Required to suspend still active
Regarding the case of “Villas in the urban area turned into ‘mini apartments’ with hundreds of apartments” at 2 buildings in the villa block 8-10 Hoa Hung Street named Hanoi By Night Villa Hoan Son and Hoan Son Villa Urban Area in Hoan Son Commune, Tien Du District, although it has been reported many times by Tien Phong newspaper and requested by the local government inspection team to suspend rental activities, post notices stating that they do not meet the conditions for ensuring fire safety (PCCC) at the entrance, the investor still boldly posted information for renting apartments, serviced apartments.
Specifically, from mid-2023 to the present time, on average, every week there is information with the content “Hoan Son Villa, rent only about 2 million VND/month, closed, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 balcony, all furniture is available”, “For rent apartments with an area of 30-50m2 – Only from 2-5 million VND/month – Long-term – At the foot of Dong Xep Bridge”, “Rent a house in Hoan Son serviced apartment, closed, private kitchen only 2 million VND/apartment / 50m2 / full furniture just come to live”, … appearing on social networks and websites like Batdongsan.com.vn and Guland.vn.
Rental information for serviced apartments in the two buildings that violate the construction order is still continuously posted despite the local authorities’ request to suspend operations. (Photo: Lap Dong)
In the role of a guest who wants to rent an apartment in the mentioned buildings, PV introduced by the manager with the name T.A.D. that the house area still receives guests and the apartments have an average area of 30 – 70m2 with rental prices ranging from 2 – 5 million VND/month. The house area has a total of 120 rooms, in which the investor has spent nearly 200 billion VND to build.
Moreover, after the mini apartment fire in Hanoi, when the functional forces inspected the PCCC strictly, the two building investors spent tens of billions of VND to arrange fire alarm systems, portable fire extinguishers, escape stairs, … but until now has not been tested for fire protection. Therefore, the manager said they had to connect hundreds of meters of power lines from other areas to supply two buildings.
Also according to the manager’s sharing, most of the tenants here are foreigners like India, Taiwan, China, … working in industrial parks in Hoan Son commune, Tien Du district. To facilitate parking for guests, the 2 building investors also openly demolished the internal partition strip in front of the building.
Hanoi By Night Villa Hoan Son and Hoan Son Villa buildings in the urban area of Hoan Son Commune have not yet been tested for PCCC but have allowed long-term rental. (Photo: Lap Dong)
“Avoiding” responsibility?
Regarding the violations of the two buildings named Hanoi By Night Villa Hoan Son and Hoan Son Villa, in late November 2023, in an exchange with Tien Phong, a representative of the Department of Housing Management and Real Estate Market of Bac Ninh Department of Construction said that regarding the content reported by Tien Phong, the provincial Department of Construction is organizing an inspection team as directed by the Ministry of Construction. Therefore, the unit will respond to the newspaper as soon as there is a conclusion.
It is worth mentioning also that in the two buildings mentioned, in August 2022, Tien Phong newspaper posted an article “Series of villas in Bac Ninh urban areas turned into mini apartments and guesthouses”. Specifically, although the approved plan only allows the construction of 4 floors for villas in the project, the two buildings have openly built up to 6 floors.
At that time, an officer of the Department of Housing Management and Real Estate Market of Bac Ninh Department of Construction said that they really wanted to thoroughly handle violations of construction, violations of planning to set an example, but because the project had been implemented for more than 20 years, the original documentation and contacts with related parties have been broken, making it difficult for the handling of violations, many difficulties and challenges.
Although having sent letters and many times contacted the responsible persons related to the two buildings with many violations in the Hoan Son residential area project, PV has not received a response.
At the end of November 2023, an officer of the Department of Housing Management and Real Estate Market of Bac Ninh Department of Construction suggested that PV write a letter to send to Bac Ninh Department of Construction to have an official response for the media.
On November 29, 2023, Tien Phong newspaper sent a letter to Bac Ninh Department of Construction, Tiên Du district People’s Committee about providing information related to the Dong Xep Urban Area in Hoan Son Commune residential area project.
The image of Hoan Son Villa building in August 2022 when it was temporarily suspended (left) and now (right). (Photo: Lap Dong)
Regarding the aforementioned case, PV Tien Phong has contacted Mr. Nguyen Viet Hung – Director of Bac Ninh Department of Construction, Mr. Nguyen Dai Dong – Chairman of Tien Du district People’s Committee but received the response “being rechecking and will inform later”. However, up to now, PV has not received feedback from the functional agencies of Bac Ninh province.
