Vietnam Considers Issuing Land Use Certificates for Properties with Procedural Violations

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is soliciting public feedback on a draft amendment to the Land Law, scheduled to be submitted to the National Assembly for comment in early August. A notable change proposed in the draft concerns the issuance of the Certificate of Land Use Rights and ownership of assets attached to land, commonly known as 'sổ đỏ'. According to the draft, the State will consider issuing 'sổ đỏ' for land that had procedural violations before August 1, 2024, if it is being used stably, is free from disputes, complies with planning, and does not affect national defense, security, the environment, or infrastructure safety. The government will issue detailed regulations on the issuance of 'sổ đỏ', reassessment of residential land areas, corrections, and the revocation of previously issued certificates. The drafting agency stated that many land parcels have been used for a long time but their legal procedures remain incomplete. Issues also arise with land originating from agricultural and forestry farms, land after enterprise equitization, surplus land after reorganization of offices, and land allocated by organizations to households and individuals for housing. The draft stipulates that land allocated by organizations to households and individuals for housing before August 1, 2024, must be handed over to the competent authority for the issuance of 'sổ đỏ' to the current users according to regulations. Furthermore, the draft introduces changes to how information is recorded when a land parcel has multiple co-owners of land use rights, co-owners of attached assets, or belongs to the shared use of a household. Accordingly, 'sổ đỏ' must fully record the names of all individuals with co-owned land use rights and ownership of attached assets. Household members must mutually agree to identify co-owners and bear legal responsibility. The 2024 Land Law stipulates that in cases of co-ownership of land use rights or shared ownership of assets, each person will be granted one certificate. If requested, the parties may be issued a single certificate handed to a representative. The draft continues to mandate that 'sổ đỏ' will only be issued after the land user and asset owner have fulfilled their financial obligations. This condition does not apply to cases exempt from financial obligations, those with deferred payments (ghi nợ), or annual land lease payments. Electronic 'sổ đỏ' will have the same legal validity as paper versions. While the 2024 Land Law provides for a unified national template for certificates without distinguishing between paper and electronic forms, the addition of electronic 'sổ đỏ' aims to support digital transformation, leverage the land database, and facilitate information sharing among management agencies. The draft also requires the issuing authority to make corrections if there are errors in the recipient's information or if the details about the land parcel and attached assets do not match the registered documents or effective dispute resolution decisions. Reasons for revoking 'sổ đỏ' are largely inherited from current law, including state recovery of the entire land area, exchange, issuance of new certificates upon registration of changes, incorrect issuance, court rulings of invalidity, or revocation for enforcement purposes. 'Sổ đỏ' issued without proper authority, to incorrect subjects, with incorrect area, conditions, purpose, or land origin will not be revoked if the recipient has legally transferred land use rights or ownership of attached assets. This provision was already in the 2024 Land Law and is carried over, not a new policy in the current draft. The draft Land Law is developed based on a review of nearly two years of implementation of the 2024 law, focusing on resolving practical difficulties and adjusting authorities to suit the two-tier local government model.