Is it legal to trade land with handwritten papers in Vietnam?

Is it legal to trade land with handwritten papers in Vietnam?

According to Clause 3, Article 167 of the 2013 Land Law,the right to exchange, transfer, lease, sublease, inherit, donate, mortgage land use rights and contribute land use rights as capital are as follows:

3. The notarization and certification of contracts and documents on the exercise of the rights of land users shall be conducted as follows:

a/ Contracts on transfer, donation, mortgage or contribution of land use rights as capital or the rights to use land and land-attached assets must be notarized or certified, except the case of real estate business prescribed at Point b of this Clause;

b/ Contracts on lease or sublease of land use rights or the rights to use land and land-attached assets, a contract on exchange of agricultural land use rights, a contract on transfer of land use rights or the rights to use land and land-attached assets in which one party or all parties involved in the transaction is/are a real estate business organization or organizations must be notarized or certified at the request of the parties;

c/ The documents on inheritance of land use rights or the rights to use land and land-attached assets must be notarized or certified under the civil law;

d/ The notarization shall be conducted at notarization-practicing organizations and the certification shall be conducted at commune-level People’s Committees.

In Article 129 of the 2015 Civil Code, invalidity of civil transactions due to non-compliance with form, specifically as follows:

A civil transaction violating conditions for validity pertaining to form shall be invalid, except for any of the following cases:

1. If the form of a civil transaction, required to be established in writing, does not comply with regulations of law, but a party or the parties has/have fulfill at least two third of the obligations in the transaction, a court, at his/her/their request(s), shall issue a decision on recognition of the validity of such transaction.

2. If the form of a civil transaction, required to be established in writing, violates against regulations on notarizing or authorization, but a party or the parties has/have fulfill at least two third of the obligations in the transaction, a court, at his/her/their request(s), shall issue a decision on recognition of the validity of such transaction. In this case, the parties need not perform the notarizing or authorization.

In addition, Clause 2, Article 82 of Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP on procedures for registration and grant of certificates of land use rights and ownership of houses and other land-attached assets in case land use rights have been transferred but the procedures for transfer of such rights have not yet been carried out as prescribed:

2. In case the current user of land acquired from transfer or inheritance or donation of land use rights before July 1, 2014, and such person has only a certificate of the land use rights transferor or a contract or paper on land use rights transfer as prescribed, the following provisions shall be complied with:

a/ Such person shall submit an application for a certificate of land use rights and ownership of houses and other land-attached assets and available land use rights papers;

b/ The land registration office shall notify writing the rights transferor and post up at the office of the commune-level People’s Committee of the place where the land is located of the carrying out of the procedures to grant a certificate of land use rights and ownership of houses and other land-attached assets to the rights recipient. If the rights transferor’s address is unknown, an announcement must be published in the local mass media for three consecutive issues (announcement expenses shall be paid by the applicant for the certificate);

c/ After 30 days from the date of notification or first announcement in the local mass media, if there is no written claim for dispute settlement, the land registration office shall make a dossier and submit it to a competent agency for the latter to decide to cancel the granted certificate, in case the certificate is not submitted, and concurrently grant a new certificate of land use rights and ownership of houses and other land-attached assets to the rights recipient.

If receiving a written claim for dispute settlement, the land registration office shall instruct the parties to file such claim with a state agency competent to settle disputes according to regulations.

According to this Article, unless the contract of sale and purchase of 05m2 of land performed by your family is recognized by a competent court as a legal contract according to regulations, or your parents have held the certificate of the purchased 05m2 land parcel and received permission from the competent court. If you change your name, your parents' land purchase and sale transaction is legal in Vietnam.

If there has not conducted land conciliation in Vietnam, can a lawsuit be filed?

In Clause 1, Clause 2, Article 203 of the 2013 Land Law, the 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;

In addition, Clause 2, Article 3 of Resolution 04/2017/NQ-HDTP provides:

2. For a dispute over who has the right to use the land but has not yet been conciliated at the People's Committee of the commune, ward or township where the disputed land is located according to the provisions of Article 202 of the 2013 Land Law, it shall be determined as not yet fully qualified to initiate lawsuits specified at Point b, Clause 1, Article 192 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code.

For other disputes related to land use rights such as: disputes over transactions related to land use rights, disputes over inheritance of land use rights, and division of common property of husband and wife is the right of husband and wife, etc, the conciliation procedure at the People's Committee of the commune, ward or township where the disputed land is located is not a condition for initiating a lawsuit.

Thus, the option to settle land disputes in the form of lawsuits at the Court is only made after the parties have failed to conciliate at the commune-level People's Committees in Vietnam.

Best regards!