Since February 27, 2025, when Decision No. 26/2025 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee officially took effect, many apartment buildings in the city have simultaneously issued notices prohibiting short-term apartment rental activities by day and week.
Although the leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction affirmed that this Decision does not prohibit short-term leasing, most of the Management Board and Management Board of apartment buildings still cited Point a, Clause 1, Article 12 of the decision to implement the ban. As a result, a series of billboards with warning content in many languages have been erected, causing a negative impression on tourists and the city's tourism environment.
Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is the only locality that does not allow the use of apartments for short-term accommodation. This raises a problem when from September 1, 2025, the city will expand administrative boundaries to include Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau, which do not apply this ban. Therefore, HoREA proposes to review the issue, based on the direction in Document No. 4375/VP-DT dated March 31, 2025 of the City People's Committee Office and Document No. 1823/SXD-QLN&TTBDS dated April 14, 2025 of the Department of Construction (ending to the Department of Tourism).
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), not allowing owners to rent apartments for the short term has negatively affected the tourism sector and directly affected the livelihoods of about 8,740 homeowners in 24 apartment buildings, and caused thousands of workers to lose their jobs. As a result, part of the supply chain of accommodation services for tourists and visitors was interrupted. According to HoREA, it is not possible to ban it for the reason of difficulty in management, but it is necessary to have more appropriate and effective solutions.
HoREA affirms that the right of apartment owners to rent for long-term or short-term is legal, clearly stipulated in the Housing Law 2023 and the 2015 Civil Code. In particular, Point c, Clause 8, Article 3 of the 2023 Housing Law only prohibits "using apartments for purposes other than living", while short-term tenants also use them for residential purposes. HoREA cited that if Mr. A rents the apartment for 1 month to work, it will be recognized as living, while Mr. B rents it for 1 week to take care of relatives and is considered unreasonable.
From the above shortcomings, Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of HoREA said that the association agreed with the opinions of agencies under the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Construction that instead of banning, there should be solutions for management. The Association has proposed a specific roadmap to legalize and include this activity in the framework.
First of all, HoREA recommends that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee soon issue a document clearly explaining Article 13 of Decision 26/2025 in the direction of recognizing the activity of renting apartments for living, including long-term leasing (from 30 days or more) and short-term leasing (under 30 days).
More importantly, the association recommends that the city direct the Department of Finance to immediately receive and process the application for short-term rental business registration for apartments. In fact, since Decision 26 took effect, owners have been refused to register to do business in this industry.
HoREA emphasized that to be allowed to operate, apartment renters must fully meet legal requirements such as: business registration, ensuring security and order, fire prevention and fighting, environmental sanitation, minimum facilities according to Decree 168/2017, the usable area must not be less than 25m2, and must declare accommodation and temporary residence for foreign guests according to the law. At the same time, business people must fulfill their tax payment obligations according to the instructions of the Ministry of Finance.
In addition, the association also proposed that the city apply technological solutions to digitize short-term accommodation management, thereby increasing monitoring efficiency and ensuring transparency.
