First payment when buying a house in the future

Lawyer Nguyen Thi Thuy, YouMe Law Firm LLC answers:

Article 25 of the Law Real estate business 2023 (effective from August 1, 2024) stipulates payment in the purchase, sale, hire-purchase of houses and future construction works as follows:

1. Payment in the purchase and sale of houses, construction works, and construction floor areas in future construction works shall be made in installments, the first installment shall not exceed 30% of the contract value including the deposit, the subsequent installments shall be in accordance with the construction progress but the total shall not exceed 70% of the contract value when the house, construction works, or construction floor areas in the construction works have not been handed over to the buyer; in case the seller is an economic organization with foreign investment capital as prescribed in Clause 4, Article 10 of this Law, the total shall not exceed 50% of the contract value.

2. Payment in the lease-purchase of houses, construction works, and construction floor areas in future construction works shall be made in installments, the first installment shall not exceed 30% of the contract value including the deposit, the subsequent installments shall be in accordance with the construction progress until the handover of the house, construction works, and construction floor areas in the construction works to the lessee, but the total amount of advance payment to the lessor shall not exceed 50% of the value of the lease-purchase contract for houses, construction works, and construction floor areas in the construction works. The remaining amount shall be calculated as rent to be paid to the lessor within a certain period as agreed in the contract.

3. If the buyer or hire-purchaser has not been granted a certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land in accordance with the provisions of the law on land, the seller or hire-purchaser shall not collect more than 95% of the contract value; the remaining value of the contract shall be paid when the competent state agency has granted a certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land in accordance with the provisions of the law on land to the buyer or hire-purchaser.

Thus, from August 2024, when buying future housing , the buyer can make the first payment of no more than 30% of the contract value including the deposit according to the above regulations.