What is a rental contract, characteristics and contents of a rental contract

1. What is a residential lease?

A housing lease contract is a common civil contract under which the lessor is obliged to deliver the house to the lessee for use within the agreed term and the lessee is obliged to pay rent as agreed or as prescribed by law.

Housing lease contracts must also be made in writing, certified by a state notary or authenticated by a competent People's Committee, and the parties must register with a competent state agency if the lease term is 6 months or more.

The rental price of the house is agreed upon by the parties. In case the law stipulates a housing rental price range, the rental price must not exceed that price range.

For housing lease contracts with a term of two years or more, if there is a change in the housing rental price frame issued by the State, the rental price will also change according to that price frame.

For housing lease contracts with a term of two years or more, if the lessor has renovated or upgraded the house, he has the right to increase the rent but must notify the lessee at least three months in advance from the time of completion of the renovation or upgrading.

2. Characteristics of housing lease contracts

– A rental contract is a contract with compensation. In which, one party receiving a benefit from the other party must transfer a corresponding benefit to the other party.

– A house lease contract is a bilateral contract. Accordingly, the contract will give rise to a relationship of obligations between the parties to the contract, in which each party has obligations to the other. Corresponding to the rights of the lessor are the obligations of the lessee and vice versa, corresponding to the rights of the lessee are the obligations of the lessor.

– A house lease contract is a contract to transfer the right to use property. The lessee has the right to use the rented house for a certain period of time according to the agreement or according to the provisions of law.

3. Form of rental contract

According to Article 121 of the 2014 Housing Law: “Housing contracts are agreed upon by the parties and must be made in writing.”.

Renting a house is a special type of transaction and requires high precision to agree on the rights and obligations of the parties during the rental period and is also a highly precise basis for resolving disputes between the parties. Therefore, the rental contract must be made in writing but does not have to be notarized or certified, depending on the needs of the parties.

4. Rental price and rental term

– The rental price is agreed upon by the parties or according to the market price at the location and time of signing the rental contract or the rental price within the price range if prescribed by law.

– The lease term is agreed upon by the parties; if there is no agreement, it shall be determined according to the purpose of the lease. In case the parties do not agree on the lease term and the lease term cannot be determined according to the purpose of the lease, each party has the right to terminate the contract at any time, but must notify the other party in advance a reasonable period of time.

 5. Cases of termination of lease contract

According to Article 131 of the 2014 Housing Law, the Lease Contract terminates in the following cases:

– In case of renting state-owned houses.

– In case of renting a house that is not state-owned, the termination of the house lease contract is carried out when one of the following cases occurs:

+ The lease contract expires; in case the contract does not specify a term, the contract shall terminate after 90 days from the date the lessor notifies the lessee of the termination of the contract;

+ Both parties agree to terminate the contract;

– House for rent is no longer available;

– The tenant dies or is declared missing by the Court and at the time of death or disappearance there is no one living with him/her;

– The rented house is severely damaged, at risk of collapse or is located in an area where a decision has been made to reclaim land, clear the land or demolish it by a competent state agency; the rented house is subject to requisition or confiscation by the State for other purposes. The lessor must notify the lessee in writing 30 days in advance of the termination of the rental contract, unless otherwise agreed by the parties;

6. Contents of the whole house rental contract

Pursuant to Article 121 of the 2014 Housing Law, a whole-house lease contract is agreed upon by the parties and must be made in writing, including the following contents:

- Full name of individual, name of organization and address of parties;

- Describe the characteristics of the transaction house and the characteristics of the land plot attached to that house.

- Capital contribution value, housing transaction price if the contract has an agreement on price; in case of housing lease where the State has regulations on price, the parties must comply with such regulations;

- Payment term and method if it is a case of leasing a house sale and purchase contract;

- Term of house lease;

- Rights and obligations of the parties;

- Commitment of the parties;

- Other agreements;

- Effective date of the contract;

- Date, month, year of signing the contract;

- Signature and full name of the parties, if it is an organization, it must be stamped (if any) and the position of the signatory must be clearly stated.