Investing in Dong Nai urban-area plots and townhouses: what to check before you buy

Basis: Law on Real Estate Business No. 29/2023/QH15 (effective 1 January 2025) — Articles 23, 24, 25, 26, 31; Land Law No. 31/2024/QH15 — Article 45; Decree 96/2024/ND-CP guiding the Law on Real Estate Business; Personal Income Tax Law No. 109/2025/QH15 (effective 1 July 2026) · Updated 24 October 2026.

Urban areas in Dong Nai usually sell two kinds of product: townhouses and villas, built or under construction (the developer sells both house and land) and serviced plots for buyers to build on themselves. The two are subject to two different sets of conditions in the 2023 Law on Real Estate Business. Knowing which kind you are buying is the first step.

1. Townhouses under construction: the 7 groups of conditions in Article 24

Houses formed in the future may be put on the market only when all of the following conditions are met:

#	Condition	Documents to ask to see
1	Located in a real estate project approved by the competent authority, with the purpose of building homes for sale	Investment policy approval decision / investment registration certificate
2	Has land documents: decision on land allocation or lease, permission to change land use purpose, or a certificate	The project's land allocation decision and certificate
3	Has a construction permit (where one is required) or a notice of commencement with design documents	Construction permit, notice of commencement
4	Construction has started in accordance with construction law	Minutes / notice of commencement, the state of the site
5	Has acceptance documents for technical infrastructure according to the project schedule (for apartment buildings, the foundations must also be accepted)	Infrastructure acceptance minutes for the sub-area on sale
6	Project information has been made public under Article 6	Disclosure page on the developer's website, the province's housing information portal
7	The Department of Construction has checked and replied in writing that the conditions are met (within 15 days of the developer's notice)	Written notice that the houses are eligible for sale — stating the number of units and the sub-area

In addition, the house and the land use right must not be in dispute, seized, or under a transaction suspension (Article 24 refers to Article 14). Document no. 7 matters most: it lists exactly which units in which sub-area may be sold — the unit you choose must be on that list. For how to read each document, see 5 groups of project legal documents and what is 1/500 planning.

2. Deposit, payments and guarantee

Stage	Legal limit	Article
Deposit	May be collected only once the conditions for sale are met; no more than 5% of the sale price; the deposit agreement must state the sale price	Article 23
First payment	No more than 30% of the contract value, including the deposit	Article 25
Before handover	Total no more than 70% (if the seller is a foreign-invested enterprise: 50%)	Article 25
Before the buyer receives the certificate	No more than 95%; the remaining 5% is paid when the certificate is issued	Article 25
Guarantee	A bank must agree to guarantee before sales begin; the guarantee letter is handed to the buyer within 10 working days of signing the contract; the developer may take money only after the buyer has the guarantee letter	Article 26

A "reservation" or "registration of interest" fee collected before the eligibility document exists is not a home-purchase deposit under the law — read its nature and refund conditions carefully (reservation, deposit, sale and purchase agreement, bank guarantee for homes formed in the future). A buyer may choose not to receive a guarantee, but that choice must be put in writing — an investor should keep the right to the guarantee.

3. Plots to build on yourself: the 8 items in Article 31

A developer may transfer serviced land to an individual who will build a house only when:

1. It meets clause 1 of Article 29: technical infrastructure has been completed in line with the detailed plan and the approved schedule; electricity, water, drainage, waste collection and wastewater treatment are in place and connected to the area's shared infrastructure.
2. The land on sale is within a project that has been issued a certificate and the land use term is still valid.
3. There is no dispute being resolved.
4. It is not seized for judgment enforcement.
5. It is not subject to a ban, suspension or temporary suspension of transactions.
6. It is not in a ward, district or city that is a special-class or class I, II or III urban area, and is not land to be auctioned for housing; for the remaining areas, the provincial People's Committee determines where transfer is allowed.
7. The developer has notified and the Department of Construction has replied in writing that the conditions are met.
8. The information has been made public under Article 6.

Item 6 is the point Dong Nai investors need to ask about closely: after the boundary reorganisation from 1 July 2025, many urban areas lie in wards. If the land is not allowed to be sold as plots, the developer must build houses and then sell — a "plot" offered separately in that case needs to be re-examined. The safe approach: ask to see the Department of Construction's reply confirming eligibility for transfer for the exact plot being offered (see also conditions for splitting a land parcel, how to look up planning).

Buying from another investor (secondary market) falls under Article 45 of the 2024 Land Law: the plot must have a certificate, no dispute, no seizure, a valid land use term, and no interim emergency measure applied. If there is no certificate yet, the transaction is a transfer of the contract with the developer — with its own procedure (transferring a sale and purchase contract).

4. Permits, guarantee and internal infrastructure progress

• Infrastructure construction permits are usually issued per sub-area. Low-rise houses in a sub-area with approved 1/500 planning may be exempt from a construction permit — in that case ask for the notice of commencement and the design documents.
• Infrastructure acceptance by schedule: have the roads, electricity, water and drainage of the sub-area you are buying been accepted, and connected to the area's shared infrastructure? Internal infrastructure being partly done does not mean your sub-area is done.
• Bank mortgage release: a project's land use rights are often mortgaged to raise loans — ask whether the land of the sub-area on sale has been released, or whether the bank has issued a written consent to the sale.
• Schedule in the contract: it should state the handover milestone, the penalty for late handover and the deadline for submitting the certificate application. Infrastructure outside the project (bridges, expressways, airports) should be read as in the article on infrastructure and prices.

5. Liquidity, holding period and tax on sale

• Personal income tax on sale: 2% of the transfer price — unchanged in the 2025 Personal Income Tax Law effective from 1 July 2026, calculated on the sale price regardless of profit or loss. The buyer usually pays a 0.5% registration fee. See all items in taxes and fees on real estate transactions and costs of selling a home.
• Before the certificate is issued, a home can be resold only by transferring the contract, with fewer potential buyers, and the developer must confirm. Plan your holding period around the certificate milestone, not just the handover milestone.
• Liquidity depends on real residents: an urban area with people living in it, and schools, markets and jobs nearby, is easier to resell and to rent out. A newly handed-over area with a low occupancy rate usually has to accept a longer time to sell.
• Calculate cash flow over a long hold: progress payments, loan interest, management fees, 2% tax on sale — use the home-purchase cash-flow calculator and check a safe loan level. No price increase is guaranteed.

6. Warning signs: price inflation and unlawful subdivision

• "Plots" sold on land with no land allocation decision and no 1/500 planning, or outside the approved project boundary.
• The seller is an individual or brokerage firm that divides plots and sets boundary markers on agricultural land, promising it "will be converted to residential land" — this is not project land (residential land and change of use purpose).
• Taking a deposit above 5%, or collecting money before there is a Department of Construction document; signing a "capital contribution contract" or "investment cooperation contract" instead of a sale and purchase agreement (risks of capital contribution contracts).
• Asking prices that surge on infrastructure news that has not yet started construction; "profit commitments" or "buy-back commitments" with no bank guarantee.
• Showing only photos of documents, without letting you see a copy with the number, date of issue and issuing authority so you can cross-check.

7. HPR's urban-area projects in Dong Nai for reference

Each project page on the HPR website lists the documents already in hand with their numbers and issue dates, and says clearly which are still awaiting confirmation:

• Izumi City (former Bien Hoa) — the Legal section lists the notice of eligibility for sale of 461 low-rise Izumi Canaria units (3785/SoXD-QLN&TTBĐS, 16 October 2025) and the confirmation that 275 Izumi Gardenia units are eligible for use.
• Aqua City (former Bien Hoa) — nearly 2,400 products eligible to sign sale and purchase agreements (October 2025); the project was delayed in the past by planning problems, so read the late-handover clauses carefully.
• Spring Ville, Elyse Island, Eco Village Saigon River (former Nhon Trach) — legal documents have not been fully published on public channels; ask to see a copy of the eligibility-for-sale notice for each sub-zone before paying a deposit.
• Fiato Airport City (former Nhon Trach) is an apartment project — the same Article 24 applies, with the added condition that the foundations be accepted.

See also townhouses and villas near Long Thanh Airport and projects in the Dong Nai area.

This article is for reference only and does not replace legal or financial advice for a specific case.

1. Identify the product: a townhouse / villa built by the developer (Article 24) or a plot to build on yourself (Article 31); bought from the developer or resold.
2. Ask for copies of the investment policy decision, the land allocation decision and the 1/500 planning — check the plot or unit's position on the drawing.
3. Ask for the Department of Construction's document confirming eligibility for sale / transfer; check that your unit or plot is on the list.
4. For plots: ask whether the land lies in a ward of a special-class or class I, II or III urban area, and for the provincial People's Committee document allowing transfer.
5. Ask for the name of the guarantee bank and whether the bank has released the mortgage on the land of the sub-area.
6. Check deposit ≤ 5%, first instalment ≤ 30%, before handover ≤ 70%, before the certificate ≤ 95%.
7. Visit the site to see the internal infrastructure of the exact sub-area: how far along the roads, electricity, water and drainage are.
8. Read the contract: handover milestone, late-handover penalty, deadline for the certificate application, conditions for transferring the contract.
9. Build a cash-flow table up to the certificate milestone, add the 2% tax on sale; test a case where the sale takes longer than expected.

• Law on Real Estate Business No. 29/2023/QH15 — Article 23 (deposits), Article 24 (conditions for homes formed in the future), Article 25 (payments), Article 26 (guarantee), Article 29, Article 31 (serviced land for individuals to build on), accessed 24 October 2026.
• Land Law No. 31/2024/QH15 — Article 45 (conditions for transferring land use rights), accessed 24 October 2026.
• Vietnam Lawyers Magazine — Thủ tục thông báo nhà ở hình thành trong tương lai đủ điều kiện được bán, cho thuê mua (Decree 96/2024/ND-CP).
• Thu Vien Phap Luat — Thuế chuyển nhượng bất động sản 2026 tiếp tục áp dụng 2% (Personal Income Tax Law No. 109/2025/QH15, effective 1 July 2026).
• Legal documents of each project: the Legal section on the HPR project page (e.g. Izumi City) and the developer's disclosure page; the Dong Nai Department of Construction portal.