HCMC – Housing investors who fail to deliver on their commitments to customers should be banned from developing new projects, proposed Nguyen Thi Thu Nga, deputy director of the HCMC Department of Construction.
Nga said that if they do not hand over homes, apartment building maintenance fee funds and home ownership certificates to homebuyers as pledged, they should be prevented from participating in new projects.
The proposal was made given a spike in the number of investors violating regulations, such as developing projects not in line with the approved plans, mortgaging projects and failing to fulfill financial obligations, resulting in the late handover of home ownership certificates to homebuyers.
However, just a few investors have been punished while their customers have been left at a disadvantage, Thanh Nien Online newspaper reported.
Lawyer Hoang Thu from the HCMC Bar Association threw her support behind the HCMC Department of Construction’s proposal, saying that the competent agencies’ slack leadership and poor supervision had resulted in the chaotic real estate market and long-lasting violations of many investors.
Under the prevailing regulations, those involved in irregularities in the supply of goods and services and earn a profit of VND5 million and more will face criminal charges. Meanwhile, many investors who have handed over projects for years but have failed to hand over home ownership certificates to customers have not faced criminal charges.
Therefore, besides banning these investors from developing new projects, criminal proceedings should be filed against them, Thu added.
Lawyer Nguyen Ngoc Thuan, director of Nghiep Thanh Law Firm, also supported the proposal, saying that it would help protect homebuyers.
Therefore, investors failing to fulfill their commitments to customers must not be allowed to execute new projects. If they do not hand over apartment building maintenance fee funds, they should face criminal charges as regulated by law.
State agencies shielding or lending these investors a hand should also be handled.
According to lawyer Tran Duc Phuong from the HCMC Bar Association, regulations should be adopted strictly. Information about projects is periodically reported to the competent agencies, specifically the municipal Departments of Construction and Natural Resources-Environment, so these agencies must also take responsibility for investors’ violations.
