LAND LAW UPDATES OFFER GRAND REAL ESTATE FOUNDATION

The National Assembly has approved the revised Land Law, which will come into full effect next year.

At an extraordinary session in Hanoi on January 18, the 16 chapters and 260 articles of the law were given the green light. According to Vu Hong Thanh, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, the law has been prepared thoroughly by authorities at various levels.

Among the revised issues, the agencies completed provisions on the rights and obligations regarding land use of Vietnamese individuals residing abroad, and the transfer of real estate projects of an economic organisation with foreign investment capital.

Specifically, the new law stipulates that Vietnamese residing abroad who have Vietnamese citizenship will have full rights related to land (not only rights to residential land), the same as Vietnamese individuals, and the current regulations are kept unchanged for those of Vietnamese origin living abroad. This will contribute to promoting investment and attracting remittances from Vietnamese citizens residing abroad, it is believed.

“The provisions in the Land Law have been reviewed to ensure consistency with the Law on Nationality. If a person of Vietnamese origin conducts real estate business activities or is an investor implementing a housing project, the determination of the entity with the right to implement it shall be in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Real Estate Business and the Housing Law,” Thanh said.

Accordingly, the new Land Law retains the provisions of the 2013 Land Law on economic organisations with foreign investment and Vietnamese individuals residing abroad are allowed to receive land use rights transfer in industrial parks, clusters, and high-tech zones. Other foreign capital related organisations can access land through the form of land allocation or land leased by the state.

“The Land Law has provisions in the case of land recovery for projects that have been approved, and decided on investment policies according to the provisions of law,” Thanh said. “With these revisions, the obstacles in foreign-invested economic organisations implementing ventures with land that have been approved by competent authorities and decided on investment policies have been resolved.”

Another issue that foreign investors have been concerned about is economic organisations with foreign investment capital receiving transfer of real estate schemes according to the provisions of the real estate business law.

According to Thanh, to improve land administrative procedures when economic organisations transfer real estate projects according to the Law on Real Estate Business 2023 and ensure financial obligations regarding land inherited for economic organisations, the new Land Law regulates that the government will not repossess land but allocate it with a fee, without bidding.

According to the provisions of Article 79 of the newly passed Land Law, the state can repossess land in 32 necessary cases to implement socioeconomic development initiatives for national and public interests. This is to promote land resources, improve land use efficiency, develop modern socioeconomic infrastructure, implement social security policies, protect the environment, and preserve cultural heritage.

Cases where the state can reposes land are for construction of traffic works, irrigation, water supply, waste treatment, energy, public lighting, oil and gas, postal and telecommunications infrastructure, a range of entertainment or political facilities, and more besides.

The new Land Law stipulates four land valuation methods: comparison, income, residual, and land price coefficients. It clearly stipulates that land pricing must ensure market principles, compliant with correct methodology, order and procedures, honesty, objectivity, openness, transparency, and harmonise the interests between the state, land users. and investors.

The law also stipulates that the People’s Committee develops and submits to the People’s Council at the same level to decide on the first land price list to announce and apply from 2026. After that, every year, the provincial People’s Committee is responsible for submitting to the People’s Council for decision on adjusting, amending, and supplementing the land price list to announce and apply from January 1 of the following year.

The new Land Law will be effective from January 1, 2025, except for articles 190 and 248, which will be implemented from April 1 this year.

Source: VIR