After bank mortgage, 12m wide land title 'transformed' into 8m

Many cases are stuck for a long time

Mr. Nguyen Van Viet - Deputy Director of the Provincial Civil Judgment Enforcement Department (CJEA) said that although the number of successful enforcement cases involving credit institutions and banks each year is higher than the previous year, there are still many problems that require coordination between related parties to be resolved. For example, the CJEA case involving Thanh Huyen Company Limited in Vinh City.

Accordingly, in April 2013, according to the judgment of the Vinh City People's Court, the Nghi Loc District Enforcement Office issued a decision to enforce the judgment forcing Thanh Huyen Company Limited (No. 152, Nguyen Van Cu Street, Vinh City) to pay the Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade the principal and interest of more than 3.5 billion VND. Because Thanh Huyen Company Limited was unable to enforce the judgment, the enforcement officer seized Ms. Huyen's mortgaged property, including a house attached to the land use right with an area of ​​853 square meters in Thai Thinh Hamlet, Nghi Thai Commune, Nghi Loc District. During the process of handling the property, the Nghi Loc District Enforcement Office discovered that Ms. Huyen's land plot was actually granted a land use right certificate that was not in accordance with the current status of the land plot that Ms. Huyen and her husband received as a transfer.

That means the mortgage cover at the bank is 12m wide, but the actual measurement is only 8m, the remaining 4m belongs to the land and house of Ms. Truong Thi Tinh next door. Nghi Loc District People's Committee also confirmed that it was due to an error, while carrying out the procedure to grant the land use right certificate to Ms. Nguyen Thanh Huyen and her husband, they encroached on Ms. Truong Thi Tinh's land with a size of 4m. However, up to now, the competent authority has not made a decision to adjust or amend, causing this case to remain "hanging" and unresolved.

Officers of the Enforcement Agency go to verify and resolve cases at the grassroots level. Photo: Thu Trang

Or like the case involving Mr. Vo Van Dung in Cua Lo Town. In September 2017, Mr. Dung mortgaged his property including his house and land use right certificate to borrow money; then he could not repay the debt so the lender filed a lawsuit in court.

In 2017, the People's Court of Cua Lo town ordered Mr. Vo Van Dung to pay the Vietnam Asset Management Company (VAMC) the principal and interest as of September 29, 2017, which was more than VND 834 million (of which the principal was VND 500 million). After the court announced the verdict, Mr. Dung was also unable to repay the debt, so VAMC requested the enforcement agency to auction off the mortgaged assets including land use rights and property ownership rights attached to the land plot No. 456, map sheet No. 16, area 198.5m2 issued by the People's Committee of Cua Lo town on November 2, 2011, in the name of Mr. Vo Van Dung at block 12, Nghi Huong ward.

The number of credit and banking cases that the Nghe An Civil Judgment Enforcement Agency (CJEA) has to resolve each year accounts for an average of 1.5% of the number of cases, but accounts for 60% of the amount of money. And the cases that are complicated and prolonged are often the cases with large amounts of money to be enforced.

Mr. Nguyen Van Viet - Deputy Director of the Provincial Civil Judgment Enforcement Department

However, during the execution of the judgment, because Mr. Vo Van Dung did not voluntarily execute it, in May 2018, the Cua Lo Town Enforcement Department issued a Decision on compulsory seizure; the property was appraised at a price of more than 752 million VND for auction and a resident in Nghi Tan Ward won the auction at 775 million VND. However, Mr. Vo Van Dung refused to hand over the property to the auction winner, even fiercely resisted. Therefore, the Cua Lo Town Enforcement Department had to report to the Steering Committee for Enforcement of the Town and related agencies to both persuade, mobilize and enforce, then the case was resolved in July 2019.

From 2015 to present, the THA organization for credit institutions and banks has handled 618 cases, equivalent to more than 1,654 billion VND; of which 506 cases have conditions for execution, equivalent to more than 1,419 billion VND. To date, 234 cases have been resolved, equivalent to more than 730 billion VND.

Increase coordination to "resolve" difficulties

The above cases are among the cases related to land disputes, mortgaging land use right certificates to banks is often complicated, so the enforcement of judgments related to this content also encounters difficulties.

At the meeting between the provincial THADS Department and credit institutions and banks in the province on July 9, representatives of the participating parties also had many opinions on the case of Thanh Huyen Company, and at the same time suggested that the parties need to identify more obstacles that need to be "resolved" in credit and banking THA to have effective measures. Many credit institutions and banks pointed out the shortcomings that need to be resolved such as: the situation of mortgaged assets belonging to a third party causing the parties to not cooperate, even resist as in the case of Mr. Vo Van Dung.

Enforcement of judgment in a case related to land disputes in Nghi Loc district. Photo courtesy of Quang Dung

Many assets after being seized and auctioned have no buyers. For example, in the case involving Mr. Tran Huu Danh in Vinh City, Mr. Danh's seized assets were auctioned off at a price 12 times but still had no buyers. There was even a case where the price was reduced 22 times but the assets were still not auctioned.

Another problem is the legality of mortgaged assets, especially land use rights. Many cases are unclear and disputed, so they cannot be foreclosed. For example, the case of Thanh Huyen Company. In addition, the quality and loan appraisal process of some banks and credit institutions are not guaranteed, leading to the value of assets at the time of seizure being much lower than the loan debt. Some credit institutions and banks have not actively cooperated and shared with the foreclosure agency.

There are even credit institutions that sign contracts with bailiffs to enforce judgments, and only when they encounter difficulties do they request the enforcement agency to do so. Another common situation that makes enforcement difficult is that the addresses of assets securing loans such as cars, excavators, etc. cannot be determined, so the judgment cannot be enforced to recover them. Up to now, there have been 18 cases of "missing" assets, equivalent to more than VND 258 billion, that have not been enforced...

The provincial THADS Department works with credit institutions and banks to resolve problems. Photo: Hoai Thu

To “resolve” the problems related to credit and banking THA, Mr. Cao Van Hoi - Deputy Director of the State Bank of Vietnam, Nghe An branch, said that each bank and credit institution has different superiors and different ways of handling debt. Therefore, in addition to THA branches and credit institutions and banks, there also needs to be more exchanges and coordination between many other departments, branches and localities to find support mechanisms and cooperation mechanisms to help THA be more effective.

Mr. Pham Quoc Nam - Director of the Provincial Department of Enforcement of Civil Judgments also said that in the coming time, the Provincial Department of Enforcement of Civil Judgments will amend and supplement the coordination regulations with the State Bank of Vietnam, Nghe An branch to increase the effectiveness of enforcement of civil judgments, especially cases related to bank credit. "Only by strengthening coordination and regular exchanges between the enforcement agency and credit institutions, banks as well as related parties can cases be resolved quickly, without backlog and prolongation" - Mr. Pham Quoc Nam affirmed.

Hoai Thu