|
Developers pay scant heed to official ranking criteria
With no official verification, developers find it easy to inflate the luxury levels of their apartments.
Many residential complexes are sidestepping official classification criteria to claim higher rankings.
According to a Ministry of Construction circular issued in June, there are four levels of rankings for residential apartment blocks.
The first level, for example, strictly requires the complex to have gardens, lawns and walking paths, apartments with a minimum area of 70 square meters; and have schools, shopping centers as well as entertainment and sport facilities within a 500 meter radius.
The circular was expected to help rank apartment buildings in the country according to their real value and prevent home buyers from being misled by developers’ self-granted “luxury” or “high-grade” tags.
However, as developers are authorized to rate their projects by themselves, many have chosen higher rankings to push up prices, whether or not they meet required standards.
For instance, an apartment block in the center of Ho Chi Minh City, has been given top ranking by its developer, but residents say they have not benefited from many facilities they were promised when buying the apartments.
The building management even turned walking paths into a parking lot and used the space for other facilities to build offices for rent, they allege.
In another case, a residential project advertised luxury apartments for low-incomers, but when pressed for details of the luxury, prospective customers were told that was just used as a “habit.”
Experts say it is not a good idea to allow developers to rate their own projects without any verification.
They would not rank them at lower levels because such rankings would also come with low prices.
According to a draft resolution on real estate trading being considered by the ministry, developers face a minimum fine of VND40 million (US$2,400) for incorrect ranking.
However, many developers complain that some of criteria used to classify apartment buildings do not reflect the reality. For example, first and second ranked apartment blocks are required to be located near schools and entertainment centers. However, there are hardly any apartment buildings in the city center that can meet these requirements.
Other developers, on the other hand, say all the criteria in the circular are reasonable. But they argue that if they were to be met, prices of first and second ranked complexes would go through the roof.
Thanhnien
|
