The Ministry of Construction’s Inspectorate has completed inspections for five localities and found several violations related to the management and use of maintenance fees for condominiums (2 per cent of value of the apartments).

A report on tienphong.vn showed the Inspectorate has imposed administrative sanctions against 12 out of 19 investors, with an amount of VND13.3 billion (US$564,000). The Inspectorate has also required investors to perform several tasks, including organising the first apartment building conference and handing over apartment building documents to the Management Board.

Furthermore, the Inspectorate has forced ten investors to open and deposit maintenance funds into their accounts, with a total of VND254.1 billion. The Inspectorate has also compelled six investors to finalise and hand over maintenance funds to the Management Board, totaling VND513.8 billion.

The Inspectorate has recommended reviewing 19 collectives and 14 individuals for violations and existence.

For example, the Alphanam Luxury project in Son Tra, Da Nang, did not fully pay the maintenance cost of the shared ownership of the apartment building, while also spending non-maintenance costs. However, the investor has since actively overcome the shortcomings and continued to pay maintenance costs.

The F-Home Apartment Building in Hai Chau, Da Nang, did not open a payment account to receive maintenance money and delayed transferring maintenance costs to the Management Board. The Summit Apartment and the Monarchy Apartment, two projects in Son Tra, Da Nang, violated maintenance fund requirements and slowed in opening of a deposit account for maintenance funds.

There were several violations related to maintenance fees in three different apartment projects in Hai Phong City and Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province, including failure in disclosing financial information about maintenance fees in purchase and sale contracts with customers and late in paying maintenance fees.

In recent times, there have been numerous disputes and lawsuits in condominiums, including those related to management and use of maintenance funds. Complaints regarding maintenance fees accounted for approximately 36 per cent of all disputes, ranking second in total number of disputes in condominiums. — VNS