Implementing Decision 34 - QD/UBND: Many problems need to be resolved

(Baonghean) - Implementing Decision 34 - QD/UBND of the Provincial People's Committee, the "bottlenecks" in the issue of granting land use right certificates (LURCs), house ownership rights (HOCs) and assets attached to land in new urban and residential areas in the province are being gradually resolved. However, in reality, there are still difficulties and shortcomings that need to be adjusted...

Ms. Ly Thi Phuong bought a house from Nghe An Petroleum and Trading Joint Stock Company in August 2012. Apartment 1902 at Nghe An Petroleum Building owned by Ms. Phuong was paid in one lump sum for nearly 1.5 billion VND. After nearly 3 years of use, her family's apartment has not yet been granted a Certificate of House Ownership (GCN QSH). Meanwhile, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hung bought a house in the adjacent area on Lenin Avenue transferred by a person in Hanoi. In the past, to make a GCNQSH for the house and assets attached to the land, he went to Hanoi many times to find the old owner to do the notarized transfer procedures but it has not been completed yet. These are 3 of thousands of cases currently in the province that need to be granted GCNQSDD, QSH for houses and assets attached to the land in new apartments and urban areas but are facing difficulties.

Survey on granting of land use right certificates, house ownership rights and assets attached to land at the Provincial Land Use Right Registration Office.

In order to ensure the rights of buyers and users of apartments, townhouses, and villas in new urban areas, contributing to the revival of the real estate market, on July 2, 2013, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 34/2013/QD-UBND promulgating the Regulation on granting certificates of land use rights, housing ownership rights and other assets attached to land to organizations investing in construction for sale and households and individuals receiving transfers of land use rights and housing ownership rights from organizations investing in construction for sale in Nghe An province. Decision 34 of the Provincial People's Committee was issued on the basis of "integrating" the Land Law, the Housing Law and decrees and circulars related to regulations on certificates of land use rights, housing ownership rights and assets attached to land to apply specifically to Nghe An. Mr. Tran Van Ty - Director of the Provincial Land Use Registration Office, said: "The implementation of Decision 34 of the Provincial People's Committee has resolved many difficulties for investors with projects to build apartment buildings and new urban areas in the province.

In which, the authority and responsibility have been decentralized, transferred to the district-level authorities to promote this work more quickly and drastically". Mr. Nguyen Anh Quan - Head of the project management of the Tecco new urban and apartment complex also admitted: "After the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 34, the procedural issues have really been resolved in implementing the related procedures to issue certificates (GC) to owners of apartments, townhouses, and villas. As a result, after 9 months of implementation, 104 GCN QSH of apartments have been issued and the dossier is continuing to be completed to issue 68 more GCN. For townhouses and villas, the investor is currently completing the procedures to transfer the land use rights and certify the assets attached to the land".

It can be said that Decision 34 of the Provincial People's Committee has fundamentally resolved the difficulties in granting land use right certificates, housing ownership certificates and land-attached assets at apartment buildings and new urban areas in the province in general and Vinh City in particular. However, the progress of this work in each apartment building and new urban area project is still very slow, with a low rate. In Vinh City alone, as of March 10, 2014, there were a total of 41 large and small apartment buildings and urban areas in 13 wards and communes, with over 9,000 land lots, apartments, townhouses, and villas, of which 2,452 cases have been occupied, but only 371 apartments, townhouses, and villas have been granted land use right certificates.

Nghe An Petroleum and Trading Joint Stock Company is the investor of two projects to build apartments and urban areas, including Nghe An Petroleum Building (in Quang Trung Ward) and the project of General Service Complex, Luxury Apartments, Offices and Townhouses (in Nghi Phu Commune) with hundreds of apartments that have been sold but no Certificate of Ownership has been issued to the owners. The reasons given by the project owners include: because the owners of apartments, townhouses and villas have sold and resold many times but without a notarized contract, the legal procedures cannot be completed. Another reason is that when carrying out the house transfer transaction, the investor commits to leaving 5% of the total value of the apartment for the buyer when the Certificate of Ownership is issued, then the full payment is made, while the requirements for the procedures for granting the Certificate of Ownership stipulate that the home buyer must fulfill all financial obligations. If there is 5% left, it means that the property is the common property of the investor. In some cases, the transferee has not paid enough money to the investor, so the investor does not prepare documents to issue a certificate of ownership, even though the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has issued certificates for each apartment and adjacent land lot to the investor.

According to Mr. Le Quoc Hong - Vice Chairman of Vinh City People's Committee, some projects and project certificates have been mortgaged by investors at credit institutions, so there is no basis for making documents to issue certificates to transferees. Some cases have transferred projects to other investors but have not completed transfer procedures, and have not adjusted the land user name on the certificates. For example, projects previously invested by Nghe An Housing Investment and Development Company have now been transferred to Hanoi Housing Investment and Development Joint Stock Company 30.

Some investors do not complete the procedures to be granted a construction quality certificate, so they do not have enough legal procedures to receive and process documents according to the provisions of law. There are projects where although the apartment buildings have been built and put into use, there are still many villa plots and townhouses that have been transferred to households and individuals but the houses have not been built, which means that the entire project has not been completed, so it does not meet the conditions to be granted a certificate according to the provisions of law. Some townhouses and apartments are not built according to the approved design, such as arbitrarily connecting townhouses and apartments; building less than the approved number of floors, while the investor does not adjust the basic design....

According to Mr. Le Quoc Hong, Decision 34 of the Provincial People's Committee still has some unreasonable regulations. For example: According to regulations, when processing documents, the District Land Use Registration Office must check the current land use status, but in fact, this office does not have professional staff to check and read construction drawings. In case the current land use status is not consistent with the detailed construction planning drawings of the approved project, the investor must prepare a completion drawing of this project. However, this regulation does not clearly state the authority to approve the completion drawing of the project, so there are different opinions during the implementation process. Decision 34 of the Provincial People's Committee does not stipulate to resolve the case of transfer through multiple owners (households transfer to households) but there is no contract certification according to the prescribed legal documents (this is a fairly common case).

Ms. Thai Thi An Chung - Deputy Head of the Legal Committee of the Provincial People's Council, said: During the survey, the delegation noted the difficulties, obstacles and shortcomings that are arising in this work due to investors and State policies. Based on the collected information, the Legal Committee of the Provincial People's Council is synthesizing to report to the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Council and the Provincial People's Committee to find solutions in the coming time. Before waiting for the authorities to remove the obstacles, investors must clearly see their responsibilities to be more proactive in completing procedures so that competent state agencies can issue housing ownership certificates to home buyers in order to speed up the issuance of land use rights certificates and land-attached housing ownership certificates in the province, ensuring the rights of home owners, contributing to promoting the development of the real estate market.

Article and photos:Minh Chi