed in groups. Discussing in Group 3 with the delegations of National Assembly deputies from Bac Kan and Bac Lieu provinces, the delegation of Nghe An had 2 opinions contributing to many contents in the draft Law on Real Estate Business (amended).

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Deputy Head of the Delegation of National Assembly Deputies of Nghe An gave her opinion on the conditions for housing and construction works to be put into business in the future, with conditions and documents on acceptance of the completion of technical infrastructure construction according to the provisions of the law on construction corresponding to the project progress approved by the competent state agency.

Overview of the discussion session at Group 3. Photo: Quang Vinh

According to the delegate of Nghe An, this regulation is very difficult to implement because in the decisions on approving investment policies, there are only regulations on completing each content of the project, there has never been any regulation on the progress of completing the construction of technical infrastructure. Therefore, it is very difficult to implement this regulation in reality, so it is necessary to consider and stipulate more clearly.

The delegate also suggested that it is necessary to clarify what are the "legal documents of the project" stipulated in the draft law?

Regarding the regulation on transferring land use rights with technical infrastructure in real estate projects to individuals to build their own houses, delegate Thai Thi An Chung said: This is a long-standing issue with many opinions. Through monitoring in localities, there is a situation where real estate projects are often left empty when dividing the land into plots for sale and then transferring it to individuals.

Therefore, the delegate said that it would be more effective to assign the district-level People's Committee to invest in infrastructure, then conduct land auctions than to assign construction and infrastructure enterprises to divide and sell land plots to people.

Delegate Thai Thi An Chung speaks at the discussion. Photo: Quang Vinh

Regarding the conditions for land with technical infrastructure in real estate projects transferring land use rights to individuals to build their own houses, delegates agreed with the regulation that the land area must not be located in the areas of wards, districts, and cities belonging to special-class urban areas, type I urban areas, type II urban areas, and type III urban areas; but at the same time, they proposed to study and supplement the above restriction for communes in special-class or type I urban areas, because if individuals were allowed to build their own houses, it would not ensure the architectural and planning aspects.

The delegate also suggested that the Law on Real Estate Business (amended) should also add regulations on cases where investors have transferred to individuals to build houses, but the progress is slow, who will be punished, the investor or the individual building the house?

Regarding payment methods in real estate transactions, delegate Thai Thi An Chung proposed clearly stating that cash should not be used, but payment should be made through banks.

Discussing the above draft law, Mr. Hoang Minh Hieu - Standing Member of the National Assembly's Law Committee, delegate of Nghe An delegation, said that it is necessary to carefully consider the scope of regulation of the Law on Real Estate Business (amended) related to land use rights.

Because according to the Civil Code, land use rights are a type of property rights, but when included in the Law on Real Estate Business, property rights are considered a type of real estate business; this is theoretically inappropriate and needs to be reviewed to clarify its nature. "Perhaps the Land Law should clarify the concept of "land use rights", delegate Hoang Minh Hieu commented.

Regarding the conditions when transferring all or part of a real estate project, one of the important conditions is that the investor has fulfilled financial obligations regarding the project's land, including land use fees, land rent; taxes, fees, and charges related to land (if any) of the project.

Delegate Hoang Minh Hieu, Nghe An delegation, speaks at the discussion. Photo: Quang Vinh

Delegate Hoang Minh Hieu agreed with the opinion in the inspection report of the National Assembly's Economic Committee that project transfer is still allowed, but it needs to be accompanied by strict conditions for the organization receiving the real estate project, including specific regulations on deposits and commitments to fulfill the project's financial obligations.

Some experts are concerned that allowing easy transfer of projects could lead to many investors passing through their hands, increasing real estate prices. However, according to delegate Hoang Minh Hieu, the reality is not exactly as the above assessment because the price is decided based on market demand.

Regarding regulations, investors selling, leasing, purchasing houses, future construction works and transferring land use rights with technical infrastructure in real estate projects for people to build their own houses must conduct transactions through real estate trading floors according to the provisions of this Law.

Delegate Hoang Minh Hieu commented: The purpose of the above regulation is to ensure the rights of people when buying real estate with full information. However, in the delegate's opinion, it is not necessary to make the regulation mandatory as above, but it is possible to regulate transactions through real estate floors or notarization so that people have many options and have the right to access information; but if only regulating transactions of the above types of projects, especially for projects formed in the future, only through the floor, it also raises the issue of the capacity of the trading floors, and also transparency; because in the past, it has been shown that there are floors that are the "backyards" of real estate companies, so the people's right to access information has not been guaranteed.