Implementation of the 2013 Land Law in Vinh City: Quickly remove obstacles

(Baonghean)- The 2013 Land Law was passed by the National Assembly on November 29, 2013 and will take effect from July 1, 2014. However, in Vinh City, regarding the issuance of land use right certificates, apartments, villas, and townhouses are facing difficulties and problems...

Up to now, in Vinh City, there are a number of people who have been allocated land without authority, have documents proving that they have paid money to the budget, but have not built houses, do not have documents proving the land allocation in the field, so they are not eligible for a Land Use Rights Certificate. Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, residing in Hamlet 17, Nghi Phu Commune is an example. Mr. Thang was allocated land with payment by Hong Hoa Thai Cooperative in 1994 (under the category of land allocation for children of cooperative members). The land allocation file has a receipt for payment to the Cooperative; a copy of the revenue and expenditure books of Hong Hoa Thai Cooperative in 1994; and a completed site plan drawing approved by the competent authority.

However, according to the provisions of Decision 46/2013/QD-UBND of the province, the conditions for granting a Certificate of Land Use Rights are not met. According to Mr. Ngo Nam Trung - a cadastral officer of Nghi Phu commune, there are many cases like Mr. Thang in Vinh City, concentrated in neighboring communes such as Nghi Phu, Nghi Kim, Nghi An, Hung Chinh... In wards such as Vinh Tan, Cua Nam, Hung Dung... there are also many cases. What should be considered here is that the land was allocated without authority, but the subjects who were granted land and built houses on it according to regulations were granted a Certificate of Land Use Rights, so it has not created fairness.

Tecco Building, Quang Trung Ward (Vinh City).

In Vinh City, new urban area project owners are very impatient with the issuance of Certificates of Apartment, Villa, and Townhouse Housing. According to a representative of Tecco Company, the progress of issuing Certificates of Apartment Housing is very slow. In addition, many application files for Certificates of Apartment Ownership have been returned by the authorities because the apartments have been transferred to many owners but without contract certification as prescribed. "People are looking forward to being issued Certificates of Apartment Ownership. Meanwhile, investors want everything to be completed to recover the remaining capital from the apartment users. We hope that the authorities will speed up the issuance of certificates and at the same time have a direction to resolve the problems of those related to the transfer..." - this representative said.

Regarding land allocated beyond authority, Vinh City People's Committee is proposing that the competent authority consider 3 types of cases: Households and individuals who have submitted complete and valid documents to the ward or commune before August 31, 2013 (the effective date of Decision 46 of the Provincial People's Committee) but due to slow processing by state agencies, have not been granted a Land Use Right Certificate; Consider the increased areas of subjects applying for a replacement certificate, with the origin of land use granted by the Commune People's Committee beyond authority, the dossier does not have documents proving payment, there is a part of the increased area and the Commune People's Committee confirmed the increase due to measurement, the entire land plot is within the planning; Consider handling the type of land allocated beyond authority, with documents proving payment to the budget, but because the house has not been built, there are no documents proving the land allocation in the field. In addition, consider the case of arbitrarily changing the purpose of using agricultural land (interspersed in residential areas) to residential land after July 1, 2004, at the time of construction there was no document preventing it from the competent authority but it was in accordance with the approved planning, there were no disputes, complaints, denunciations and tax obligations to the State were fulfilled.

Regarding the issuance of Certificates for apartment buildings, villas, and townhouses, these are problems due to transferring the project to another investor but not completing the transfer procedures, not correcting the name of the land user on the certificate; cases of transferring apartments but not having a certified contract; projects with land use status that is not consistent with the detailed construction planning drawings and approved construction completion drawings; apartments lacking construction quality certificates...

In the report on the implementation results of the plan for the first 5 months of 2014 in the state management of natural resources and environment of Vinh City People's Committee, in addition to reporting difficulties and problems, the City People's Committee also proposed solutions. For example, in the case of transferring the project to another investor but not completing the transfer procedures, not adjusting the name of the land user on the certificate, Vinh City People's Committee specifically stated the handling of the records of apartment buildings C1, C2 in Doi Cung ward. Accordingly, the records of these two apartment buildings have been printed with certificates and transferred to the tax authority. However, the Land Use Rights Certificate issued by the Provincial People's Committee in 2006 to the investor is under the name of Nghe An Housing Investment and Development Company. On October 30, 2008, Nghe An Housing Investment and Development Company changed its name to Hanoi Housing Investment and Development Joint Stock Company 30 without the permission of the competent authority to change the name on the Land Use Rights Certificate according to regulations.

Before and after the name change, Hanoi Housing Investment and Development Joint Stock Company 30 transferred the right to use apartments to households and individuals. In 2011, Hanoi Housing Investment and Development Joint Stock Company 30 contacted the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to register the name change, but the documents were returned after being checked. Therefore, households and individuals who need to be granted Certificates of land use rights and house ownership rights cannot be resolved. Regarding this issue, based on the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai in Notice No. 327/TB-VPCP "Some apartment projects were allocated land by the State without land use fees before July 1, 2004 according to the provisions of Decree No. 04/2000/ND-CP and Decree 71/2001/ND-CP, investors sold houses after July 1, 2004 at market prices as in the case of land allocation with land fees, then directed to issue certificates to home buyers. At the same time, collect land use fees from investors according to the land prices prescribed by the Provincial People's Committee at the time of land allocation", Vinh City People's Committee proposed: Continue to process the dossiers for granting Land Use Right Certificates of households and individuals receiving apartment transfers, transfer cadastral information, submit for signing of Land Use Right Certificates to transferees; Request the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to advise the Provincial People's Committee to collect land use fees according to regulations; after the investor has fulfilled its financial obligations to the State and confirmed the name change on the Land Use Rights Certificate according to regulations, the Land Use Rights Registration Office will proceed to hand over the Land Use Rights Certificate and the Apartment Use Rights Certificate of the transferee to the investor to hand over to the citizen.

According to Mr. Nguyen Tat Son - Deputy Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Vinh City, on June 18, 2014, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment had a meeting with the People's Committee of Vinh City regarding the issue of natural resources and environment management. At this meeting, Vinh City reported on the difficulties and problems in granting certificates of land use rights, apartment buildings, villas, and townhouses. There were a number of proposals that were agreed upon by the leaders of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for handling, however, basically, the Department temporarily acknowledged the difficulties and problems and promised to study the solutions to advise the Provincial People's Committee to make the final decision.

In fact, the above difficulties and problems have existed for a long time but Vinh City has not yet had a solution. It is thought that the 2013 Land Law is nearing its effective date, agencies related to resource management need to soon study the provisions of the law and the Government Decrees issued to propose appropriate solutions.

Ha Giang