Hanoi City People's Committee has issued a document on resolving and responding to voters' petitions before the 28th session of the City People's Council, 16th term, 2021-2026.
According to the content of the document, voters in Dai Xuyen commune proposed that the Hanoi People's Committee guide the handling of land use right certificates issued after July 1, 2004 but still stating the purpose of use as "T".
For these cases, voters proposed to clarify the content: Is it possible to consider and resolve according to the procedure to re-determine the residential land area for land plots with gardens, ponds, and residential land that were granted certificates before July 1, 2004 when land users have needs or when the State recovers land according to Clause 6, Article 141 of the 2024 Land Law or not.
Regarding this content, the Hanoi People's Committee said that it has received voters' petitions.
The City People's Committee assigned the Department of Agriculture and Environment to guide localities to implement and inform voters in July 2026.
Recently, the People's Committee of Chuyen My commune (Hanoi) issued a notice on the implementation of the 30-day campaign to review and remove free "T" data for people on land use right certificates (also known as red books) that have been issued.
According to the People's Committee of Chuyen My commune, the removal of the "T" will help people fully exercise their legitimate rights such as: Inheritance, donation, transfer, mortgage of land use rights and other civil transactions related to land.
The campaign applies to the following cases:
- Being named in land allocation decisions or recognition of land use rights issued by competent authorities (mainly the old Phu Xuyen District People's Committee in the period 2000-2006).
- The name of the land user, the allocated area and the area recorded on the land use right certificate must match the list of households and individuals named in the land allocation/land use right recognition decision of the competent authority (attached with the detailed list of land allocation/land use right recognition decisions).
- The land use right certificate is currently recording the purpose of use as the letter "T".
The People's Committee of Chuyen My commune noted that the 30-day campaign to review and remove free "T" data for people only applies to those who meet the conditions according to the attached list.
For cases not named in the list in the Decisions, they will be reviewed and continue to be considered and resolved in accordance with regulations.
Explaining the meaning of the letter "T" on the red book, Lawyer Quach Thanh Luc - Phap Tri Law Company Limited (Hanoi Bar Association) said that during the period when the 1993 Land Law took effect, the classification and symbolization of land were carried out according to Decision No. 499/QD-DC in 1995.
According to this regulation, the symbol "T" is defined as land used for residential purposes, i.e. residential land. Therefore, for certificates issued during this period that bear the symbol "T", the determination of land use purpose has been carried out in accordance with legal regulations at the time of issuance of the certificate.
In principle, the re-determination of land type is only set when:
The certificate does not clearly show the type of land;
There are errors or incorrect determination of land type according to legal regulations at the time of issuance.
Conversely, if the certificate has correctly identified the type of land according to legal regulations at the time of issuance, there is no basis to re-determine.
Therefore, in case a red book is legally issued during the 1993 Land Law period and the symbol "T" is written, it is essentially residential land. When exchanging or updating according to current regulations, competent authorities only need to change the way of expression to the current symbol such as:
ONT (rural residential land);
ODT (urban residential land).
Currently, there are opinions that, for example, Clause 2, Article 20 of Decree No. 49/2026 mentioning the case of land with the symbol "T" is not clear about the type of land.
However, if compared with Decision No. 499/QD-DC in 1995, the symbol "T" has been clearly defined as residential land. Therefore, many opinions believe that considering this symbol as "unclear" may not be really appropriate or may be a confusion with other symbols such as TTV, TC or TQ - which are more easily confusing symbols.
If the land use right certificate is legally issued during the 1993 Land Law period and the symbol "T" is written on the certificate, then there is a basis to determine that this is residential land according to the provisions of law at the time of issuance of the certificate.
Therefore, when exchanging or updating according to current regulations, in principle, there is no basis to re-limit the area of residential land according to the new limit.
The application of law in practice may have different understandings, but people need to fully compare with legal regulations at each time to protect their legitimate rights and interests.
