By Duyen Ha Vo, Tram Dang and Nhung Trinh, VILAF Vietnam’s slow real estate market has been given a ray of hope with the recent release of Decree 10/2023/ND-CP and the ongoing review of a proposed amendment to the Law on Real Estate Business.  These new legal measures aim to create a more transparent legal framework for the development of condotels and resort villas, which complements the regulations provided by Decree 02/2022/ND-CP released last year. This article provides an overview of the legal framework for the development of condotels, resort villas, and other similar commercial properties after the new legislative instruments take effect. Here are the key points to note: Developers of condotels, resort villas, and officetels in a properly licensed non-residential project on commercial land are allowed to sell such properties as a real estate business. Buyers of condotels and resort villas can obtain Pink Books for such properties, but the eligibility of officetels for Pink Books is still uncertain. As the land for developing condotels and resort villas must be commercial land, the land use term under the Pink Book granted to a buyer is restricted to the commercial land use term awarded to the developer, which is up to 50 years (or 70 years in specially approved cases). The sale of condotels and officetels must adopt the statutory contract template provided in Decree 02/2022/ND-CP. The draft Amended Law on Real Estate Business and the new decrees do not explicitly refer to shophouses. The concepts Under the tourism laws, a “condotel” (căn hộ du lịch) and a “resort villa” (biệt thự du lịch) (collectively, “lodging properties”) are...