Can minors own certificates of land use rights and ownership of houses and other land-attached assets in Vietnam?

Can minors own certificates of land use rights and ownership of houses and other land-attached assets in Vietnam?

According to Article 5 of the 2013 Land Law, Article 97 of the 2013 Land Law stipulates that land users include households, individuals, residential communities, organizations, overseas Vietnamese, organizations, a foreign individual and a holder of a land use right certificate is a person who has the right to use land, ownership of houses, and ownership of other land-attached assets without a specified age. granted a certificate of land use right.

In addition, in Clause 1, Article 5 of Circular 23/2014/TT-BTNMT as amended by Article 6 of Circular 33/2017/TT-BTNMT stipulates:

1. Specifying information on land user or owner of properties associated with the land issued with Certicate under the following regulations:

a) For domestic individuals, write "Mr" (or "Mrs"), then write their full name, year of birth, name and number of personal papers (if any), permanent address. For personal papers being people's identity cards, write "ID card No…"; in case of People's Army ID card, write "Certificate No.:..."; in case of citizen's identity card, write "ID card No…"; In case there is no ID card or citizen identification card, write “Birth certificate No…

b) Oversea Vietnamese people entitled to own houses in Vietnam and foreign individuals entitled to own houses under regulation, write “Mr (or “Mrs”), full name, date of birth, nationality; for personal paper, write “Passport No…issued at:…, issue year:….”; address of permanent residence of such people in Vietnam (if any);

c) For households using land, write “Household, including Mr. family as specified at Point a of this Clause; residential address of the household. In case the head of household does not have the right to use the common land of the household, write the representative who is another member of the household who has the same land use right of the household. The next line reads “Co-using land, jointly owning assets attached to land (or Jointly using land or jointly owning assets) with … (insert full name, year of birth, name and number of personal papers, respectively) relatives of the rest of the household members who share the same land use rights and ownership of land-attached assets).

d) Where the right of land use and properties associated with the land as the Joint properties of both spouse, write full name, date of birth, name and number of personal paper, address of permanent residence of both spouse as stipulated under Point a and b of this Clause;

dd) For domestic organization, write name of organization, paper, number and signing date and signing agency of legal paper (relating to establishment or recognition of organization or certificate or permit of investment or business under regulations of law); address of main office of organization;

e) Oversea Vietnamese people or enterprises with foreign invested capital implementing investment projects in Vietnam, write name of economic organization which is the entity implementing investment projects; name of papers, number and signing date and signing agency of legal paper (relating to establishment or recognition of organization or certificate or permit of investment or business under regulations of law); address of main office of organization in Vietnam;

g) For foreign organization with diplomatic functions, write the name of organization and its address of main office.

h) For religious establishment, write its name and address;

i) For residential community (defined by such residential community and certified by communal People’s Committee) and address of Joint living activities of such residential community.

Thus, at present, the land law does not limit the age of the person whose name is on the certificates of land use rights and ownership of houses and other land-attached assets, so minors , that is, people under 18 years old can still have their names on the certificates in Vietnam.

Can minors buy housing in Vietnam? 

Pursuant to Article 21 of the 2015 Civil Code stipulates that minors are as follows:

1. Minors are persons who are under eighteen years of age.

2. Civil transactions of each child under six years of age shall be established and performed by his/her legal representative.

3. Each person who is from six to under eighteen years of age must have the consent of his/her legal representative to enter in and perform civil transactions, except for civil transactions which are performed for the purpose of meeting the needs of daily life suitable for the age group.

4. Each person who is from fifteen to under eighteen years of age is entitled to enter in and perform civil transactions by himself/herself, except for civil transactions related to real estate, movables required registration and other civil transactions as prescribed by law that are subject to the consent of his/her legal representative.

In addition, Article 77 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 provides for disposition of property of minor children or adult children who have lost their civil act capacity as follows:

1. Parents or guardians who manage under-15 children’s own property have the right to dispose of such property in the interests of the children and shall take into account the children’s desire if they are full 9 years or older.

2. Children aged between full 15 and under 18 have the right to dispose of their own property other than real estate, movable assets with registered ownership and use rights or property used for business activities the disposal of which is subject to written consent of their parents or guardians.

3. Guardians of adult children who have lost their civil act capacity may dispose of the latter’s own property.

As such, people under the age of 18 cannot directly perform transactions related to real estate by themselves. In order to buy and sell houses, minors are required to have the written consent of their parents or guardians in Vietnam.

Best Regards!