HCM CITY — The Ministry of Construction in co-operation with the National Assembly Legal Committee will set up and lead a team to conduct inspections on the management, operation and use of apartment buildings in HCM City by the end of this month.

The teams will check at random five apartment buildings that are embroiled in several disputes.

Most of the problems are related to building quality, hand-over schedules, mortgages, parking lots, maintenance fees, fire prevention, and land-use rights and house ownership certificates.

The HCM City Real Estate Association (HoREA) has asked the Ministry of Construction to force investors to hand over maintenance funds to the apartment building management boards.

Management units of apartment buildings must prove their financial capacity, and ensure that property developers hand over apartments to buyers and give buyers house-ownership certificates (known as red books), as stated in contracts.

The ministry has also been asked to strictly handle the cases of developers who have failed to end mortgage contracts with banks and ensure safety for apartment buyers.

HoREA recommended that the ministry issue standards in design and the minimum area for a commercial apartment, officetels and shophouses, and serviced apartments.

It also asked the ministry to consider a proposal to create an Apartment Law to meet development in coming years.

According to the city’s Department of Construction, the city has 1,367 apartment buildings, double the figure in 2009 and about five times more than in 1975.

Of the number, 474 apartment buildings were built before 1975, and 15 of them have declined in quality and need to be replaced.

The number of apartments now accounts for 8.4 percent of total housing in the city,  a significant increase because of rapid urbanisation.

Apartments have accounted for 24.6 percent of newly built houses in the last five years.

More than 100 apartment buildings in the city face problems that need to be resolved, according to authorities.  — VNS