Suffering because they haven't been granted a land ownership certificate.

Nearly 1,500 apartments have their ownership certificates "pending".

Ms. Nguyen Vinh Trang (owner of apartment 23.06 in the Lexington apartment complex project, Thu Duc City) purchased the apartment in March 2015 from Nova Lexington Real Estate Joint Stock Company (Nova Lexington Company). In April 2016, Ms. Trang received the apartment from Nova Lexington Company. Despite more than seven years passing, Ms. Trang's apartment and nearly 1,500 other apartments in this complex have still not been issued ownership certificates.

Residents of Lexington apartment complex are suing the Land Registry Office to demand the issuance of land ownership certificates.

Significantly, according to Ms. Trang, on December 31, 2020, Mr. Nguyen Toan Thang, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City, issued document No. 11902 requesting Nova Lexington Company to provide documents to the Land Registration Office to process the issuance of land ownership certificates (pink books) for apartment buyers in the building. The Department also instructed the Land Registration Office to receive the documents and consider issuing land ownership certificates to buyers according to regulations. However, instead of complying with the instructions of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the Land Registration Office cited various reasons for not issuing certificates to Ms. Trang and over a thousand other apartment owners in the building. Outraged, Ms. Trang, representing the residents, sued the Land Registration Office to demand the issuance of land ownership certificates.

Speaking to Thanh Nien newspaper, Ms. D.T.H., representing nearly 1,500 households in the apartment building, stated that issuing ownership certificates for apartment 23.06 in particular, and apartments in the Lexington apartment building in general, is a practical step to protect the legitimate rights of homebuyers and help resolve obstacles for real estate projects in Ho Chi Minh City. She explained that the lack of ownership certificates has caused the apartments to depreciate drastically in value, making them unsaleable even at low prices; and they cannot be mortgaged to banks.

"The Land Registration Office's refusal to issue land ownership certificates to citizens is unfounded and affects their legitimate rights. Furthermore, this results in a loss of state revenue. If land ownership certificates were issued according to Document No. 11902, the state budget would lose approximately 22 billion VND," Ms. D.T.H. expressed her frustration.

Ms. Dang Thuy Phuong Thao, representative of Nova Lexington Company, stated that the project was built in accordance with the 1/500 scale planning approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. The Ministry of Construction has inspected and approved its use. The Thu Duc City People's Committee has issued house ownership certificates. The building is being used for its intended purpose and has fulfilled all financial obligations, thus meeting all conditions for issuing ownership certificates to homebuyers. The failure to issue ownership certificates for nearly 1,500 apartments has led to residents' frustration, gatherings, and strong protests against the company. This has also negatively impacted the company's business.

The Lexington apartment complex is not an isolated case. Hundreds of households at the Sunwah Pearl apartment complex (Binh Thanh District) are also threatening to sue the Land Registration Office for failing to process their ownership certificates. According to a resident, the project was handed over and put into use by the investor several years ago. In April 2022, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee approved the land price for the project so that the investor could fulfill its additional financial obligations. Subsequently, the Ho Chi Minh City Tax Department repeatedly sent documents to the Land Registration Office requesting the transfer of land cadastral information so that the Tax Department could determine and notify the additional financial obligations based on the price approved by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. However, to date, the Tax Department has not received this information from the Land Registration Office. This has caused the issuance of ownership certificates for each apartment in this complex to drag on indefinitely.

"We don't understand why the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has issued notices and directives, but subordinates haven't implemented them. This has affected the legitimate rights of the people and resulted in budget losses. Because in addition to collecting taxes and registration fees, nearly 500 billion VND in supplementary land use fees were collected from the investor," an angry resident said.

The customers are acting in good faith; they must be issued a land title.

According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, there are currently approximately 81,000 houses in the city that have not yet been issued land ownership certificates. The Department has also categorized projects to proceed with issuing land ownership certificates to homebuyers. Of these, 8,372 houses have received tax notices and are awaiting tax payment from owners; 19,958 houses are undergoing procedures for land ownership certificates but have been temporarily suspended to complete additional financial obligations; 10,277 houses in 18 projects have had their land ownership certificate issuance procedures temporarily suspended due to ongoing inspections and investigations; 8,918 houses have not been issued land ownership certificates due to regulations on new types of real estate; and 4,657 houses have not been issued land ownership certificates due to obstacles such as redefining the area of ​​common land use in apartment buildings, collecting outstanding payments, and reviewing the eligibility of homebuyers. In addition, 28,907 houses have not been issued land ownership certificates because the developers or homebuyers have not yet submitted the necessary documents. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is expected to issue land ownership certificates for approximately 41,000 houses this year.

In reality, recent experience shows that when carrying out the necessary procedures to apply for a land ownership certificate, many people are rejected for various reasons: state agencies delaying the application, incomplete documents, construction violations by the developer, etc. However, according to lawyer Tran Minh Cuong, Managing Director of TMC LAWYERS, residents of Lexington, Sunwah Pearl, and many other apartment buildings have paid up to 95% of the purchase price. Customers have also submitted complete and correct applications for land ownership certificates according to the prescribed forms. Therefore, the Land Registration Office's refusal to issue land ownership certificates to residents is a violation of the law, affecting the legitimate rights and interests of the people.

The fact that people are not granted land ownership certificates despite directives and instructions from competent state agencies means they have to bear the consequences, becoming victims of an unfounded fear-driven, safety-seeking mindset among some current officials.

Lawyer Hoang Van Hung

"It's necessary to separate the developer's violations from the issuance of land ownership certificates to homebuyers. If the developer is at fault, they should be punished, but the land ownership certificates cannot be withheld, holding people hostage. Customers are acting in good faith and need to be issued land ownership certificates so they can stabilize their lives, mortgage their properties to banks for business loans, and especially to prevent damage to the value of their real estate. If the city doesn't accelerate the issuance of these certificates, there could be many more similar lawsuits in the future," lawyer Cuong said.

Lawyer Hoang Van Hung, from the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, also believes that issuing ownership certificates to homebuyers in apartment buildings like Lexington resolves the issues but is in line with the state's policy, does not legitimize wrongdoing, does not violate the law, and does not infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of the state...

"The crux of the matter here is the obstacle stemming from indifferent attitudes, fear of making mistakes, and reluctance to act, not from the law or the system. If the government cared about the legitimate rights and interests of the people, it would find a way to resolve the obstacles in a way that benefits the people," said lawyer Hung.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/khon-kho-vi-khong-duoc-cap-so-hong-185230623021922515.htm