Is there any ambiguity in land sale contracts?

Quang Tri Newspaper, Radio and Television received a petition from Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba, in Dong Hoi Ward, stating that his family had sufficient documents proving land transactions, stable land use status, no disputes, and no violations of the law. However, the application for a 30m2 land use right certificate (LURC) for the first time raised many conflicting issues.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba presented the incident to reporters - Photo: T.TR

According to the petition of Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba, on November 20, 1996, Dong Thanh Farmers' Association established a petition to the government to organize an auction of all assets and land received from the Dong Thanh Cooperative Dissolution Board. According to the land use plan approved in 1996, this land plot has an area of 320m2 ^, including the premises of the cooperative office with fish sauce factory ( ^240m2 ) and the cooperative hall located outside the premises (80m2).

In 2000, Mr. Ba bought the land and assets on the land, which is the fish sauce factory of the Hai Thanh Ward Farmers' Association, with an area of ^240m2 , including the ^30m2 land area and the cooperative office building for 18 million VND. This transaction was certified by the Hai Thanh Ward People's Committee on August 23, 2000. In 2003, he repaired, renovated, and connected the ^30m2 office building area with the hall area for business purposes.

When applying for a land use right certificate, Mr. Ba requested to be granted the entire area of ^240m2 , including ^30m2 of office land, but was not approved. The appraisal officer requested to dismantle the property. Currently, his family has dismantled the property to clear the land, meeting the conditions to apply for a land use right certificate according to the law.

However, according to Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba, during the process of applying for the land use right certificate, many conflicting opinions arose. Specifically: The People's Committee of Hai Thanh Ward (old) said that the ^30m2 of office land under the management of the Dong Thanh Pagoda Management Board, rented to his family and was not part of the ^240m2 area that was bought and sold according to the certified diagram. The People's Committee of Dong Hoi City (old) affirmed that this ^30m2 of land was part of the land plot that was granted in 2014 to the landowner, the Hai Thanh Ward Job Consulting and Introduction Center.

Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba said: “The People's Committee of Hai Thanh Ward answered one way, the People's Committee of Dong Hoi City answered another. While my family has all the documents for purchase and sale in accordance with the law, the current land use status is stable, long-term, and without dispute, I demand legitimate rights. Therefore, I request the authorities to create conditions and ensure the rights of my family in the spirit of the rule of law.”

The land area that Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba said he bought according to the contract - Photo: Th.Tr

Regarding Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba's petition, Ms. Le Thi Hong Nga, former cadastral and construction officer of the old Hai Thanh ward, now a cadastral and construction officer of Dong Hoi ward, said: "On December 5, 2023, the People's Committee of Hai Thanh ward received Mr. Ba's petition with content related to the lack of ^30m2 of land and establishing the boundary of the ^240m2 land area according to the sales contract.

After receiving the petition, the local authorities coordinated with relevant parties and the family to inspect and re-measure the actual land use status of the ^30m2 area as reported by Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba. The result was that the boundary of Mr. Ba's land and Dong Thanh pagoda's mausoleum at the time of purchase and sale could not be agreed upon.

According to the conclusion in Document No. 185/KL-UBND, dated May 6, 2025 of the People's Committee of Dong Hoi City, the land that Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba is using belongs to plot No. 37, map sheet No. 15, which was granted a certificate of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to the land by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on July 7, 2022, with a total area of ^241.8m2 . The origin of the land plot was transferred by Mr. Ba from Mr. Ho Viet Binh and originated from the land of Dong Thanh Cooperative and the transferred land does not include the area of 30m2 of the old cooperative office building.

After receiving the transfer, the parties involved re-established the sale and transfer documents with attached land plot diagrams and were certified by the People's Committee of Hai Thanh Ward on August 23, 2000. However, upon review, the transferred land plot diagram did not clearly show the boundaries and specific dimensions of the edges of the transferred land plot.

During the investigation and verification process of the competent authorities and local authorities, Mr. Ho Viet Binh and members of the Dong Thanh Pagoda Management Board all affirmed that the ^30m2 area of the old cooperative office building was not transferred to Mr. Binh and Mr. Binh also did not transfer it to Mr. Ba. During the process of declaring the dossier for the first issuance of the Land Use Right Certificate in 2006 and measuring and reissuing the Land Use Right Certificate in 2018, 2020, 2022, Mr. Ba also did not declare this area.

Mr. Nguyen Thang Long, Vice Chairman of Dong Hoi Ward People's Committee said: "We base on the documents that the People's Committee of Hai Thanh Ward (old) archived, such as: Minutes of handover of office building and meeting hall of the Board of Dissolution of Dong Thanh Cooperative established in 1995; Minutes of handover of assets between the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee of Hai Thanh Ward (old) and the Management Board of Dong Thanh Pagoda in 2005; The first land use right certificates issued by the People's Committee of Dong Hoi City (old) and the 3 times of re-issuance by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment do not include this ^30m2 area.

And from the time of being granted the Land Use Right Certificate until 2023, Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba did not make any request regarding this missing area but used it in accordance with the current status of the granted Land Use Right Certificate. It was not until 2024 that Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba made a request regarding the request to grant an additional ^30m2 of missing land. Therefore, at present, Mr. Hoang Quoc Ba's request to resolve the survey file and supplement the ^30m2 area of the old cooperative office building to re-issue the Land Use Right Certificate has no basis for resolution," Mr. Long affirmed.

Thuy Trang

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/co-hay-khong-su-nhap-nhang-trong-hop-dong-mua-ban-dat-dai-195972.htm