Vacant villas overtaken by squatters
Vacant villas overtaken by squatters
Hanoi is now home to more than 1,000 unused villas and semi-detached houses. They have become temporary homes to poor people trading in low-end services and street vendors.
According to a survey conducted by Lao Dong newspaper, a range of villas valued in the billions of dong in residential areas such as Xa La, Van Quan, Me Tri, Co Nhue and Viet Hung are unused.
These areas are located along new, expanded streets, have convenient transport access, and are near public facilities such as schools, supermarkets and hospitals.
But for several reasons they lacked paying tenants and have been occupied by the homeless.
According to Nguyen Van M, the owner of a villa in Xa La in Hanoi’s Ha Dong district, he bought the house six years ago without any fixtures or fittings. Because his business is performing poorly, he has been unable to finish it and instead leases it out for only VND10 million per month.
“I am luckier than many others whose villas are unused and have deteriorated,” M said.
As well as the above districts, villas in the urban areas of An Sinh My Dinh 2 in Tu Liem district and Phap Van-Tu Hiep in Hoang Mai district are also sitting unfinished and have become the haunts of thieves and drug addicts.
According to the Hanoi Municipal People’s Committee, in 2013 Hanoi was home to more than 650 bare-shell villas and 600 finished semi-detached houses that were vacant.
The committee plans to map out fines or taxes to force owners to finish construction. But many developers don’t have the capital resources to do so.
Dang Hung Vo, senior consultant of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, said the vacant villas were a result of the property boom and bust. “These villas are owned by wealthy people who bought them for speculation, but not living,” he added.
Vo said this was because Vietnam still had no tax on second-home ownership. “Therefore, we need to add a tax on second houses to resolve this problem,” Vo said.
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