A series of tricks to circumvent the law
As mentioned in the articles "The boss of social housing distribution violated regulations at Sao Vang Tower Hoa Binh project " and "Sao Vang investor and strange customer loan contracts", to buy, sell and transfer apartments under the social housing program, brokers and investors (Sao Vang Real Estate JSC) used a series of tricks to circumvent the law.
Regarding the rented apartments, according to the broker's disclosure, in order to "clear the debt" with the units providing fire prevention and fighting equipment (PCCC), electricity and water... Sao Vang Real Estate JSC used the rented apartments to "assign debt" to these units.
"My brother is the contractor for the fire protection and electricity and water works of the entire project. After completion, the investor owed us tens of billions and "paid the debt" by giving us apartments for rent here. Now we need money so much that we are selling at a loss. The investor's price is 518 million VND/apartment with 1 bedroom. I will sell it to you for only 500 million VND. If you buy, the apartment will be in your name. I will guarantee it by taking you to the investor to make a contract. We will make 2 contracts, 1 is a "social housing rental contract", 2 is a "loan contract", you will lend the investor an amount equal to the price of the apartment, with 0% interest rate", Ha (character's name has been changed) - the apartment broker boss at the Sao Vang Tower Hoa Binh project informed.
To prove what he said, Ha sent the reporter a set of documents to circumvent the law on buying and selling rental apartments at the Sao Vang Tower project, including 2 contracts signed by a new customer with the investor.
Accordingly, to sell to a customer named Le The Thanh (character's name has been changed) apartment number 1510, 15th floor, building B, Sao Vang Tower apartment building at Quynh Lam ward, Hoa Binh city, Hoa Binh province, the investor Sao Vang Real Estate JSC, represented by Ms. Pham Thi Hanh - Deputy Director, signed with the above customer 2 documents: "social housing lease contract" and "loan contract".
In which, the "loan contract" is the apartment buyer (Le The Thanh) lends the investor an amount equal to the value of the apartment, which is 712,652,500 VND. This set of documents also includes a power of attorney. In the power of attorney (No. 03/BDS-UQ) of Sao Vang Real Estate JSC, Mr. Do Duy Lien - Director of the company authorized Ms. Pham Thi Hanh - Deputy Director of the company to perform the following tasks: "Decision on signing contracts to purchase commercial service space, social housing lease contracts, loan contracts and procedures related to the above types of contracts under the Social Housing project in Quynh Lam ward, Hoa Binh city, Hoa Binh province".
Also according to broker Ha, after only 3 months (from late May to early August 2024), all the apartments for rent in the project were sold in this way of circumventing the law.
In addition, although it has not been 5 years, the buying and selling and transferring of social housing apartments here has been taking place loudly and openly. According to the disclosure of the "boss" broker, the organization of buying and selling, transferring and profiteering has appeared early on when the project was in the handover phase.
"Many people working for the investor got rich from this project. Right from the beginning, they organized to "hold" many apartments and sell them at a difference of 150 million VND/unit from the first phase. Up to now, the transfer has been booming. I have sold at least 60 apartments here. Do you know about the investor? The houses here are like "golden goose" and if you have money, you should buy. Now that the ownership is not registered, you can buy with a power of attorney or a notary, rest assured that you will only gain and never lose", said Chi - another broker at the Sao Vang Tower project.
Social housing buyers "circumventing the law" face a series of risks
After many days of contacting brokers to learn about how to circumvent the law, sell social housing apartments and lease-purchase illegally, the reporter returned to the project to meet people who had successfully purchased apartments in this way through many contact steps.
Meeting Mr. Thanh Tuan (character's name has been changed) at the apartment on the 10th floor of building C, Sao Vang Tower apartment building, Mr. Tuan said that he bought it through broker Ha - the tycoon of apartment business in this project and moved in since January 2024. "My house is a rental apartment, over 60 square meters, bought through broker Ha. When I bought it, the cheap price was only about 700 million VND, but now it must be over 1 billion VND.
I bought it back from the old owner, and was only able to transfer the right to use the apartment, but to change the name, I had to wait another 5 years. The rental contracts and loan contracts for the investor were all under the old owner's name, and they had already handed them all over to me," said Mr. Tuan.
Mr. Tuan informed that at the time of buying the house, this rental apartment had already been transferred through many "generations" of owners.
Even though he has paid the full amount of the house, he will have to wait 5 years (according to regulations) to contact the old owner to transfer the ownership.
"After 5 years, I will have to contact the old owner to transfer the name. It all depends on this brokerage team. Where else can I find them?", Mr. Tuan shared.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Lawyer Nguyen Ngoc Hung, head of the Ket Noi Law Office (Hanoi Bar Association) said that people who accept to establish power of attorney, notary... according to the advice of brokers to buy social housing units when the project does not meet the 5-year conditions as prescribed will face a series of risks, because from the time of establishment, the contracts are invalid.
"According to the broker's advice, to buy a house in this project, the buyer and seller will make a power of attorney document. In essence, this document is not a sales contract but only a transfer of the right to manage and use the property. During this 5-year period, the buyer only has the right to manage and use, but does not have the right to own the property on paper. This is just a way to circumvent the law.
If the state agency can prove that the contract here is an authorization or a handwritten contract to buy and sell social housing before 5 years, this is a violation of the law. Therefore, these contracts are invalid from the time of creation, and buyers will face many risks, even losing everything," lawyer Hung analyzed.
The fact that the investor Sao Vang Real Estate JSC and the broker signed two contracts to sell social housing apartments for rent-purchase is a violation of the law.
"The fact that the Sao Vang investor signed two documents at the same time, one is a "social housing lease contract" and the other is a "loan contract", it can be clearly seen that this is a trick to legalize the investor's illegal behavior.
The investor wanted to use such a contract to sell off the assets to raise capital and recover money for the rented apartments. This clearly violated the regulations and there should be measures to deal with this kind of intentional law-evading behavior," said lawyer Hung.
According to Mr. Nguyen The Diep - Vice President of Hanoi Real Estate Club, in addition to the investor's responsibility, the above incident also partly stems from policy.
"Currently, businesses doing social housing are facing many difficulties. Many times, after building, they cannot sell or rent. In my opinion, if there are any limitations, local authorities, especially ministries and branches, must study the reality to have mechanisms to remove difficulties, so that businesses can continue to have capital to invest in social housing.
However, the fact that businesses use many ways to circumvent the law to sell houses is not in accordance with the law. This cannot be encouraged and needs to be appropriately sanctioned," Mr. Diep said.
