Editorial · July 16, 2024
Land Law 2024: What Changes for Property Buyers in Vietnam
Land law 2024 will take effect on 1 August 2024, not on the date first planned. The National Assembly voted on 29 June 2024 to bring forward the date by five months. If you plan to buy a home, a plot or a unit in a project in Vietnam, the new rules will soon apply to you.
This note covers the main changes buyers are likely to notice. It is a plain summary, not legal advice. Check the official text, or ask a licensed lawyer, before you sign anything.
The new start date
The National Assembly passed the Law on Land, numbered 31/2024/QH15, on 18 January 2024. It was meant to replace the 2013 Land Law at the start of next year. Early reports gave that date, and some older guides still do.
On 29 June 2024 the Assembly passed a single law that amends four laws at once: the Land Law, the Housing Law, the Real Estate Business Law and the Law on Credit Institutions. The first three now start on 1 August 2024. The Assembly's economic committee said many of the new provisions can be applied at once, without waiting for detailed guidance. Some delegates had asked to keep the original date so that agencies had more time to write the guiding decrees.
For buyers, that means the gap between the old and new rules is short. Ask any seller or agent which law their paperwork follows.
Land prices follow the market more closely
The old system issued a fixed land price framework every five years. It often lagged behind real prices. Under the new law, that framework is abolished. Provincial People's Committees will set a land price list each year and propose changes to it as the market moves.
The law also trims the ways to value land. The older rules listed five methods. The new law drops the subtraction method and says when each of the other four applies. This affects the tax and fees that depend on official land values. Over time it may narrow the gap between official values and what buyers actually pay.
What changes for housing projects
Most buyers of new homes buy from a developer, so the rules on projects matter. Under the new law, developers who agree to receive land use rights for a commercial housing project may do so only on residential land. The 2013 law set no such limit. The goal is to stop firms from collecting farmland and then leaving it unused, or asking to change plans afterward.
Auctions and bidding are also set out in more detail. Land for housing projects is allocated through an auction or an investor selection bid in most cases. A project needs an approved detailed plan at 1/500 scale before its land use rights can be auctioned. For a buyer, a project that clears these steps has a clearer legal path.
Your land use right certificate
Buyers care most about the certificate that proves ownership. Article 148.6 of the new law covers the issuance of the Certificate of Land Use Rights and Ownership of Assets attached to land for residential property. Commentators read this as a possible route for buyers in housing projects to hold long-term, stable land use rights. They also note that the 2024 text drops an older line on long-term stable use. How this works day to day will depend on the guiding decrees, which had not been issued when this note was written.
Practical step: ask the developer when the certificate is expected to be issued and in whose name. Get the answer in writing.
Rent, overseas Vietnamese and disputes
Some changes touch leased land more than owned homes. The law lets a tenant switch from a one-time rent payment to annual payments. Paid rent is then deducted from the annual rent due. One-time payment for the whole lease stays available only in three cases: farming, forestry and similar projects; industrial parks and public or commercial land such as tourism and office space; and social housing for rent.
The law also lets Vietnamese people living abroad choose annual payments, and it adds a new right to lease under a land lease contract for land with annual rent. Foreign-invested economic organizations leasing land with annual payment may transfer land-attached assets and that right to lease when set conditions are met.
For disputes, the law adds commercial mediation and commercial arbitration as ways to settle land conflicts that arise from business activity.
A short checklist before you buy
Use these steps while the new rules settle in.
First, find out which law governs the deal and whether the sale will close before or after 1 August 2024. Second, ask to see the project's land documents: the land allocation or lease decision, the approved plan and the developer's land use right status. Third, ask how and when your certificate will be issued. Fourth, watch for the decrees and circulars that explain the law, because they will fill in many details. Finally, keep every document and message, and use a licensed lawyer for any large purchase.
The law is long, with 260 articles in 16 chapters. Its full effect on prices and project approvals will take months to show.
A place on this register is not for sale.