The Government has just issued Resolution No. 66.11/2026/NQ-CP dated January 6, 2026, stipulating the handling of difficulties and obstacles regarding land use right auctions in cases of land allocation according to the provisions of the Land Law.
Accordingly, the Resolution stipulates the deposit to participate in the auction of land use rights in cases of allocating residential land to individuals according to the provisions of the Land Law.
Article 39 of the 2016 Asset Auction Law (amended and supplemented in 2024) stipulates that for cases of auctioning land use rights to allocate residential land to individuals, the deposit to participate in the auction is at least 5% and at most 20% of the starting price.
The Resolution stipulates that in the case of auctioning land use rights in cases of allocating residential land to individuals according to the provisions of the Land Law, the deposit amount is at least 10% and at most 50% of the starting price. Increasing the deposit amount for the case of auctioning land use rights is a solution to prevent the situation of paying high prices for profit and then abandoning the deposit.
Commenting on this issue, Lawyer Pham Thanh Tuan - Hanoi Bar Association, real estate legal expert - said that raising the maximum deposit ceiling to 50% forces auction participants to consider more seriously their financial capacity, thereby limiting the situation of paying high prices and then abandoning the deposit.
However, the regulation of the band is quite broad, so localities may tend to choose the highest level (50% of the starting price) to be "safe", so it may inadvertently create more barriers for people. Note that this regulation only applies to individuals, not to businesses auctioning land use rights to implement projects (enterprises still apply a pre-order level from 10% to 20%).
In addition, the resolution also sets out specific regulations to handle violations against land use rights auction winners in cases of residential land allocation.
According to the resolution, the winning bidder of land use rights for cases of residential land allocation violating the obligation to pay the winning bid price of land use rights leading to the decision recognizing the annulment of the auction results, depending on the nature and severity of the violation, is prohibited from participating in the auction of land use rights in cases of residential land allocation as follows: From 2 years to 5 years for cases where the winning bidder does not pay the winning bid price; From 6 months to 3 years for cases where the winning bidder does not fully pay the winning bid price.
The competent authority approving the results of winning the land use right auction for cases of allocating residential land to individuals is the competent authority deciding to prohibit participation in the auction specified above. Within 10 days from the date of issuing the decision to cancel the decision recognizing the results of the land use right auction, the competent authority deciding to prohibit participation in the auction shall consider and issue a decision prohibiting participation in the auction for the land use right auction winner according to regulations.
Lawyer Pham Thanh Tuan said that according to previous regulations in the Law on Auction of Assets (Article 70), the main sanction of prohibiting participation in auctions from 6 months to 5 years is applied to businesses that deposit when participating in auctioning land use rights to implement investment projects or mineral exploitation rights; there is no regulation prohibiting individuals from participating in residential land auctions.
The new regulation overcomes the previous legal gap, and at the same time strongly increases deterrence against the act of individuals winning the auction and then abandoning the deposit. The risk of being banned from participating in the auction for a long time forces participants to consider more carefully when abandoning the deposit, thereby contributing to limiting speculation, price inflation and reducing the risk of forming'virtual fever' from land auctions" - Lawyer Pham Thanh Tuan said.
