1. Can I transfer the red book if I owe land use fees?
Clause 5, Article 45 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates the conditions for exercising land use rights in cases where land users owe land use fees as follows:
In case the land user is allowed to delay the performance of financial obligations or is allowed to owe financial obligations, he/she must complete the financial obligations before exercising the rights to convert, transfer, lease, sublease, donate land use rights, mortgage, or contribute capital using land use rights.
Thus, in case of land use fee debt, the land can only be transferred, donated… when the full amount of debt is paid. To quickly change the name, please see and follow the instructions for the documents and procedures for changing the name on the Certificate.
2. Conditions for transferring land use rights
The 2024 Land Law clearly stipulates the conditions for exercising land users' rights such as transfer rights, specifically:
2.1. Conditions of the transferor (seller)
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 45 of the 2024 Land Law, land users are allowed to transfer or donate their land use rights to others when the following conditions are met:
Land users are entitled to exercise the rights to convert, transfer, lease, sublease, inherit, donate land use rights; mortgage, and contribute capital using land use rights when meeting all of the following conditions:
a) Have a Certificate of land use rights or a Certificate of house ownership and land use rights or a Certificate of land use rights, house ownership and other assets attached to land or a Certificate of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land, except for cases of inheritance of land use rights, conversion of agricultural land when consolidating land, exchanging plots, donating land use rights to the State, residential communities and cases specified in Clause 7, Article 124 and Point a, Clause 4, Article 127 of this Law;
b) Land is not in dispute or the dispute has been resolved by a competent state agency, a court judgment or decision, an arbitration decision or award that has come into legal effect;
c) Land use rights are not subject to seizure or other measures to ensure enforcement of judgments according to the provisions of the law on civil judgment enforcement;
d) During the land use period;
d) Land use rights are not subject to temporary emergency measures as prescribed by law.
2.2. Conditions for the transferee (buyer)
According to Clause 8, Article 45 of the 2024 Land Law, the following cases are not allowed to receive transfer or donation of land use rights:
Cases where land use rights cannot be transferred or donated are stipulated as follows:
a) Economic organizations are not allowed to receive transfers of land use rights for protective forests and special-use forests from individuals, except in cases where land use purposes are changed according to land use planning and plans approved by competent authorities;
b) Individuals who do not live in protective forests or special-use forests are not allowed to receive transfers or gifts of land use rights for residential land and other land in protective forests, strictly protected zones, or ecological restoration zones in those special-use forests;
c) Organizations, individuals, residential communities, religious organizations, affiliated religious organizations, people of Vietnamese origin residing abroad, and economic organizations with foreign investment capital that are not permitted by law to receive transfers or gifts of land use rights.
Accordingly, even if the transferor meets the conditions, the transfer or donation will not be legal if the transferee does not meet the conditions. In other words, if the transferee falls into one of the cases prohibited from receiving transfers or donations, the transferor cannot change the name.
