LEGAL UPDATE: Did you know that if you are foreign real estate developer as of 1 July of this year, you can lease existing real estate (including houses and buildings) and sublease the same and you can also take over a part of a larger project to build for sale, lease or for lease and buyback.
These new rights are significant:
a. Currently foreign developers must develop and build their own projects to have the right to lease such properties out. By the middle of this year, they can now lease existing assets and sublease the same.
b. Currently, foreign developers cannot take over part of a project unless it is part of a large urban development. Under the new law, they will now be allowed to take over a portion of any type of real estate development project.
These two changes will enable foreign real estate developers to look at a much more broader range of projects without having to enter into artificial structures and arrangements.
The new Law on Real Estate Business coupled with the new Law on Housing (allowing foreigner (and even foreign funds) to purchase homes in Vietnam contain some very favourable changes and we hope they will help to stimulate the real estate market in Vietnam both from the development as well as the sale (primary and secondary) angles.
Law on Real Estate Business and Law on Housing (valid 1 July 2015)
