Changes in land registration processing effective July 1, 2025

Specifically, according to Decree 151/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025, the handling of land will undergo the following important changes:

Citizens can submit land registration applications anywhere within the province.

According to Article 18 of Decree 151/2025/ND-CP regulating procedures and documents for land registration, assets attached to land, and cadastral records: Accordingly, regarding the submission of documents as prescribed in Clauses 3 and 4, Article 21 of Decree 101/2024/ND-CP, the applicant may choose one of the submission locations within the province. Cadastral records as prescribed by the Land Law of 2024 are compiled at the commune-level administrative unit.

The decree also stipulates that: In cases where the land user or owner of assets attached to the land is an individual or a community, they may choose where to submit their application.

To ensure feasibility and prevent difficulties for citizens, the Decree also clearly stipulates that: Land administration agencies are not allowed to require land users to amend land-related documents after the reorganization of the two-tiered local government; instead, this should be done simultaneously when land users carry out administrative procedures or based on the needs of the land users.

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When the People's Committee at the commune level carries out the procedures for issuing Certificates of Land Use Rights and Ownership of Assets Attached to Land under Articles 137, 138, 139, and 140 of the 2024 Land Law, it is not required to separately verify the conformity with planning, the absence of disputes, and the stable use of the land.

Based on the above regulations, applicants can choose to submit their applications in the following ways: (1) Submitting directly to the above-mentioned agencies; (2) Submitting through postal services; (3) Submitting at a location agreed upon between the applicant and the Land Registration Office or branch of the Land Registration Office; (4) Submitting on the National Public Service Portal or the provincial-level Public Service Portal.

Currently, because Decree 151/2025/ND-CP will only officially come into effect on July 1, 2025, and the new two-tier local government model will only be operational from July 1 (some communes have been conducting trial operations since June 20, 2025), we have to wait for the Provincial People's Committee to issue specific regulations, along with the regulations on receiving and resolving issues across localities, before it can be officially implemented.

Furthermore, according to an official from a branch of the Land Registration Office, land records have their own specific legal and technical characteristics, making it difficult for the "one-stop" service department of one locality to review and approve the validity of incoming records from other localities. Therefore, for the time being, the Land Registration Office and the "one-stop" service department in each locality will accept land records from that locality. When the two-tiered local government model operates stably, and especially when the infrastructure for interconnected "one-stop" service departments is ensured, people anywhere will be able to submit documents directly or send them via post.

Mr. Thai Duy Hung, Head of the Land Allocation Department of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, shared: Decree 151/2025/ND-CP stipulates the breakthroughs mentioned above, but the Government also allows localities to base their regulations on the practical situation to provide more detailed provisions. In comparison with the above regulations, due to inadequate infrastructure, it is likely that the two-tiered local government model will only be implemented after a period of operation, and the "one-stop" service centers in communes and local land registration offices become interconnected.

Decentralize and empower the commune level effectively.

According to Article 21 of Decree 101/2024/ND-CP, the agencies responsible for receiving applications and returning results for land and property registration include: the "one-stop" service center as stipulated by the Provincial People's Committee for receiving applications and returning results for administrative procedures at the provincial, district, and commune levels; the Land Registration Office; and the Branch of the Land Registration Office.

Thus, according to Decree 151/2025/ND-CP, for the first time, the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level is authorized to issue Certificates of Land Use Rights and Certificates of Ownership of Assets Attached to Land (land title deeds) for the first time, starting from July 1, 2025.

In addition to the above cases, commune-level authorities are also authorized to issue land use certificates in cases of land contribution, land adjustment, and re-determination of residential land area within plots containing gardens and ponds, as of July 1, 2024. Some powers previously under the authority of the provincial People's Committee are now decentralized to the commune level, such as issuing land use certificates to religious organizations and Vietnamese people residing abroad.

The maximum processing time is 3 working days. In case of delay in providing the results of the application processing as prescribed, the agency receiving the application and processing the procedure will send a written notification, via electronic means, or via SMS to the applicant, clearly stating the reason.

The decree also notes: In cases where the applicant submits copies or digitized versions of documents, upon receiving the results of the administrative procedure, the applicant must submit the original documents as required, except for construction permits, investment project approval decisions, investment decisions, investment licenses, and investment certificates.

Adding more cases eligible for land title certificate replacement.

Specifically, according to Section 7 (C) Part V Appendix I issued with Decree 151/2025/ND-CP, the procedures for exchanging issued land use right certificates (red books) include the following cases: Land users who need to exchange land use right certificates issued before August 1, 2024, for new land use right certificates and certificates of ownership of assets attached to the land; land use right certificates that are stained, blurred, torn, or damaged; land use right certificates issued for multiple plots of land that are to be issued separately for each plot of land according to the needs of the land user; and cases of exchanging land use right certificates and certificates of ownership of assets attached to the land as prescribed.

In addition, the issuance of replacement certificates also applies to the following cases:

- The land use purpose stated on the issued land certificate, in accordance with the land law at the time of issuance, differs from the land use purpose as defined in the land classification stipulated in Article 9 of the 2024 Land Law and the Government Decree detailing the implementation of certain provisions of the Land Law;

- The location of the land parcel on the issued land certificate is inaccurate compared to the actual location of land use at the time the certificate was issued;

- The right to use land and the right to own assets attached to the land are the joint property of husband and wife, but the issued Certificate only records the name of either the wife or the husband. Now, there is a request to exchange the Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land to include both the wife's and the husband's names.

- The issued certificate bears the name of the household. Now, members who share the land use rights of that household may request a replacement certificate to include the full names of all members sharing the land use rights, or to change the dimensions, area, or plot number due to cadastral surveying and mapping, or cadastral extraction of the plot, while the plot boundaries remain unchanged.

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Land users and owners of assets attached to the land submit the documents specified in this section to the "one-stop" service department or the Land Registration Office or its branch. The receiving agency checks the completeness of the documents and issues a Receipt of Documents and a date for returning the results. If the documents are incomplete, the documents are returned along with a Request for Supplementation form for the applicant to complete and supplement as required. If the receiving agency is the "one-stop" service department, the documents are forwarded to the Land Registration Office for the Office to revise and update the changes in the cadastral records and land database; issue and hand over (or send) the Certificate of Land Use Rights and Ownership of Assets Attached to the Land, or send it to the receiving agency for handover to the recipient.