Hanoi (VNA) – Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW of the Party Central Committee is expected to help remove bottlenecks in renovating old apartment buildings while improving institutional and policy frameworks to support better urban land management and use, experts have said.
On July 28, 2026, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee and President To Lam signed off Resolution No. 21-NQ/TW of the 14th Party Central Committee regarding the viewpoints and orientations for amending the Land Law and related laws. The resolution sets forth new directions for apartment buildings and positions land correctly as a resource for development.
Removing bottlenecks in old apartment renovation
Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Real Estate Brokers (VARS), said the resolution’s provision on setting a lifespan for apartment buildings represents a breakthrough.
“The regulation that newly built apartment buildings will have a defined service lifespan will ensure safety for users and provide a legal basis for renovation, upgrade and even reconstruction in the future,” Khanh said.
The Vietnam Institute for Real Estate Market Research and Evaluation (VARS IRE) said the resolution's approach matches the nature of property assets. While land use rights can be stable for a long term, buildings have a limited lifespan and are affected by construction quality, use conditions and maintenance.
A VARS IRE leader pointed to a problem: hundreds of old apartment complexes in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and other localities have seriously deteriorated, but renovation and reconstruction remain slow.
Lack of a legal basis makes it hard to determine when a building reaches the end of its lifespan and does not protect owners' rights and interests.
If fully institutionalised, the new regulations will help create a transparent legal corridor for renovation and reconstruction, reduce prolonged negotiations among owners and improve urban land use amid shrinking land availability and great demand for urban renovation, the VARS IRE said.
The institute stressed that the core of Resolution No. 21 is not simply setting an apartment's lifespan, but linking it with the protection of owners' property rights. When a building reaches the end of its service life, owners' rights and interests will continue to be protected through mechanisms allowing them to participate in reconstruction.
The VARS IRE leader held that the policy should further clarify how lifespan is determined, procedures for declaring buildings to have reached the end of their service life, financial obligations during reconstruction, and owners' rights after rebuilding.
Turning land into a development resource
Resolution No. 21 reaffirms the consistent viewpoint that land is owned by the entire people, with the State representing the owner and exercising unified management. It calls for unlocking land resources without privatising land, with the State deciding and regulating land prices and ensuring that people whose land is acquired have better housing and living conditions than their previous living places.
Assoc. Prof. Dr Nguyen Van Phuong, a lecturer at the University of Economics under Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said the resolution reflects a notable shift in the policymaking mindset by placing land in its proper position as a development resource.
He said the State should align land prices with socio-economic development objectives for each period, enabling businesses to formulate medium- and long-term investment plans, while adhering to the principle of providing support for the right recipients, for the intended purposes, and within the prescribed timeframes.
Phuong also called for an interconnected national database linking information on land transactions, taxation, banking and real estate.
Lawyer Nguyen Van Dinh of the Hanoi Bar Association said the State's role in deciding land prices should be delivered through institutions, data, technical standards, and oversight mechanisms, rather than administrative orders. This approach also aligns with the orientation of respecting market principles without diminishing the State's regulatory role.
He added that the resolution aims to harmonise the interests of the State, investors and people. Once the land database is completed, valuation methods standardised, and land rent regulation tools operated effectively, the gap between State-determined land prices and market transaction prices will narrow, helping curb speculation, prevent losses of land resources and balance the interests of the State, businesses and people. /.
