The HCM City Department of Construction wants the People's Committee to prevent illegal real estate activities by stepping up propaganda and publicly naming and shaming offenders.

It said the overlaps and contradictions in the real estate laws were making it difficult to find and handle violations such as illegally selling housing plots, spreading of rumours by brokers to drive up prices and collection of excessive deposits from buyers by developers.

The legal system is also cumbersome and complicated.

The high demand for low-income housing has been a major cause of violations, including the sale of agricultural land for residential purposes and illegal division of land plots for sale, according to experts.

Slow implementation of social housing projects exacerbates the problem.

They pointed out that violations occurred nearly everywhere in the city, but especially in outlying areas such as Binh Chanh, Cu Chi and Hoc Mon districts, and in District 9 and Thu Duc City.

The police have cracked down on many frauds related to land projects, illegal sale of agricultural lands and spreading rumours of rapidly increasing land prices in Thu Duc City and Cu Chi District.

To prevent further violations, the department also wants the police to closely monitor the real estate market to promptly investigate cases of false information about real estate projects and violations and frauds related to real estate transactions. — VNS