Projects of apartment building have constantly developed in such big cities as Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh as a result of the swift urbanization and population boom in Vietnam. Apartment building is a community of civilization, modernity and humanity in the world. However, due to limitations of its legal system as well as weaknesses in management, there have emerged a number of problems in Vietnam’s condominiums, such as conflicts among residents and the developer or conflicts among residents themselves, resulting in long-running claims and disputes. Besides, it is a fact that residents in condominiums have restricted rights to involve in the management and maintenance of the buildings despite their collective ownership.

In reality, a house is among assets of highest value to a Vietnamese person. Moreover, the East-Asian often desire to “live and work in peace and contentment”. Therefore, real estate is of both material and spiritual significance to them. Individual’s responsibilities are hence to jointly maintain and increase the value of their real estate as time progresses.

Understanding that fact, PMC expects the active involvement of residents in condominiums in the management of their buildings so that they could make decisions on the best policies and measures to maintain and increase their assets’ value.

In reality, countries of highly developed civil society like Hong Kong, South Korea, and Singapore have proved the Building Owner's Committee as a model of organization and a tool enabling residents’ active involvement in the management of their properties. In the spirit of its respect for residents’ ownership together with its rich experience in property management in Vietnamese market, PMC expects to provide a guiding framework for the establishment and operation of Owner's Committee  with an aim to help residents understand their rights and responsibilities in contributing to creating added value to their condominiums.

The role of Building Owner's Committee is as follows:

- Each condominium now has hundreds to thousands of units and a common property of residents. Therefore, it is each resident’s responsibility to involve in the management and maintenance of the apartment. Each resident must be responsible for any possible accident caused by his/her improper management or maintenance of the apartment.

- Managing and maintaining a building is not an easy task. It involves numerous matters, ranging from such minor ones as cleaning and security in common parts to major ones as appointment of property management company and cost of major maintenance works. All these require residents’ unanimity, which is difficult, if not impossible, for a large building with thousands of blocks.

- It is therefore necessary to establish one Owner's Committee for each building. According to Housing Law, the Building Owner's Committee represents all residents’ will, rights and responsibilities to deal with building management matters.

- The Building Owner's Committee may control, improve and manage the common parts and facilities in the building. It can represent residents to sign contracts with property management companies as well as maintenance contracts with corporate bodies. It can appoint or terminate a management company as well as supervise and inspect that company.

- According to Housing Law, the operation of the Building Owner's Committee is based on the majority of owners’ votes. All matters related to the control and management of common parts of the building are solved a resolution of the building.

- The Building Owner's Committee surveys residents’ evaluation on the service quality of the property management company, gives suggestions, asks for help as well as consultancy from involved authorities on the behalf of residents if necessary.

In reality, establishing the Building Owner's Committee is not the only but one of the best solutions to building management in many countries.