The Ministry of Justice has just publicly disclosed the Appraisal Dossier for the draft Law on Housing (amended). In the document submitted for appraisal, the Ministry of Construction had a Report dated September 9 on summarizing the implementation of the 2023 Housing Law.
Regarding the policy of renovating old apartment buildings, the Ministry of Construction said that the 2023 Housing Law has basically created a clear, flexible and practical legal framework for the renovation and construction of old apartment buildings. Localities have also implemented and issued documents assigned by the Law related to the renovation and reconstruction of apartment buildings.
According to reports from localities, accumulated data as of the end of November 2025, in urban areas across the country there are about 2,930 old apartment buildings, mainly concentrated in some major cities directly under the Central Government such as: Hanoi (2,160 apartment buildings), Ho Chi Minh City (474 apartment buildings) and Hai Phong (178 apartment buildings).
The number of old apartment buildings that have been quality inspected is 1,589 apartment buildings, of which Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong have carried out inspection work for all old apartment buildings in the area. Hanoi City currently only conducts inspection work for 848 apartment buildings, accounting for 39% of the total number of old apartment buildings in the city.
The Ministry of Construction said that, regarding difficulties, policies on renovation and reconstruction of apartment buildings reveal some limitations, such as: complicated procedures for approving investment policies for projects; some localities such as Hanoi apply specific mechanisms and policies to implement the renovation and reconstruction of local apartment buildings (urban reconstruction projects), leading to some policies of the Housing Law needing to be reviewed to ensure higher implementation.
Third, regulations on renovation and reconstruction of apartment buildings such as: inspection, assessment of apartment building quality, requirements for planning, plans, content of apartment building renovation and reconstruction plans, content of compensation plans are still not guaranteed to be flexible, so these contents need to be reviewed and assigned to the Government.
Regarding the causes, due to relevant legal regulations such as land law, construction law, law on public-private partnership investment... being adjusted recently, it is necessary to review and adjust to ensure consistency.
To remove difficulties, the draft revised Housing Law has added regulations on reconstruction, BT form in implementing the renovation and reconstruction of apartment buildings according to the provisions of investment law in the form of public-private partnerships, contributing to supplementing capital sources for implementing apartment building renovation and reconstruction projects.
Along with that, the Draft Law stipulates a new point on the term of use of apartment buildings that is determined and stated in the construction design dossier of the project according to the provisions of the law on construction. At the same time, clarifying the rights and responsibilities of apartment building owners when the apartment building expires and is subject to demolition: the owner is entitled to continue to use the land area with the apartment building to self-rebuild the apartment building. Simplifying the procedures for selecting project investors to create favorable conditions for businesses to participate in renovating and rebuilding apartment buildings.
