Tighten management, reduce brokers in land auctions

(Baonghean) - Mr. Hoang Quoc Hao - Director of the Department of Justice answered an interview with Nghe An Newspaper about the auction of land use rights.

PV:According to the people and voters, some land use rights auctions are having “blue team, red team” and “land brokers”. What is your opinion on this issue?

Mr. Hoang Quoc Hao:Besides the positive aspects, the auction of assets, especially the auction of land use rights, still has the situation of “blue army, red army”, “land brokers”, colluding, lowering prices, causing disorder and insecurity in some localities. This is a problem not only in Nghe An.

The negative situation occurred on the one hand due to the lack of uniformity and completeness of legal regulations, the coordination in the process of implementing the auction between the People's Committees at the district and commune levels with the property auction organizations was not really tight; the direction of the People's Committees at the district level was not really drastic, especially the direction of the security forces was not strong enough to detect, prevent and promptly handle violations according to the provisions of the law. On the other hand, the submission of applications for participation in the auction was not limited to the place of residence, so many individuals, including professional subjects, went to the auction, groups blatantly, went to the auction to put pressure, threaten, collect money to lower the price even though they had no need to buy land, with many sophisticated tricks for the purpose of profiteering, illegal income, causing discontent among the people and social disorder, causing loss of state budget.

Land auction planning area in Nghi Kim commune (Vinh city). Photo: CL

To ensure that property auction activities comply with legal regulations and professionalism, on November 17, 2016, the 14th National Assembly, 2nd session, passed the Property Auction Law, effective from July 1, 2017, with many new regulations, including new auction forms such as auctions by indirect voting, online auctions, registration, organization and operation of auction organizations, and stricter conditions and standards for auctioneers, which will be the basis for implementation and gradually prevent the situation of "land brokers", collusion, and price suppression.

PV:What is the current status and professionalism in the operations of property auction organizations, sir?

Mr. Hoang Quoc Hao:Currently, in Nghe An province, there are 19 property auction organizations, including: Property Auction Service Center with 4 auctioneers; 9 joint stock companies, 7 LLCs and 2 representative offices with 32 auctioneers. Property auction enterprises in Nghe An province are currently of uneven quality and distribution, mainly located in Vinh city; some enterprises lack experience in organization and operation, and have not focused on investing in facilities and human resources. Some enterprises operate in multiple industries, in which property auction is only one of their fields of operation, so their professionalism is not high.

According to the provisions of the Law on Property Auction 2016, which took effect from July 1, 2017, property auction enterprises are established, organized and operate in the form of private auction enterprises, joint auction companies and the Certificate of Registration of Operation for property auction enterprises is issued by the Department of Justice according to strict procedures.

PV:Could you tell us about the state management role of the Department of Justice in the current land use rights auction work?

Mr. Hoang Quoc Hao:In order to perform the task of assisting the Provincial People's Committee in state management of property auction activities in the locality, the Department of Justice has coordinated with relevant departments and branches to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue decisions on regulations on property auctions and land use rights auctions in the province, and at the same time issue documents to strengthen the management of land use rights auctions and prevent and combat violations of the law in the field of land use rights auctions. In addition, conferences have been organized on a number of issues related to state management of land use rights auctions in the province with the participation of representatives of relevant departments, branches, districts and cities.

Inspection and examination of property auction activities have been carried out regularly; every year, the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Justice establish inspection teams at property auction organizations; shortcomings and violations after inspection and examination conclusions have been seriously handled and remedied; complaints and feedback related to property auction activities have been promptly resolved in accordance with the law.

In particular, to contribute to preventing negativity and violations in land use rights auction activities, causing loss of state budget revenue, the Provincial People's Committee has established a Supervisory Team to conduct the land use rights auction according to Decision No. 2359/QD-UBND dated June 2, 2017. Members of the Supervisory Team include representatives of the following departments: Public Security, Finance, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, Justice and People's Committees of districts with land auctioned.

A land auction in Yen Thanh town. Photo: Van Truong

PV:So what is the solution to improve the efficiency of asset auctions in general and land use rights auctions in particular in the coming time?

Mr. Hoang Quoc Hao:In the coming time, the Department of Justice will advise the Provincial People's Committee to implement the Law on Property Auction according to the Plan issued by the Provincial People's Committee, including the task of coordinating with departments, branches and sectors to review legal documents and advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue documents to replace Decision No. 74/2014/QD-UBND dated October 17, 2014 promulgating the Regulations on property auctions in Nghe An province and Decision No. 03/2017/QD-UBND dated January 13, 2017 promulgating the Regulations on land use rights auctions to allocate land with land use fees or lease land in Nghe An province.

Strengthen inspection and supervision of property auction activities, including seriously implementing Decision No. 2359/QD-UBND dated June 2, 2017 of the Provincial People's Committee on establishing a monitoring team to conduct land use rights auctions, focusing on supervision in districts with complaints.

The People's Committees of districts need to organize a comprehensive and synchronous dissemination of the Law on Property Auction and documents guiding its implementation, ensuring that the Law is put into practice to restore order and discipline in property auctions, avoiding negative phenomena and limitations as at present; Closely coordinate with professional auction organizations so that the auctions are conducted in accordance with the procedures prescribed by law; Strengthen the direction of security forces at the district and commune levels where the land is auctioned to arrange a strong enough force so that the auctions ensure security and order and promptly handle violators; Select reputable professional auction organizations to sign contracts for property auctions.

For relevant departments and branches, based on their functions and tasks, strengthen supervision, inspection and examination to implement solutions to detect, investigate and handle violations in the field of property auctions, especially the situation of threatening, oppressing, preventing customers from participating in auctions, and extorting money from customers who win the auction.

PV:Thank you!

Chau Lan

(Perform)