It is necessary to develop clear regulations about deposits for the purchases of off-plan houses to protect the rights of both buyers and developers, National Assembly deputies said while discussing the amendments to the Law on Real Estate Business on Tuesday.

Chairman of the NA Economic Committee Vũ Hồng Thanh said that many agreed on the necessity of regulations on deposits but were still diverse on how the deposit would be collected.

Two options were raised in the draft. In the first option, developers are allowed to collect deposits as agreed with the buyers when the projects have basic designs appraised by the management agency and the developers own land use right documents. The deposit agreements must clearly state the selling prices and the deposits must not exceed 10 per cent of the selling price.

In the second option, developers are allowed to collect deposits from buyers when the projects have fully met the conditions to be put into transactions and have performed transactions in accordance with the established laws.

Thanh said that the economic committee opted for the first option.

Deputy Nguyễn Thị Việt Nga from Hải Dương Province's NA Delegation said that it was critical to have regulations about deposits and the time for collecting deposits in the transactions of off-plan houses. She said that the lack of regulations on deposits currently caused a lot of problems, including appropriation of buyer’s money.

The first option in the draft was reasonable, which was tight enough to ensure that the project would be implemented without legal obstacles and enough to prevent illegal appropriation of buyers' money, Nga said. The second option would be better for buyers but would cause more difficulties for developers in raising capital.

Deputy Nguyễn Minh Tâm from Quảng Bình Province's NA Delegation, said the minimum deposit should be set at 5-10 per cent. If the deposit was too small, buyers could drop the deposit without hesitation.

Phạm Văn Hoà, deputy of Đồng Tháp Province's NA Delegation, said that the deposit played an important role in handling cases in which the two sides could not reach an agreement when the contract was cancelled.

According to Thanh, lawmakers would study to decide the deposit at the appropriate level. It could not be too high, otherwise, it would be no different to capital raising. It could not be too low to ensure commitments between developers and buyers, Thanh said.

Regarding the proposal that transactions via real estate trading floors should be made compulsory or not, Hoà said that it was not necessary to make it compulsory. Real estate trading floors mainly conducted brokerage activities with the main purpose of earning a profit, thus, transparency could not be guaranteed.

Hoà said that transactions via trading floors should be encouraged rather than made compulsory.

Nguyễn Anh Trí, a deputy from Hà Nội, said that it was necessary to develop regulations on the organisation and operation of real estate trading floors to ensure its on-track development and promote the healthy development of the property market.

NA Deputies also agreed that it was necessary to tighten the management on the transfer of real estate asset ownership and prevent speculation.

Deputy Lê Thanh Hoàn from Thanh Hoá Province said that the notarisation of contracts was important to protect the rights of buyers and sellers, which would help secure trust, promote investment in property assets as well as increase market transparency.

Deputy Văn Thị Bạch Tuyết from HCM City's NA Delegation said that the role of the notary in the real estate transaction contract should also be clarified.

Tuyết added that information about real estate projects must be made transparent and accessible.

She said that the information should be listed on the portal of the Ministry of Construction and provincial/municipal construction departments.

It was also necessary to clarify the responsibilities of local authorities and developers in ensuring the transparency of real estate project information as well as developing a real estate database, she said.

The draft amended Law on Real Estate Business was being discussed at the fifth meeting of the National Assembly 15th and expected to be passed at the sixth meeting scheduled to take place in October and November this year. — VNS