Vietnam Building Conference: Convening, Voting, Minutes

Short answer. The building conference (Hội nghị nhà chung cư) is the meeting of the owners, or of the users where an owner does not attend, and comes in three kinds: first, annual and extraordinary. Attendance minimums are counted in people; the result is counted in area, 1 m² of private area being one vote. Decisions must be written into minutes signed by the chairing members and the secretary. Conferences are held in person; online meetings are allowed only where an epidemic or natural disaster makes that impossible. Sources: art. 145 of Housing Law No. 27/2023/QH15 and arts. 14 to 18 of the Regulation on the management and use of apartment buildings (Circular No. 05/2024/TT-BXD, consolidated text No. 21/VBHN-BXD).

Three kinds of conference and minimum attendance

Attendance below is counted in representatives of owners of handed-over apartments, not in area.

• First. Under art. 15(3) of the Regulation the developer prepares the agenda, announces and holds it within 12 months of handover into use, once at least 50% of the apartments have been handed over (apartments the developer keeps unsold are excluded). At least 50% of the representatives of owners of handed-over apartments must attend (Regulation art. 15).
• Annual. Once a year, at least 30% (or fewer if the first conference decided so). At least 50% if the same conference also replaces the chair or deputy chair, dismisses the whole board and elects a new one, replaces another board member, or decides the items of art. 16(1)(d) of the Regulation (replacing the operating unit, adjusting the operating service price) or whether to keep an operating unit whose contract has ended (Regulation art. 17(2)). When you state the quorum in the notice, state the figure that matches the agenda.
• Extraordinary. At least 50%; where it is held on a petition of at least 50% of owners' representatives, at least 75% of the petitioners must attend (Regulation art. 16). Replacing the operating unit or adjusting the operating service price, when the board asks for it, is also dealt with at an extraordinary conference. Annual and extraordinary conferences are prepared by the board (Regulation art. 17(5), art. 16(4)).

If the developer or the board does not call it

The first conference has two distinct situations:

• The developer never convenes it. If the building was handed over more than 12 months ago, at least 50% of the apartments are handed over and the developer does not hold it, the commune-level People's Committee holds it on the request of the owners' representatives (Regulation art. 15(5)(a)). There is no 07-working-day window here. The Committee also steps in where the developer has been dissolved or gone bankrupt and the owners' representatives ask.
• It is held but attendance falls short. The developer or an owners' representative has 07 working days from the date of the meeting named in the notice to ask the commune-level People's Committee to hold it (Regulation art. 15(2)(a)).

The Committee has 30 days from receiving the request; a conference it holds has no attendance requirement, the owners and users share the cost, and its result binds as if the developer had held it (Regulation art. 15(6)-(7)). For annual and extraordinary conferences the Committee route is in arts. 16(5)-(6) and 17(6).

Who attends, and proxies

• Participants. Representatives of owners of handed-over apartments, the developer's representative (if it still owns area), the operating unit's representative (if any), and a representative of the commune-level People's Committee is invited. A party that sends no one is still bound by the decisions (Regulation art. 18).
• Proxy. An owner may delegate only to another owner in the same building or to someone currently using it, under a written authorisation signed by both. The document records both parties' names and phone numbers, the apartment address, the scope and each side's rights and responsibilities (Regulation arts. 14, 15, 18).
• Disabled owners or users who cannot attend: the ballot is collected at their apartment (Regulation art. 18(4)).

Voting: people for attendance, square meters for the result

Voting rights follow privately owned area: 1 m² is one vote, fractions below 1 m² are not counted, and if the area is disputed the sale or hire-purchase contract decides. Decisions pass by a majority of the votes of those attending (Regulation art. 18(3); art. 145(5), Housing Law).

An invented example: a building has 20 handed-over apartments and 8 representatives attend an annual conference (40%, above the 30% minimum). They own 600 m² between them and a resolution gets 330 votes in favor, more than half of the 600 m² present, so it passes. If the same meeting also elected a new board, 8 representatives (40%) would not be enough: it would need at least 50%.

Online meetings and electronic ballots

Conferences are held in person. Only where an epidemic or natural disaster makes an in-person meeting impossible may a conference be held online or in a hybrid form, and it must still meet the same attendance and composition (art. 145(2), Housing Law; Regulation art. 18(4)). The Regulation has no remote or electronic ballot in place of a conference. There are two narrow exceptions: the ballot of a disabled owner or user who cannot attend is collected at their apartment (Regulation art. 18(4)), and an ordinary board member can be replaced by written consultation (Regulation art. 26(3)(b)).

So Unitify's survey tool fits consulting residents before and between conferences. It does not make a conference valid and does not replace meeting.

Notice template (structure)

Under the Regulation the developer prepares the agenda, announces the time and place and holds the first conference (art. 15(3)); annual and extraordinary conferences are prepared by the board (art. 17(5), art. 16(4)). For the notice period and any other mandatory content, check the Regulation and the conference rules adopted at the first conference. Vietnamese form, with the English gloss in brackets:

THÔNG BÁO MỜI HỌP HỘI NGHỊ NHÀ CHUNG CƯ [LẦN ĐẦU / THƯỜNG NIÊN / BẤT THƯỜNG] NĂM [...]
(Notice of a [first / annual / extraordinary] building conference)
Kính gửi: Quý cư dân, chủ sở hữu và người sử dụng nhà chung cư [tên tòa nhà]

1. Người triệu tập (convened by): [chủ đầu tư / Ban quản trị / Ủy ban nhân dân cấp xã]
2. Thời gian (time): [giờ], ngày [...] tháng [...] năm [...]
3. Địa điểm (place): [...]
4. Thành phần mời (invited): owners' representatives, developer (if it owns area),
   operating unit, commune-level People's Committee
5. Chương trình họp (agenda):
   - [Board report and yearly income and expenditure]
   - [Maintenance fund account for last year and plan for next year]
   - [Election or dismissal of board members, if any]
   - [Operating service price / contract renewal, if any]
   - [Other items]
6. Điều kiện tiến hành (quorum): at least [30% / 50%] of representatives of owners
   of handed-over apartments, or [75% of the people who signed the petition]
   [or the figure set by the first conference]
7. Ủy quyền (proxy): only to another owner in the building or a current user,
   by a document signed by both (form attached)
8. Liên hệ (contact): [name, phone]

Người triệu tập (signature, seal if any)

Minutes template (structure)

Conference decisions must be written into minutes signed by the chairing members and the secretary (art. 145(5), Housing Law). The law does not require recording each person's vote; the figures below are a suggestion for clear, checkable minutes.

BIÊN BẢN HỘI NGHỊ NHÀ CHUNG CƯ [LẦN ĐẦU / THƯỜNG NIÊN / BẤT THƯỜNG] [tên tòa nhà]
(Minutes of the [first / annual / extraordinary] building conference)
Time and place: [...]
Chủ trì (chair): [...]   Thư ký (secretary): [...]

1. Attendance: [representatives attending] / [total of handed-over apartments] = [...]%;
   minimum for these items: [...]%
   Guests / developer / operating unit: [...]
2. Agenda and summary of discussion: [...]
3. Decisions:
   Item 1: [...]
   For: [...] votes (m²)   Against: [...] votes   Not voting: [...]
   Result: [passed / not passed by a majority of the votes of those attending]
   Item 2: [...]
4. Tasks and deadlines: [...]
5. Closed at [time].

Thư ký (signature)        Chủ trì (signature)
Attached: attendance list, proxy documents, ballots

Ballot template (structure)

PHIẾU BIỂU QUYẾT (Ballot) - [tên tòa nhà], ngày [...]
Căn hộ / other area (apartment): [no.] Block [...]
Voter: [name]   Capacity: [owner / user with a written authorisation]
Privately owned area: [...] m² (votes: [...], fraction below 1 m² dropped)

Item 1: [...]       [ ] Tán thành (for)   [ ] Không tán thành (against)   [ ] Không biểu quyết (not voting)
Item 2: [...]       [ ] Tán thành (for)   [ ] Không tán thành (against)   [ ] Không biểu quyết (not voting)

Signature: ____________   Date: [...]

The "not voting" column is this template's choice, not a rule of the law.

Proxy document (structure)

Under art. 15 of the Regulation the document carries the names and phone numbers of the delegating and receiving parties, the apartment address, the scope of the authorisation, each party's rights and responsibilities, and both signatures. The recipient must be another owner in the same building or someone currently using it.

What Unitify does

• Announcements to residents about time, place and agenda in the resident app, supporting the official notice.
• Surveys and polls before and between conferences: create a survey, set the building scope and the period, residents answer from their phone, and the company follows the units that have taken part in real time. The tool records answers; it does not make a conference valid and does not replace meeting.
• One place for records for notices, survey results, invoices and vouchers, to prepare the report for the annual conference.
• Resident requests and billing for the operating unit: residents pay by bank transfer or VietQR from their own banking app; this is not a Unitify integration.

See Unitify in Vietnam, resident voting and Ban quản trị: who elects it, term and duties.

Book a demo to see surveys and resident announcements at work.