Court Dismisses Request to Cancel Separate Pink Books; Saigon Gateway Residents File Appeal

Ms. Duong Thi Quynh Luu, a resident of Saigon Gateway Apartment (Tang Nhon Phu Ward), stated she received the second first-instance judgment from the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court and filed an appeal against it.

Separated Land Titles Leave Residents Without Access

In 2018, Ms. Luu signed a purchase agreement with Hiep Phu Land Real Estate Joint Stock Company, the developer of the Saigon Gateway apartment complex. In 2019, the company handed over the apartment for her use.

While investigating the delay in receiving her apartment’s land ownership certificate (pink book), Ms. Luu discovered that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (now the Department of Agriculture and Environment) had divided 14,388 square meters of project land into two separate plots and issued two pink books to the company on May 6, 2019.

One certificate covered 8,316 square meters designated for residential apartment construction, while the other covered 5,000 square meters for commercial services.

Ms. Luu argues that the separation of the apartment’s land titles into two certificates infringes on her legal rights and interests.

Ms. Luu and 89 other Saigon Gateway residents petitioned the Department of Agriculture and Environment to revoke the two aforementioned pink books.

Residents assert that the company must ensure shared access for apartment dwellers. Once the apartment complex has direct access to a public road (such as Hanoi Highway or a planned road), the limited land use rights for the adjacent plot should be terminated.

In 2022, Ms. Luu filed a lawsuit requesting the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court to annul the two pink books and reinstate the pink book originally issued to the company in 2012. She also sought to invalidate the updated content on the pink book for the 5,000 square meter plot.

Conflicting Rulings from Two Courts

The first-instance judgment issued on April 15, 2024, by the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court rejected all claims in the lawsuit.

However, the appellate judgment from the High People’s Court in Ho Chi Minh City on September 30, 2024, overturned the first-instance decision.

The appellate judgment stated that issuing the pink book for the 5,000 square meter plot impacted residents’ access, as both the apartment complex and the commercial area share the same access road, which falls within the commercial plot (5,000 square meter pink book).

Therefore, the conclusion that issuing the pink book did not affect the apartment complex lacked sufficient grounds, as the updated content did not specify the area or location of the access road.

Furthermore, since the apartment complex was built in 2017 and handed over in 2019, including the access road in the pink book for the commercial plot violates regulations and fails to protect residents’ rights.

In the second first-instance judgment, the court ruled that landowners have the right to request land title separation for specific land use purposes, provided it does not affect the project’s overall plan. However, the plaintiff only holds rights to the common property. Thus, the court deemed the request to annul the two pink books unfounded.

The court found that the Department of Agriculture and Environment’s update regarding shared access in the commercial plot’s pink book violated regulations and failed to protect residents’ rights. Consequently, the court annulled the access road update.

Dissatisfied with the second first-instance judgment, Ms. Luu filed an appeal, and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Court has acknowledged the appeal.

“The court partially accepted the lawsuit, but Saigon Gateway residents continue to appeal to protect their rights,” Ms. Luu stated.