By some estimates, 90% of the buildings in Hanoi have been built without official permission – the land untitled and never surveyed – the effects evident from even a cursory view of the city. Skinny buildings abut each other on narrow plots of land, and from the motorbike-choked thoroughfares, narrow alleys splinter off into neighbourhoods. The unplanned developments have been carried out by the quasi-legal construction industry. Reach a working KCBT number, and someone can usually come to survey your property and provide an estimate the same day. A standard one-storey house can be demolished for around 10m Vietnamese đồng (£280), with the work taking about three days. Because securing permits is the responsibility of the property owner, the company will not ask to see paperwork or government-seal red stamps – they’ll just assemble a crew and get to work.
It’s not easy or safe work. On a hot June afternoon this year, a six-man crew in plastic sandals were at work demolishing an extension to the C1 building of the Khu tập thể Bộ Quốc Phòng public housing block, to replace it with a five-storey extension. The men drill into cement, snip wires and drag windows into a wheelbarrow. It’s a typical job, says one of the workers, Nam. He pauses to take a swig from a water bottle. As we talk, residents in the block peer down. They have agreed to the demolition and are willing to endure a month of it, followed by an indeterminate length of time for construction, to increase their living space by about five metres.