1. How are legal risks when buying an old apartment understood?

Legal risks when buying old apartments are understood as risks of changes in legal regulations or individuals participating in the purchase but without thoroughly understanding the subject of the purchase and not understanding the regulations. civil law to damages to the buyer. Therefore, when legal risks occur, they have a great impact on buyers. Risk events are often related to the quality of the apartment, ownership of the apartment, term of use...

Buying a house (or buying an apartment) is an important thing for every person, because this purchase requires spending a large amount of money to find a suitable apartment. If mistakes are made, the economic and legal consequences are very complicated. Currently, the following two types of apartments are popular: commercial apartments - these apartments are built and operated by business investors and mini apartments - this type of apartment is used by individuals and households. Self-invested family, the capital source is usually mobilized by that individual to sell the apartment. No matter what type of apartment you buy, the issue of being granted a Certificate of land use rights, ownership of houses and other assets attached to land is the most important thing to pay attention to when buying an apartment.

2. Common legal risks when buying an old apartment:

2.1. Do not sign a contract directly with the investor:

In fact, people sign contracts without meeting the investor but instead sign with another unit or company. No matter how to rationalize that action, it will bring great disadvantages to buyers of old apartments. Because the buyer is in a passive position, information about the apartment and the seller is still information that cannot be absolutely determined. So, unfortunately if a dispute occurs, it will be quite difficult for the buyer to reclaim that money because they don't know if they should blame the project company or the investor?

Normally, to manage an apartment project well, the investor will have a separate company to manage that project or cooperate with another development company to transact with apartment buyers. . This is an act of authorization, but the real power and responsibility to resolve the problem belongs to the investor. In addition, there are still cases where the investor and the project company belong to the same corporation but have different statuses, neither party is in control of the other. This raises a problem: when a legal risk occurs, the law will base on the signed contract to determine the responsible entity in the purchase contract. If people agree, work and sign a contract with the project company, they can only claim or sue that company, the investor is not involved in this issue.

To be legally certain and ensure their legitimate rights, home buyers need to make purchases with the investor himself. Before entering into a contract, it is necessary to clearly understand the investment license documents and project documents approved by competent state agencies. When people make buying and selling transactions, the contract signing process usually follows the following trends:

Initially, the project company will sign the contract in advance and collect money from the home buyer. Then the three parties including the investor - project company - home buyer will sign an agreement to transfer the contract to the investor. In some other cases, the contract will be signed with the investor first, then the transfer agreement will be signed with the project company. This professional process is the difference between a reputable investor and an investor with signs of fraud. To ensure the rights of people when participating in buying apartments according to Article 8 of the Law on Protection of People's Rights consumers, the buyer has the right to request the seller to provide accurate information and complete documents proving the legality related to the real estate to limit any risks when participating in a legal event. .

2.2. Expiry date of old apartment?

Nowadays, when people buy apartments to live in, they always think that this place of residence has no time limit for use. However, apartment projects often have land use rights for a limited term (usually 50 years), so apartment projects are often designed and built according to project levels with corresponding terms of use. (50 years).

The problem is that when the apartment's useful life expires, it can be seriously damaged and at risk of collapsing, threatening the life and health of users. In this case, the competent authority will carry out an inspection and make a decision to demolish and not allow people to live in that space anymore. This is a big risk when people have spent a large amount of money to buy a house but their living time is unstable. The settlement of apartments whose useful life has expired is specified in Clause 2 and 3, Article 99 of the 2014 Housing Law.

In case the apartment building is no longer safe or does not conform to the planning and must be handed over to a competent authority for demolition, the apartment owner will also be resettled according to regulations.

There are exceptions when the term of use expires, but the apartment is not revoked. If it is guaranteed that the apartment building is still safe and meets inspection requirements, people can still continue to use the house; or the apartment building shows signs of deterioration but can be completely renovated and rebuilt in accordance with the planning.

2.3. Buying an apartment but not being issued a certificate of ownership:

This is one of the most difficult problems that every apartment buyer is concerned about. There are individuals who believe in the investor and then carry out the purchase and sale transaction but still have to wait to transfer the name and issue a certificate of land use rights. The slowness in carrying out this procedure is partly due to the home buyers themselves not being proactive in finding out basic information, or urging or reminding investors to complete this procedure. Many people just wait in vain without seeing any action from the investor.

According to current law, Article 8 of the 2014 Housing Law stipulates that individuals have legal housing through investment in construction, purchase, lease-purchase, receiving gifts, receiving inheritance, and receiving capital contributions. , housing exchange and other forms according to the provisions of law, a competent state agency will issue a Certificate of housing ownership (The housing to be granted the Certificate must be available housing).

In the Housing Law, it is also noted that the construction of housing that is invested and built according to a project for lease-purchase or sale does not issue a certificate to the investor and grants certificates to the lessee and purchaser. housing, except in cases where the investor needs to issue a Certificate for housing that has not yet been leased to purchase or sold. In case the investor builds a house for rent, a Certificate will be issued for that house.

To ensure the time for granting land use rights certificates, the State stipulates in Article 13 of the Law on Real Estate Business 2014 the procedures for competent state agencies to issue land use rights certificates and land use rights. Ownership of houses and other assets attached to land to the buyer or lessee is within 50 days from the date of handover of the house or construction project to the buyer. Therefore, when encountering difficulties when carrying out procedures for applying for a certificate, customers have the right to request the investor to explain and support implementation.

2.4. Risks of creating a license to buy and sell old apartments:

Recently, there has been a lot of information about people buying apartments using the form of making an apartment purchase and sale certificate instead of drawing up a sale contract and notarizing it at a competent authority. permission. This action unintentionally puts the buyer in a dangerous position because the form of deed has no legal value, and when a dispute occurs, the damages always belong to the apartment buyer.

This has been recorded according to Point a, Clause 3, Article 167 of the 2013 Land Law, making a real estate purchase and sale certificate is against the regulations. Real estate purchase and sale contracts between people must be notarized and authenticated. When the two parties agree on the rights and obligations of each party, it must be written in the contract and brought to the notary office and signed in front of the notary. After reviewing the contract as legal and valid, the notary will stamp it to confirm, and attestation means bringing it to the People's Committee to confirm the signature (depending on the type of contract).

Buying and selling through a deed is not considered legal because the bailiff is only responsible for recording the legal facts between the two parties and the content recorded in the contract will not be verified as legal or illegal. ethical violation or not.

Therefore, people need to carefully understand the role of each form to carry out procedures to ensure their rights. Making a deed may be simpler and quicker, but it is not recognized by law in sales transactions. Buying and selling an apartment is an important event related to the economy and legality of the transaction, so the sale contract must be very strict. When coming to notary offices, there will be expertise and skills that can easily detect the authenticity of documents. In addition to screening operations, notary offices are also connected to the investor's mortgage and security transaction asset systems, so they can check whether this project is located or not. under mortgage or not.

3. Measures to limit risks for apartment buyers:

– Participating in any transaction, whether buying or selling an apartment or other common sales contracts, the buyer needs to request the seller to provide complete, accurate and non-deceptive information and legal documents. related to apartments.

– When an agreement is written in a contract, it is necessary to carefully read the terms written therein, analyzing each article to see gaps in the regulations ensuring the rights and obligations of the parties. Information to pay attention to in the contract is the terms of handover time and penalties for contract violations.

– In the case of buying a house to be built in the future, it is necessary to consider the risks mentioned above so that penalty and compensation clauses can be added to the contract in case the future house is different from the others. with agreement.

– The buyer needs to comply with the law and have the contract notarized to avoid cases of falsified documents occurring in sales transactions between the investor and the buyer. The home buyer should request a purchase contract. Sales need to be notarized.

– If people want to buy an apartment but do not fully understand the legal regulations, they also need to find a reputable seller to carry out the transaction. Or to ensure the review of the legality of the contract, as well as ensure their rights, the buyer should also ask a lawyer with understanding and experience to advise and anticipate problems to raise. solution plan.

Legal documents used in the article:

– Land Law 2013;

– Housing Law 2014.