"Departmental" cakes and bag tips for people who want to buy social housing
In the real estate market, the phrase "diplomatic property" is being used by many brokers to advertise social housing (NOXH) for sale at a difference of hundreds of millions of VND per unit. They claim to be "knowing the investor", or being "advised and submitted documents" to the buyer, even though the project is still an empty lot, not meeting legal requirements.
Buyers are required to deposit hundreds of millions of VND to reserve a seat or ensure the approval documents in the trust forms or consulting contracts, brokers are committed to helping complete the procedures and "transfer ownership when there are official approval results". The trap lies in the fact that these documents have absolutely no legal value, while the money that people spend is not protected by any agency.
According to the reporter in Hanoi, in some projects, although the project is just an empty lot and has not been built, many people who call themselves brokers have pushed the house price up to 45 - 47 million VND/m2, higher than the price announced by the investor and double the ceiling prescribed by the State for social housing.
A person named Hai, claiming to be a real estate broker, has relationships with many "big" investors who sell a series of projects such as Kim Chung, Ha Dinh (Nguyen Xien). Each "diplomatically beautiful" apartment is priced by Hai at a difference of 400 million to more than 1 billion VND.
When the reporter suggested buying, Hai asked to deposit 50 - 100 million VND in cash or transfer money to his personal account, with the reason of "rare holding". Otherwise, "there will be out of stock because there are many buyers".
According to Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club, the nature of social housing is to be controlled and post-inspected very closely. Therefore, projects that have not yet been built but have been bought and sold, transferred through brokers are all illegal acts, posing great risks to buyers.
Mr. Diep said that there are many cases where people are eligible to buy social housing, but because they are worried about not getting a good rate, they have to go to brokerage to "buy back". This is very risky. Brokers have violated the law, while buyers easily lose money, lose opportunities and encounter legal problems, he emphasized.
According to him, building a sales ecosystem for social housing businesses is possible, but it must be legally connected with local authorities, where the competent authority confirms that the buyer is qualified. "If businesses in the ecosystem follow the regulations, it is not wrong. But if we take advantage of it to broker, buy and sell at a different price, and collect money from outside, it is completely illegal, said Mr. Diep.
He also pointed out that the reason for this situation is the scarcity of social housing supply, causing many people with real housing needs to accept the risk when looking to buy through intermediaries.
"Departmental failure" of sophisticated scenarios from free brokers to real estate companies
No need to draw, no need to book lots, the documents are "ended" and "certainly won a beautiful house", those are familiar invitations in the "diplomatic" social housing sales cases that are spreading in Hanoi.
From Thuong Thanh, Nguyen Xien to Vinh Hung, a series of projects with unfinished legal documents have been blown up by brokers. Just need 50 - 100 million VND to "keep a spot", then pay a few hundred million more, called "different", the buyer is promised to have a direct contract with the investor. In some places, the difference is pushed up to 1 billion VND per apartment.
Behind this trick is a network of private sector companies claiming to be "official distribution units", using the names "internal quality", "officer and soldier quality" or "diplomatic quality" to legalize profiteering. They create sophisticated scenarios: making documents, signing authorization contracts, even printing receipts with company seals. When the buyer transfers money, all the focal points disappear.
At the Him Lam Thuong Thanh social housing project (Bo De ward, Long Bien district), which has just started construction not long ago, the broker has advertised 200 "diplomatic" apartments, selling at a difference of 700 - 750 million VND per apartment. Introducing himself as a member of TGT Land Real Estate Joint Stock Company, a person named Thao confidently introduced: "Each project has its own apartment fund, on my side there are 200 diplomatic gifts, the documents will be fully packaged, ensuring 100% success". The poor also gave enough reasons to make buyers believe that this difference was normal, because investors must also make a profit. People who want to buy must pay the difference from the beginning, even though the project has not been officially opened for sale.
Similarly, a broker named Hai launched a "diplomatic" advertisement for social housing projects in Kim Chung, Ha Dinh... affirming that it would help buyers "really contact the investor", even urge customers to deposit 50 - 100 million VND immediately to "keep Slot", and request money to be transferred to their personal accounts. If customers hesitate, brokers immediately "turn around", introduce other projects with higher prices, but still do the same trick: "clearly sign, secure the price, complete the documents".
Not only stopping at propaganda, the "diplomatic tricks" were also upgraded by Tan Nhat Phat Investment and Development Joint Stock Company to an organized fraud scenario. Dozens of people have deposited a total of nearly 19 billion VND to buy apartments at Ecohome, NSH Trung Van, NO1 Ha Dinh projects, but when the handover deadline came, the house was not seen, and the broker disappeared.
The common point in these tricks is to target the mentality of "buy quickly, win firmly, sign directly". The "brokers" who spread the news have internal relationships, have "separate funds" or "official fees", then convince customers to pay cash or transfer it to personal accounts. Many people have lost hundreds of millions of VND because they believe their word of mouth.
Recently, Hanoi City Police have warned about the act of spreading "internal" and "diplomatic" information about social housing to defraud and appropriate property. Hanoi City Police recommends that people pay special attention and be vigilant, absolutely do not transact, deposit or transfer money to any individual or organization that illegally advertises for sale social housing, claiming to have "internal benefits" or "diplomatic benefits"; only register and submit documents to buy, rent, or lease-purchase social housing apartments through investors when there are, announced on the website of the City Department of Construction at the time of receiving the registration documents.
When detecting fraudulent behavior, it is recommended that people promptly report it to the nearest police agency for receipt, investigation, and handling according to the provisions of law.
