People who encroach on the common ownership of apartment buildings, fined up to 80 million VND

Legal Consulting Department of Lao Dong Newspaper answers:

Clause 2, Article 62, Decree 339/2026/ND-CP stipulates penalties for administrative violations in the fields of construction, management of technical infrastructure works, management, housing development, real estate business (effective from August 26, 2026), stipulating fines from 60 million VND to 80 million VND for one of the following acts:

a) Illegally occupying residential area; encroaching on space and area belonging to the common ownership of the apartment building or of other owners in any form;

b) Changing or damaging the load-bearing structure in apartment buildings; dividing or separating apartments without permission from competent state agencies;

c) Using the area and equipment owned and shared by the apartment building for private use;

d) Using the area belonging to common ownership for the wrong purpose or the service area in a mixed-use apartment building.

Clause 4, Article 5 of Decree 339/2026/ND-CP stipulates:

a) The penalty level for administrative violations specified in this Decree is the penalty level applied to organizations, except for the cases specified in point b of this clause. For the same administrative violation, the penalty level applied to individuals is equal to half of the penalty level applied to organizations;

b) The fine level for administrative violations specified in Clause 1, Article 10; Clause 1, Article 13; Clause 1, Clause 2, Clause 3, Article 54; Clause 1, Clause 2, Article 57; Clause 1, Article 58; Clause 1, Article 61; Clause 1, Clause 2, Clause 3, Article 62; Point a, Point b, Point d Clause 2, Article 64; Clause 1, Article 73; Clause 1, Article 74 of this Decree is the penalty level applied to individuals.

Thus, from August 26, 2026, people who encroach on the space and area belonging to the common ownership of apartment buildings may be fined up to 80 million VND.