If conciliation of a land dispute is not successful, can a lawsuit be filed in Court in Vietnam?
Mr. Long and I, in Ba Vi recently, did the mediation procedures on a land dispute, the commune side failed to reconcile, should we go to the district or can we sue at the Court? The land has a certificate of land use rights.
If conciliation of a land dispute is not successful, can a lawsuit be filed in Court in Vietnam?
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 203 of the 2013 Land Law, authority to settle land disputes is as follows:
If the conciliation at a commune-level People’s Committee fails, a land dispute shall be settled as follows:
1. The land dispute in which the concerned party possesses a certificate or any of the papers prescribed in Article 100 of this Law and the dispute over land-attached assets shall be settled by the People’s Court;
2. For the land dispute in which the concerned party does not possess a certificate or any of the papers prescribed in Article 100 of this Law, the parties may choose between the following two options of settlement:
a/ Filing a written request for dispute settlement with a competent People’s Committee as prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article;
b/ Filing a lawsuit with a competent People’s Court in accordance with the law on civil procedures;
3. In case the concerned parties choose the option of settlement at a competent People’s Committee, the settlement is as follows:
a/ In case the dispute occurs among households, individuals and communities, the chairperson of the district-level People Committee is responsible for the settlement. If the concerned parties disagree with the settlement decision, they are entitled to lodge a complaint with the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee or to file a lawsuit at a People’s Court in accordance with the law on administrative procedures;
b/ In case the dispute involves one party being an organization, a religious institution, an overseas Vietnamese or a foreign-invested enterprise, the chairperson of the provincial-level People’s Committee is responsible for the settlement. If the concerned parties disagree with the settlement decision, they are entitled to lodge a complaint with the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment or to file a lawsuit with a People’s Court in accordance with the law on administrative procedures;
4. The person having competence to settle the land dispute as prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article shall issue a settlement decision. The legally effective decision on dispute settlement must be strictly abided by the concerned parties. If the parties fail to comply, the decision shall be enforced.
Thus, if you have a land dispute with a Certificate of land use rights, you have the right to initiate a lawsuit at Court when the mediation failed at the Commune People's Committee in Vietnam.
Best Regards!
