Real Estate Law · 18.11.2024

Landlord and Tenant Rights in Vietnam: The Housing Law Rules

Renting out a home in Vietnam, or renting one, is governed by the Housing Law (Law No. 27/2023/QH15), which has been in force since 1 August 2024 after Law No. 43/2024/QH15 brought the date forward. Most of the disputes we see do not turn on what the parties negotiated. They turn…

Lawyer UnilawReading time: 6 min

By Lawyer Luu Thi Hue – UniLaw LLC

The lease itself

A lease of housing must be in writing and must carry the contents listed in Article 163: the parties, a description of the house and of the land it sits on, the rent, the payment method and timing, the handover date, the term, the rights and obligations of each side, the commitments, the effective date and the signatures.

A lease of housing does not have to be notarised. Article 164(2) puts leasing, lending and authorised management outside the notarisation requirement that applies to sale, lease-purchase, gift, exchange, capital contribution and mortgage. Unless the parties ask for notarisation, the contract takes effect when they agree it does, and failing that, on signature. Landlords who insist a lease is void because it was never notarised are wrong.

Article 160(3) sets a floor on the property itself. A house let for rent must be of adequate quality and safe for the tenant, with working electricity, water supply and drainage, and it must meet environmental sanitation requirements, unless the parties agree otherwise. It must also be within its ownership term, not under seizure for enforcement, and not subject to a land recovery or demolition decision.

Term, rent and subletting

Article 170 leaves the term, the rent and the payment method to the parties, except where the State fixes the rent. Two limits matter in practice. First, a tenant may sublet only with the landlord’s consent. Second, where the landlord renovates with the tenant’s agreement, the landlord may adjust the rent only if a third or less of the term remains; if the parties cannot agree the new rent, the landlord may terminate unilaterally but must compensate the tenant.

When a lease ends on its own

Article 171(2) lists the endings that need no fault: expiry of the term; agreement between the parties; the house ceasing to exist; the death or judicially declared disappearance of an individual tenant living alone; the dissolution or bankruptcy of a corporate tenant; and severe damage, risk of collapse, a land recovery decision, a clearance decision, a demolition decision, or requisition by the State.

Two numbers sit inside that article. Where the contract has no stated term, it ends 90 days after the landlord notifies the tenant. Where the ending is the damage or recovery ground, the landlord must give the tenant at least 30 days’ written notice, unless the event is one of force majeure or the parties agreed otherwise.

When the landlord can end it early

Article 172(1) is the starting point: during the agreed term the landlord may not terminate unilaterally and take the house back. Article 172(2) then sets out the exceptions, and they are closed:

public housing, social housing, housing for the armed forces or industrial-park worker accommodation let outside the letter’s authority, to the wrong category of tenant, or without the statutory conditions;
the tenant is three months or more in arrears without a reason the contract allows;
the tenant uses the house for a purpose other than the agreed one;
the tenant knocks through, extends, alters or demolishes without permission;
the tenant transfers, lends or sublets without the landlord’s consent;
the tenant disturbs order or sanitation so as to affect the neighbours seriously, and has been recorded doing so a third time without putting it right.

A landlord who wants possession for any other reason — a better offer, a family member moving in, a sale — is outside Article 172(2).

When the tenant can end it early

Article 172(3) gives the tenant three grounds: the landlord does not repair the house when it is badly damaged; the landlord raises the rent unreasonably, or raises it without the notice the contract requires; or the tenant’s use of the house is restricted because of a third party’s interest.

The thirty days that decide the damages

Whichever side terminates unilaterally, Article 172(4) requires at least 30 days’ notice in writing or in the form the contract allows, unless the parties agreed otherwise. A party who terminates without that notice and causes loss must compensate. In our experience this is the provision most often breached and most often decisive: the ground for termination may be sound, but the notice was not given, and the damages follow from that alone.

Repairs

Article 132 divides the work. The landlord may maintain and renovate with the tenant’s consent, except in an emergency or force majeure, and the tenant must allow the work. If the landlord does not repair, the tenant may do it after at least 15 days’ written notice stating the scope and the cost, and the landlord must reimburse the tenant or set the cost off against rent — unless the tenant caused the damage. Where the tenant has to move out for the work, the time taken does not count against the term, and the tenant may resume the tenancy afterwards.

Demolition

Article 141 requires at least 90 days’ written notice before demolition, except in an emergency or on a State decision. If the house is being demolished to be rebuilt and the term still has time to run, the landlord must arrange alternative accommodation, or the tenant may arrange it and pay no rent for the period. The demolition and rebuilding time does not count against the term, and the tenant may resume until the term ends.

If the landlord sells

Article 168 requires written notice to the tenant of the sale and of its conditions. The tenant has a right of first refusal if the rent is paid up to the date of the notice, and the landlord may sell to someone else only after 30 days have passed without the tenant buying, unless the parties agreed a different period.

Selling does not end the tenancy. Article 173 provides that where the owner transfers ownership and the term still runs, the tenant continues to the end of the term and the new owner takes over the contract. The same survives the owner’s death, with the heirs bound; and where the tenant dies, the people living with the tenant may continue to the end of the term.

What we ask for

Send the signed lease and every annex, the handover record, the certificate or the documents standing in for it, the rent payment history, and the correspondence about the dispute — including the messages that look unhelpful. The notices matter as much as the contract: their dates decide whether a termination was lawful.

UniLaw acts for landlords and for tenants from offices in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Nha Trang. Our real estate lawyers in Vietnam review leases before signature and run possession and deposit disputes. Related notes: when a lease is invalid and what to check in a lease. Decided cases are published on case.unilaw.vn.

This note states the law as at 26 September 2026 and is general information, not advice on your tenancy.