Buy Property in Vietnam as a Foreigner: 7 Legal Mistakes That Buyers Must Avoid

 Quick Reference to Buy Property in Vietnam

Foreign individuals permitted to enter Vietnam may buy property in Vietnam, including apartments and houses in approved commercial housing projects, subject to ownership caps and location restrictions. Ownership is granted for up to 50 years, extendable once. Foreigners cannot acquire land use rights directly. Overseas Vietnamese with Vietnamese nationality enjoy rights equivalent to local Vietnamese, including direct land use rights with no quota or time limit.

Persons of Vietnamese origin without nationality gained significantly expanded rights under the 2024 Land Law, including the ability to acquire residential land use rights attached to housing. The ownership certificate, formally called the Certificate of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Houses and Other Assets Attached to Land is the only document that establishes legally registered ownership.

Introduction

Vietnam’s legal framework for foreign property ownership has developed considerably over the year. The Housing Law 2023 and Land Law 2024 clarified the direction and expanded rights, particularly for overseas Vietnamese to buy property in Vietnam. But the framework protects buyers who follow it correctly.  For buyers whom do not follow the framework to buy property in Vietnam, there are higher risks awaiting.

If you are planning to buy property in Vietnam, check it out here which our real estate lawyers who advise foreign buyers in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang, discuss seven patterns of failure that we encounter regularly in practice which we opine that each of such is avoidable. We also explain the legal concepts where they matter, but the focus is practical for your understanding. In particular, we explain what goes wrong when foreigners buy property in Vietnam without proper guidance, and how to structure a transaction so you could mitigate risks.

Read More

5 Key Points from Law on Artificial Intelligence 2025: What Businesses Need to Know

As more foreign companies look to start a business in Vietnam, understanding the country’s new legal framework for artificial intelligence is becoming essential. The Law on Artificial Intelligence 2025 (No. 134/2025/QH15), effective March 1, 2026, introduces specific obligations that directly affect how businesses develop, deploy, and use artificial intelligence systems in the Vietnamese market.

Read More

8 Enforcement Risks in Vietnam That Even Litigation Law Firms Cannot Ignore

 

Enforcement Risks Introduction

Even if your company wins in a court case and a favourable judgement is issued, recovery does not happen automatically. In Vietnam, many practitioners at Vietnam litigation law firms observe that a court victory is only halfway to justice!  You hear it right.

In Vietnam, enforcement determines whether a legal victory becomes financial reality. As the country modernizes its civil judgment enforcement system, digitizes execution workflows, strengthens insolvency protections, and expands cross border judicial cooperation, the risk profile of disputes has changed.

Litigation law firms handling Vietnam matters increasingly focus less on argument and more on recovery design that help foreign general counsel and investors answering practical questions i.e can we collect? or how long will it take? or what happens if the debtor restructures, or will regulators become involved?

This article explains seven enforcement risks in Vietnam that deserve early attention. The objective is not to describe procedure. It is to examine structural realities that impact outcomes.

Read More