Rental price per night 650-850 thousand VND
According to Decree 339 of 2026 of the Government, individuals using apartments for non-housing purposes (except for leasing for living according to the provisions of law), may be fined from 100 - 130 million VND.
The fact that the apartment owner leases it to another individual or family for living is not prohibited. The homeowner can still sign a lease contract, fulfill tax obligations, register residence and management requirements according to regulations.
However, leasing by day, by hour or operating apartments in the form of homestays, accommodation apartments are different in nature from leasing for others to live stably, and are not implicitly considered for rent to live in.
In fact, there are many cases where apartment owners are renting their apartments for business, providing services, and even operating under the model of homestay, staying by the hour and day.
In the role of someone who needs to rent a short-term room to stay, Lao Dong reporter was introduced by a broker named Nam to many apartments rented by the hour and day that are very suitable for business, travel, and resort customers. The apartments have a variety of bedrooms (from 1-3 bedrooms) in 3 different apartment projects.
According to advertised information, at the apartment building belonging to the D'Capital project on Tran Duy Hung street, Yen Hoa ward (Hanoi City), 1-bedroom apartments with an area of about 32-36m2 with full furniture are priced at 850,000 VND/night.
Nam said that the price of apartments here is higher than in other areas such as Me Tri or Tay Mo ward because it is near the central area. This person said that if customers want to be cheaper, they can rent apartments in Tay Mo and Dai Mo wards with a overnight rental price of 650,000 VND/apartment.
When asked about procedures and papers, this broker shared that if the customer is Vietnamese, no information is needed. If the customer is a foreigner, a visa is required to stay.
It is necessary to consider objective evidence before fining.
Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Real Estate Association Nguyen Van Dinh said that legal regulations do not allow the use of apartments for non-housing purposes. Hourly and short-term apartment rentals are currently completely spontaneous and often do not notify local authorities, causing difficulties for the management of functional agencies.
Sharing with PV, Lawyer Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai - Deputy Director of HTC Vietnam Law Company Limited - said that if apartment owners regularly advertise on booking platforms, charged by the hour or by day... then in essence it is a accommodation service business.
Functional agencies must consider objective evidence such as advertising content, room booking schedules, frequency of customers entering and leaving, payment transactions, room receipt and cancellation activities, and services provided. However, it is also impossible to penalize based only on speculation; competent authorities must still fully prove the act and correctly identify the person directly performing the violation.
To avoid cases of "circumventing" the law, it is necessary to soon have unified guidance, clearly defining the two concepts of "leasing for living" and "business of short-term accommodation services", accompanied by a set of identification criteria.
For apartments in purely residential apartment buildings, it should be clearly defined that they are not allowed to operate accommodation business by the hour or by the day; tourist accommodation activities are only allowed to be carried out in areas or projects that have been approved with commercial and service functions and fully meet specialized conditions. At the same time, it is necessary to connect information between the booking platform, tax authorities, police agencies and apartment building management units.
