Property preservation and liquidation upon enforcement of land expropriation decisions in Vietnam from August 1, 2024

Property preservation and liquidation upon enforcement of land expropriation decisions in Vietnam from August 1, 2024 (Image from the Internet)

On July 30, 2024, the Government of Vietnam issued Decree 102/2024/ND-CP detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Land Law 2024.

Guidelines on property preservation and liquidation upon enforcement of land expropriation decisions in Vietnam from August 1, 2024

Article 38 of Decree 102/2024/ND-CP sets forth the regulations for preserving and liquidating property upon enforcement of land expropriation decisions in Vietnam as follows:

* When executing coercive land recovery and the coerced party refuses to receive their property, the land recovery committee shall hand over the property to the following agencies for preservation:

- The State Treasury for cash, gold, silver, precious metals, gemstones, foreign currencies;- Specialized state management agencies for property such as industrial explosives, support tools, items of historical, cultural value, national treasures, antiquities, and rare forest products;- Local forestry agencies for property such as perennial trees or felled and harvested trees, high-value bonsai, and rare animals needing protection, or hand over to agriculture management agencies;- The communal People's Committee for remaining property.

* The procedure for property handover for preservation is as follows:

- The land recovery committee must make a record, specifying: the name of the person presiding over the coercive decision, the individuals, representatives of the coerced organizations, the person assigned to preserve the property, and witnesses; the quantity and condition (quality) of the property; rights and obligations of the person assigned to preserve the property; and the time of handover;- The head of the land recovery committee, the person assigned to preserve the property, the individuals, representatives of the coerced organizations, and the witnesses must sign the record. If the record has multiple pages, each page must be signed. In case of absent individuals or refusal to sign, such facts must be recorded in the document, stating clear reasons.

The record is given to the person assigned to preserve the property, individuals, representatives of the coerced organizations, witnesses, and the presiding officer of the inventory, with each keeping one copy;

- property preservation costs (if any) are borne by the property owner and deducted from compensation, support, and resettlement payments before being paid to the landowner or property owner;- The person assigned to preserve the property is responsible for compensating damages, replacements, losses, or destruction of the property and will be subject to legal penalties depending on the nature and severity of the violation;- For high-value easily perishable or combustible property that are required to be insured under legal regulations, the entity assigned to preserve the property must purchase insurance. The property owner is responsible for paying the insurance costs upon reclaiming the property.

* After completing the property handover as prescribed in Clause 2, Article 38 of Decree 102/2024/ND-CP, the land recovery committee must notify the property owner to collect the property within 60 days.

* If 60 days elapse from the notification and the individual or organization with the property does not come to collect them, the property will be auctioned according to the law. The proceeds, after deducting the costs of transport, storage, preservation, handling, auctioning, and insurance, will be deposited into a non-term savings account at a credit institution and the individual or organization will be notified to collect the money. For damaged and valueless property, the land recovery committee will organize their destruction according to the law and make a record of their condition before destruction.

For more details, see Decree 102/2024/ND-CP, which comes into force in Vietnam from  August 1, 2024.

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