Stop investors from pawning customers' houses

Increase transparency, increase sanctions

According to real estate expert Phan Cong Chanh, when a house is mortgaged and the bank agrees to let the investor sell it without requiring a mortgage release, the bank and the investor must resolve the matter among themselves. If any risks occur, the bank and the investor will be held responsible, while the people will have their legitimate rights protected by law.

Many investors mortgage houses they have sold to customers to banks.

But to stop the situation of investors pawning customers' houses, Mr. Phan Cong Chanh suggested that the authorities need to have guidelines and regulations to resolve such cases in a way that benefits the people. Especially when people have followed the law, followed the procedures, and paid the full amount, the state must protect them, must issue them pink books, and not let people suffer losses because of disputes or the implementation of the investor's obligations.

"While the law has many regulations but there are still loopholes, it is necessary for the authorities to intervene and handle them promptly. If necessary, people can sue in court. The court also needs to have very clear judgments, almost typical situations, like precedents, so that other investors, banks, and people can clearly see the problem and feel secure. At the same time, to minimize the risks that customers have to bear, it is necessary to be transparent and publicize information about mortgaged projects. The disclosure must be clear, detailed and updated regularly so that people can understand, not just general disclosure, only stating the project name," Mr. Chanh proposed.

From another perspective, Dr. Phan Phuong Nam (Ho Chi Minh City University of Law) cited Decree No. 16 analyzing that acts of not disclosing, not fully disclosing or not correctly disclosing the contents of real estate projects and housing construction investment projects can be fined from 100 to 120 million VND. The fine for real estate business that does not fully ensure the conditions according to regulations is 600 million VND. However, compared to the benefits gained from taking advantage of legal loopholes in a large-scale real estate project worth hundreds of billions of VND, this fine is too low. Therefore, many investors deliberately violate the law, accept to pay fines, greatly affecting the rights of other entities.

Currently, the 2024 Law on Real Estate Business has made some positive adjustments to the obligation to disclose information of real estate businesses. However, the failure to increase the penalty framework to ensure appropriate handling of violations is also a limitation of the law.

In addition, the law stipulates that after the Department of Construction issues a written notice that the housing is eligible for sale or lease-purchase, the investor will mortgage the project and must also release the mortgage before selling to customers. At the same time, procedures must be completed for the Department of Construction to issue a notice that the housing is eligible. However, Mr. Chanh commented: The regulation is very difficult to implement when there is no mechanism to ensure that the investor will comply with the regulations. Because, immediately after the Department of Construction's notice that the investor mortgages, they will rely on this notice to mobilize capital from customers as soon as possible.

Must clear mortgage before selling to customers

To control the practice of investors mortgaging customers' houses to banks, Mr. Ngo Gia Hoang (Ho Chi Minh City University of Law) said that instead of requiring transactions to be conducted through real estate trading floors, it is necessary to strengthen and expand the scope of notary organizations, by requiring real estate transactions in which one party or parties participating in the transaction are real estate business organizations to also be notarized... Because the independent nature of notarization activities will help to check and monitor the implementation and compliance with the law by investors, real estate brokers and consultants to protect the vulnerable.

At the same time, in order to maintain stability and order for economic development, it is necessary to build a mechanism to control future housing transactions of real estate businesses.

"To ensure safety for home buyers, the law needs to supplement regulations on enhancing the responsibility of banks in managing mortgaged assets. Because when selling future housing, investors both borrow money from banks and mobilize capital from customers. If the mobilized capital is not closely monitored, investors can misuse it, invest money in many projects at the same time, leading to the risk of investors losing their ability to pay, being unable to complete the project and hand over the house to customers. At this time, not only home buyers but also the rights of the mortgaged bank are affected. Therefore, when accepting a mortgage on a housing project, the bank must be responsible for managing and supervising the mortgaged assets," Mr. Hoang suggested.

According to him, it is necessary to have clearer regulations on ensuring the rights of home buyers when handling mortgaged assets in the form of project transfer. Because the parties can handle the assets by transferring the mortgaged real estate project to recover the debt.

To ensure the safety of home buyers, the law needs to supplement regulations on enhancing the responsibility of banks in managing mortgaged assets. Because when selling future housing, investors both borrow money from banks and mobilize capital from customers.

Mr. Ngo Gia Hoang (Ho Chi Minh City University of Law)

Phu Thanh apartment investor commits to pay debt

On June 25, Company 585, the investor of Phu Thanh apartment building (Tan Phu District, Ho Chi Minh City), issued a press release affirming that it will pay off the debt to "redeem" the house for the customer.

Currently, the total number of apartments in the project is 833. Of which, the company mortgaged the red book in the form of future assets for 219 apartments according to mortgage contract No. 104 dated August 4, 2010. During the real estate business, in the 2010s, real estate fell into a frozen state, the bank interest rate was up to 22 - 23%/year, causing the company to face difficulties in business activities as well as arranging debts with the bank.

Faced with the difficulties of the enterprise, on November 3, 2022, Viet A Bank - Ho Chi Minh City Branch agreed to let the investor pay the debt according to each apartment code and the bank will release the mortgage for each apartment. Up to now, Company 585 has processed the release of mortgages for 6 apartments (of which 1 apartment was released in early June 2024). The investor proposed that Viet A Bank - Ho Chi Minh City Branch continue to support the company in the next 3 years so that the company has more time to prepare equivalent assets to process the release of mortgages for the remaining 213 apartments (from now until 2027). Of the 213 apartments currently mortgaged at Viet A Bank, Company 585 still has to collect from residents 5% of the apartment value, equivalent to more than 41 billion VND. Company 585 affirmed that the residents are not responsible to the bank but are the responsibility of the company.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/bong-dung-bi-ngan-hang-siet-nha-chan-dung-viec-chu-dau-tu-mang-nha-cua-khach-di-cam-185240625225312879.htm