Real estate rental consultancy for foreigners

I. Legal grounds

– Housing Law No. 65/2014/QH13 issued on November 25, 2014;

– Real Estate Business Law No. 66/2014/QH13 dated November 25, 2014;

– Circular 92/2015/TT-BTC released on June 15, 2015;

– Circular 19/2016/TT-BXD guiding the implementation of some contents of the Housing Law and the Government’s Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP dated October 20, 2015, detailing and guiding some articles of the Housing Law come into effect on June 30, 2016;

II. Regulations on real estate leasing in Vietnam

In Article 161 of the Housing Law in 2014, the rights of foreign organizations and individuals who are house owners are as follows:

1. International organizations and individuals prescribed at Point a, Clause 1, Article 159 of this Law may exercise the rights of house owners according to the provisions of Article 10 of this Law; In case of construction of houses on leased land, they may only hire apartments.

2. Foreign organizations and individuals prescribed at Points b and c, Clause 1, Article 159 of this Law have the rights of house owners like Vietnamese citizens but must comply with the following provisions:

a) Only buy, rent – buy, receive as gifts, inherit and own no more than 30% of the number of apartments in an apartment building; if it is a separate house, including villas or adjacent dwellings, in an area with a population equivalent to a ward-level administrative unit, it is allowed to buy, rent – buy, receive as gifts, inherit only and own no more than two hundred and fifty houses.

b) In the case of an area with a population equivalent to a ward-level administrative unit and multiple apartment buildings or for separate homes on the street, the Government specifies the number of individual apartments and houses that foreign organizations and individuals can buy, rent – buy, receive as gifts, inherit and own;

Based on the above provisions, foreigners who hold houses in Vietnam are entitled to lease apartments.

III. Procedure

– Before hiring the house, the foreign individual must follow the procedures for notification of the house lease to the district-level housing authority of the house where the home is located as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 162 of the Housing Law and Provisions in Article 31 of the Ministry of Construction’s Circular No. 19/2016/TT-BXD dated June 30, 2016 guiding the implementation of some contents of the Housing Law and Decree No. 99/2015/ND-CP.

– Pay personal income tax and value-added tax according to the provisions of Circular 92/2015/TT-BTC guiding the implementation of personal income tax and value-added tax on resident individuals conducting business activities; overseeing the implementation of some amendments and supplements on personal income tax specified in the law amending and supplementing a number of articles of Tax Laws 71/2014/QH13 and Decree 12/2015/ND-CP detailing the implementation of the act amending and supplementing a number of sections of Tax Laws and amending and supplementing a number of articles of tax decrees issued by the Minister of Finance.