Change the desire to give real estate to your lover and luckily the contract is void in Vietnam

Typically in the judgment 111/2018/DSST dated July 11, 2018 by the People's Court of Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City, the first instance trial of the case was:

“Mr. Le Van U and Ms. Tran Thi Thanh Dung have a romantic relationship. On June 26, 2014, Mr. U made a handwritten note to give Ms. D the house number 56, group 10, hamlet 3, Phuoc Kien commune, Nha Be district, Ho Chi Minh City with an area of 80m2. However, in 2016, Mr. U and Ms. D broke up and no longer had a romantic relationship, but Ms. D used the House Donation Paper to pressure him, so Mr. U asked the Court to cancel the House Gift Certificate on June 26/ 2014".

According to the provisions of Article 122 of the Civil Code (Civil Code) 2005 (now Article 117 of the Civil Code 2015 ) for a civil transaction to take effect, it is necessary to meet the following 03 conditions:

- Transaction participants have civil act capacity;

- The purpose and content of the transaction does not violate the prohibition of the law, does not violate social ethics;

- Participants in the transaction are completely voluntary.

In addition, the form of civil transaction is the effective condition of the transaction in case it is prescribed by law.

Therefore, in order for the land donation certificate to be valid, accompanying meeting the above three conditions, it must also meet the formal requirements. Because, the property donated here is real estate (Clause 1, Article 174 of the Civil Code 2005). Therefore, according to Clause 1, Article 467 of the 2005 Civil Code (Article 459 of the 2015 Civil Code), and Clause 3, of Article 167 of the 2013 Land Law of Vietnam, the contract for donation of land use rights and land-attached assets must be notarized or authenticated. If the parties fail to meet the requirements of this form, the Certificate of Donation for real estate may be invalidated (Article 134 Civil Code 2005, 129 Civil Code 2015).

In this case, Mr. U's real estate donation certificate was declared invalid by the Court because one of the reasons was that the gift certificate for real estate was not notarized or authenticated as required by law.

In conclusion, when giving the property, the parties need to ensure compliance with the provisions of law of Vietnam on the validity of civil transactions, especially the giftee, to ensure his/her rights and avoid future disputes.