In Resolution No. 278/NQ-CP dated September 18, 2026 on the specialized meeting on law-making in September, the Government requested the Ministry of Construction to clearly stipulate the term of use of apartment buildings according to the construction term of works, ensuring compliance and consistency with the term of use of works according to the law on construction.
The apartment building's term of use is a milestone for quality control of the project.
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, lawyer, Master Pham Thanh Tuan - Hanoi Bar Association said that the term of use of apartment buildings is currently regulated in Clause 21, Article 2 of the Draft Housing Law (amended). Accordingly, the term of use of apartment buildings is the term of use of the project, which is determined and stated in the construction design dossier according to the provisions of construction law and is calculated from the time the apartment building is put into operation and use.
The above regulation is aimed at ensuring the quality of the project and safety for users. At the same time, this regulation sets requirements for the durability of the project right from the design stage, as well as determining the milestone to be inspected and quality re-evaluated when the expiration period according to the design expires. The inspection results and legal conditions are the basis for deciding on continued use, repair or demolition, reconstruction.
To make it easier to imagine, lawyer Pham Thanh Tuan gave an example of a motorbike. When buying a car, the car is owned by the buyer. This ownership does not automatically disappear just because the car has been used for many years, but it does not mean that the car can operate safely forever. When the car is degraded, if the law stipulates the inspection period, the car owner needs to conduct a technical inspection to determine whether the car is still usable, whether it needs to be repaired or must be discontinued. The inspection and assessment of the car's condition does not change who the car belongs to.
Apartment buildings are similar. People have the right to own apartments, while the building's expected lifespan is determined in the design documents. When the design term expires, the project must be inspected to determine the ability to continue use and handling measures. This is a milestone to re-evaluate the safety of the project, not a milestone to automatically terminate apartment ownership.
Clarifying the "lifespan" of apartment buildings
The issue of "term of use of apartment buildings" or "year of use" of apartment buildings is not a new legal issue but has been regulated for a long time in legal documents such as the 2014 Housing Law, Decree 69/2021/ND-CP, Housing Law 2023...
In the 2014 Housing Law, "the term of use of apartment buildings" is specified in Clause 1, Article 99, effective from July 1, 2015. Accordingly: "The term of use of apartment buildings is determined based on the level of construction works and the quality inspection conclusion of the provincial-level housing management agency where the apartment building is located, as prescribed in Clause 2 of this Article".
The issue of apartment buildings that are out of "lifespan" is also regulated in Clause 2, Article 99 of the 2014 Housing Law, effective from July 1, 2015. Accordingly: "When apartment buildings are out of lifespan according to the provisions of law on construction or are heavily damaged, at risk of collapse, not ensuring safety for users, the provincial-level housing management agency must organize a quality inspection of this apartment building project to handle it according to regulations...".
According to the national technical regulation (QCVN) on decentralization of works serving construction design issued by the Minister of Construction, ordinary apartment buildings have a design lifespan of no less than 50 years, which is the minimum level. The specific time limit must be determined in the design task of each project.
The 2023 Housing Law as well as the 2026 Housing Law Draft both have distinctions in compensation mechanisms, resettlement and financial obligations when renovating and rebuilding apartment buildings. Clause 13 Article 2 of the Draft defines "old apartment buildings" as apartment buildings invested and built from 1994 and earlier.
For old apartment buildings, i.e. apartment buildings built from 1994 and earlier, the focus is on the compensation and resettlement mechanism. Meanwhile, for apartment buildings that are not old apartment buildings, the focus is on the mechanism for owners to contribute funds to rebuild the project.
From a policy perspective, this distinction is reasonable in principle, because old apartment buildings are a group of historical works, requiring compensation and resettlement mechanisms to handle previous shortcomings. Meanwhile, for apartment buildings built later, the Draft gradually shifts the responsibility for recreating works to the owners themselves.
