Government requires apartment building lifespans to follow the structure’s service life

On 18/9/2026, the Government issued Resolution No. 278/NQ-CP on its thematic law-making session, assigning the Ministry of Construction to finalise the amended Housing Law, including a group of provisions directly affecting apartment buildings and apartment owners.

What Resolution 278/NQ-CP requires for apartment buildings

• Clearly define the lifespan of apartment buildings according to the structure’s service life, consistent with the service life of works under construction law.
• Specify how apartment buildings are handled when their lifespan expires.
• Clarify the rights and obligations of apartment owners, including the right to continue using the land use rights to rebuild the building and the right to contribute financially to new construction when the lifespan ends.
• Add framework criteria (urban class, population density, area ratio) set by the Ministry of Construction, as a basis for provincial People’s Committees to restrict plot subdivision and land-plot sales and to prevent speculation and policy abuse.
• Refine rules on rental housing: classify rental, commercial, official and social housing by ownership and operating model; study financial mechanisms (taxes, fees, land levies, credit) to control rental prices.
• Simplify procedures for housing development and access; set principles, criteria and limits for the obligation to reserve rental housing in commercial housing projects.
• Report to the National Assembly on a proposed pilot mechanism for the State to buy back commercial housing projects from developers that can no longer carry them out or cannot transfer them.

Basis: Resolution 21 of the 3rd Plenum of the 14th Central Committee

• Resolution 21 of 28/7/2026 states that newly built apartment buildings have a lifespan based on the structure’s service life.
• Owners’ property rights must be protected; when a building reaches the end of its lifespan, apartment owners may fulfil financial obligations to rebuild as regulated.
• The Ministry of Construction’s new draft also amends provisions on renovating and rebuilding apartment buildings; such projects may receive extra incentives, such as exemption from social housing and rental housing obligations.