Difficulties in issuing land use right certificates due to unauthorized allocation: These have been resolved.

(Baonghean) - Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issued Circular No. 02/2015/TT-BTNMT (effective from March 12, 2015) detailing some provisions of Government Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP and Decree No. 44/2014/ND-CP dated May 15, 2014. Point 2, Article 18 of Circular 02/2015/TT-BTNMT amends and supplements some contents of Circular No. 23/2014/TT-BTNMT dated May 19, 2014, regulating the Certificate of Land Use Rights, Ownership of Houses and Other Assets Attached to Land. Specifically, the content of Article 18 of Circular 02 is as follows:

Hundreds of households in Cat Van commune (Thanh Chuong district) have not yet been granted land use right certificates.

2. Amend and supplement Clause 5 of Article 24 of Circular No. 23/2014/TT-BTNMT as follows:

“5. The issuance of land use certificates for cases where land was allocated without proper authority from July 1, 2004, to before July 1, 2014, as stipulated in Article 23 of Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP, shall be carried out as follows:

a) Clarify and address the responsibility of those who allocated land without proper authority as prescribed by law;

b) Consider and decide on each specific case and only issue Certificates of Land Use Rights for cases where the land has been used stably, without disputes, in accordance with the land use plan, detailed urban construction plan or rural residential area construction plan, or new rural construction plan approved by the competent state agency, and where financial obligations are fulfilled according to the law; in the case of land allocation for housing, Certificates of Land Use Rights shall only be issued to households and individuals who do not own any other land or housing in the commune, ward, or town where the allocated land is located.

According to Mr. Thai Van Nong, Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, with the regulations outlined in Point 2, Article 18 of Circular 02, the difficulties in issuing land use right certificates for land allocated illegally have been largely resolved. For cases of land allocated illegally between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2014, it is necessary to clarify and handle those who allocated the land without proper authority; and consider issuing certificates on a case-by-case basis. For cases where the land has been used stably, without disputes, in accordance with the planning approved by competent state agencies, and financial obligations have been fulfilled according to the law, land use right certificates will be issued.

Since the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment issued Circular 23/2014/TT-BTNMT, the issuance of land use right certificates for land allocated without proper authority in localities throughout the province has faced numerous difficulties. To address these issues, the Provincial People's Committee sent several documents to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment outlining the problems arising from the regulations of Circular 23 and requesting consideration of the issuance of certificates to households and individuals using land allocated without proper authority in the province. Also related to this issue, based on reader letters, in January 2015, Nghe An Newspaper investigated, verified, and published articles titled "Regarding the application for land use right certificates in Cat Van commune (Thanh Chuong)"; and "Issuance of land use right certificates allocated without proper authority: Problems arising".

Nhat Lan