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 year of works to ensure compliance and consistency with the term of use of works according to the law on construction. Specify the handling of apartment buildings that have expired, in which to clarify the rights and obligations of apartment building owners.
Apartment use term is not a basis for automatic termination of ownership
Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, lawyer Hoang Ha - Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association - said that ownership is a right protected by law, but the object of ownership can be eroded, damaged and no longer exist. When that happens, the law must simultaneously solve two issues. On the one hand, it is necessary to determine the legal fate of the lost property. On the other hand, it is necessary to determine which rights and interests of the owner are still protected.
According to the lawyer, to understand the issue of apartment building age correctly, it is not possible to just see how many years the building has existed. It is necessary to accurately identify the objects of each right, the basis for arising or terminating rights and the legal consequences when the project is forced to be demolished.
The first thing to distinguish is that the designated term of use is not the absolute term of existence of the project, and it is not the basis for automatically terminating ownership. Clause 3, Article 58 and Clause 2, Article 59 of the 2023 Housing Law set out an inspection mechanism when the apartment building expires its design term or there is a risk of unsafety. A project that has not yet expired its term may still have to be demolished if safety is not ensured.
Conversely, if the project has expired the design term but is concluded not to be in the case of demolition, it can continue to be used within the time determined according to the inspection conclusion" - lawyer Hoang Ha emphasized.
This approach shows that the law cannot take a number of time to completely replace the assessment of the actual status of assets. The term is the technical parameter, inspection is the activity to determine the status of the project, and the demolition decision is the legal consequence given based on the prescribed legal conditions. A misunderstanding of these three issues will lead to the understanding that every 50 or 70 years, people will naturally lose their homes.
Ensuring the rights of the people
According to Clause 3, Article 237 and Article 242 of the 2015 Civil Code, when property is destroyed, the ownership rights of that property itself terminate. However, termination of apartment ownership does not mean that the owner loses all property interests established by law.
Article 142 of the 2023 Housing Law distinguishes the private ownership part and the common ownership part in apartment buildings. The rights of apartment buyers are also associated with the common land use rights according to land law. When the project is demolished, the legal fate of each of these subjects must be determined separately. The non-existence of the private ownership part does not automatically diminish the common land use rights.
Protecting property rights does not mean ensuring that the owner can use an unsafe building forever. But the request to demolish the building for safety cannot be understood as a basis to ignore their existing property rights" - lawyer Hoang Ha said.
Another issue is that ownership not only brings benefits but is also associated with responsibility. Clause 1, Article 162 of the 2015 Civil Code stipulates that the owner must bear risks regarding their own property, unless there is an agreement or other legal regulations. This sets an important limit. When the project deteriorates due to normal use, reconstruction cannot be tacitly considered as a full financial obligation of the State or another entity.
Therefore, the Government's request to clarify the right to continue using land and the contribution of financial obligations to rebuild apartment buildings can be seen in the relationship between the right to benefit and the responsibility of the owner. This is a direction that is being required to be specified in the draft law, not a new regulation that has taken effect.
The issue of the age of apartments shows that the protection of the law does not necessarily mean permanently maintaining the physical form of assets. In cases prescribed by law, assets may have to be demolished, but the legitimate rights and interests involved must still be determined and resolved according to the corresponding mechanism.
