Are lands without LURCs in Vietnam allowed to be transferred?

Are lands without LURCs in Vietnam allowed to be transferred? (Internet image) 

Regarding this issue, LawNet would like to answer as follows:

1. Are lands without LURCs in Vietnam allowed to be transferred?

According to Article 188 of the Land Law 2013, land users may exercise the rights to transfer land use rights and contribute land use rights as capital when meeting the following conditions:

(1) Having the certificate, except the case prescribed in Clause 3, Article 186 and the case of receiving inheritance prescribed in Clause 1, Article 168 of the Land Law 2013;

(2) The land is dispute-free;

(3) The land use rights are not distrained to secure judgment enforcement;

(4) Within the land use term.

In addition to the conditions above, when exercising the rights to transfer land use rights and contribute land use rights as capital, land users must also be eligible under Articles 191, 192, 193 and 194 of the Land Law 2013.

 The transfer of land use rights or contribution of land use rights as capital must be registered with the land registration agency and will take effect from the time of registration in the cadastral book.

Thus, currently, when organizations, households, and individuals buy and sell real estate, they must meet the above 4 conditions, including having a Certificate of Land Use Rights (red book). Therefore, if the land does not have a certificate as prescribed by law, it is impossible to transfer land use rights and complete the transfer procedures (except for two cases according to regulations).

2. What are the penalties for transferring land without a Red Book in Vietnam?

As stated above, the Red Book is one of the mandatory conditions when transferring land use rights (except for 02 cases according to regulations). Therefore, cases of trading of land without a Red Book will be punished according to the law.

According to Clause 3, Article 18 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP, trading, gifting, leasing, contributing as capital or subletting land use rights without satisfying following conditions shall be sanctioned as follows:

Note: The above fines apply to individuals, the fines for organizations are equal to 2 times the fines for individuals.

Thus, the case of transferring land use rights without a Red Book (satisfying the remaining conditions) can be fined from 03 - 05 million VND for individuals transferring land use rights in rural areas, from 05 - 10 million VND for individuals transferring urban land use rights.

3. Cases in which acquisition or donation of land use rights is not allowed

Pursuant to Article 191 of the Land Law 2013, cases in which acquisition or donation of land use rights is not allowed include:

- Organizations, households, individuals, communities, religious institutions, overseas Vietnamese and foreign-invested enterprises may not receive transfer or donation of land use rights in case the transfer or donation of land use rights is prohibited by law.

- Economic organizations may not acquire the rights to use paddy land, protection forest land or special-use forest land from households or individuals, except the case of change in land use purpose in accordance with the land use master plan and plans approved by competent state agencies.

- Households and individuals not directly engaged in agricultural production may not receive the transfer or donation of paddy land use rights.

- Households and individuals may not receive the transfer or donation of residential land use rights and agricultural land use rights with regard to the land located in the areas of protection forests, strictly protected zones and ecological rehabilitation zones in special-use forests if they do not live in such protection forests or special-use forests.

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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