Stuck in the role change
In Ho Chi Minh City, the land use fee calculation was previously the responsibility of the Department of Finance under the Land Law 2003. However, since 2014, under the Land Law 2013, this task has been assigned to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to plan land valuation and organize the determination of land prices.
Since then, most land use fee calculation records have been unresolved for many years or have been requested to be supplemented multiple times, having to go through multiple stages and places. The process of land valuation and determination of land prices takes a long time. This has caused many condominiums in Ho Chi Minh City to deliver homes for many years but residents have not been granted pink books or even cause real estate projects to “freeze”.
Since 2017, the investor of the Phu Thuan Residential Area project has applied for land use fee but has not been resolved until now |
For example, Lavita Garden apartment building (in Thu Duc City) despite having its land evaluated since the end of 2015, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment has submitted the land price plan four times to the Ho Chi Minh City Land Valuation Appraisal Council but has not been approved, without any appraisal results and the investor has to temporarily pay at the highest unit price.
Similarly, the Phu Thuan Residential Area project (in District 7) is invested by Anh Tuan Investment Joint Stock Company. After more than 12 years being approved for investment policy, Anh Tuan Investment Joint Stock Company has implemented many tasks to obtain approval for the 1/500 ratio, as well as infrastructure construction and facilities for the project.
Afterwards, the company transferred land plots to customers and proceeded with procedures for the functional agencies to calculate land use fees, thereby having a basis for fulfilling obligations to the State. Specifically, according to the leaders of this company, since 2017, the company has submitted documents to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to request financial obligations for the project and actively contacted other departments and agencies with the desire to pay land use fees. However, until now, the project’s obstacles have not been resolved.
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In 2023, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment issued 22,140 pink books for homebuyers in projects on the city’s territory. However, nearly 59,000 remaining houses are still being resolved and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment has divided them into 6 groups of obstacles to resolve. Among them, the first is waiting for the determination of financial obligations and then reviewing obstacles regarding legal procedures, additional financial obligations, late submission of records by the investor, obstacles regarding new types of real estate, and other obstacles. |
The Lexington Residence project (in Thu Duc City) is also included in the list of 39 projects facing obstacles and requiring additional financial obligations. The apartment building encounters obstacles in the public land section (a part of the project) that is designated by Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee for the investor but the conclusion of the Government Inspectorate requires the land use rights to be auctioned. Recently, a resident of Lexington Residence filed a lawsuit against the Ho Chi Minh City Land Registration Office when they refused to grant pink books for the apartment they had purchased from the apartment building investor.
In Ho Chi Minh City, there are currently hundreds of real estate projects that have been suspended for many years just because they have not paid the land use fees, even though the investors are very willing to fulfill their financial obligations. According to the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA), among over 100 legal obstacles to projects in Ho Chi Minh City at present, obstacles in land use fee calculation account for a large proportion.
“The key is already there” but efforts are needed to enforce it to solve the problem
According to the leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Natural Resources and Environment, land valuation has been the most difficult task for the department in the past time. The reason is that the department’s human resources are not sufficient in terms of quantity and quality to perform this task, while it used to be the responsibility of the Department of Finance. Not to mention, at present, additional land use fee calculation is also hindered, especially in adjusted planning projects. The regulations require the fees to be calculated at the time of adjustment, so consulting units are reluctant to participate because of the difficulty in collecting information and the appraisal records are often returned several times.
Speaking with Tien Phong, Mr. Le Hoang Chau, Chairman of HoREA, said that to solve the obstacles in land use fee calculation, on February 5, the Government issued Decree No. 12/2024/ND-CP amending and supplementing some articles of Decree No. 44/2014/ND-CP stipulating the price of land and Decree No. 10/2023/ND-CP amending and supplementing some articles of guiding decrees of the Land Law. Decree 12/2024/ND-CP has added information to apply land valuation methods. Accordingly, the information about land prices, land rent prices, rental fees for premises to apply the comparison method, surplus method, and determine the land price adjustment coefficient to calculate the land use fees.
“We can see the determination of the Government to overcome difficulties in land use fee calculation when issuing the decree before Lunar New Year holidays and taking effect from the date of signing. However, localities also have to make efforts and implement their responsibilities to solve the problem,” Mr. Chau said.
Duy Quang
