How to make known real estate projects which have been used as collateral for bank loans is still a big question for relevant agencies and investors in HCMC, heard a conference held in the city last week.
In July, the HCMC Department of Natural Resources and Environment posted a list of 77 mortgaged real estate projects in the city on its website.
At that time, Pham Ngoc Lien, head of the department’s land registration division, said the department would seek permission from the city government to announce information about individuals and enterprises that have mortgaged their properties every two or three months. But the list has not been updated since then.
Speaking at the conference, Lien said the department had had difficulty updating the list.
The department is requested to publicize the purposes of mortgages as many firms that have used their property projects as collateral to seek lenders’ guarantees for completion of these projects in the future rather than taking bank loans, or have mortgaged their own properties which have no effect on homebuyers.
Yet the department does not have enough experience and authority to classify the purposes of mortgages and make the information known to the public, Lien said.
“Banks should do the classification job as they are certain about the purposes of mortgages and the money they have lent to customers,” he said, adding that relevant agencies have not come up with general standards for publicizing mortgaged real estate projects and what information.
Each locality should build a database of mortgaged properties for relevant agencies to send their data, and people only need to access that database to get information, Lien suggested.
Nguyen Khanh Hung, CEO of Dat Xanh Group, said there is no agency that has all necessary information related to mortgaged properties.
It is the banks that provide loans and the investors who mortgage their real estate projects that have responsibility to inform homebuyers of the mortgaged assets, as well as the time and purpose of mortgages, said Hung.
As Dat Xanh is a listed company, it has to publicize details about its mortgages while other companies do not, which he said is unfair.
Hung said the natural sources-environment department should not be assigned to make announcements of mortgaged properties but banks and investors.
“Lenders have to publicize information on mortgaged properties to protect the banking system in case one property is mortgaged at more than one bank,” he said.
Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the HCMC Real Estate Association (HoREA), agreed with Hung, saying enterprises have to publicize information about their projects, whether they are mortgaged or not, in line with the current regulations.
Chau added only listed firms publicize the information while others only do that when requested.
The HCMC departments of construction and justice should join the natural resources-environment department to publicize information on mortgaged properties as many mortgaged projects have no construction licenses.
Nguyen Xuan Bac from the State Bank of Vietnam’s Credit Department said a joint circular issued by the ministries of justice and natural resources-environment, which took effect on August 8, requires the natural resources-environment departments in each locality to announce information on mortgaged real estate projects on their websites.
However, the two ministries should complete a legal framework for the announcement of mortgaged properties, in coordination with relevant agencies, he said.