1. Buying and selling houses and land must be notarized or certified
Point a, Clause 3, Article 27 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates: Contracts for transfer, donation, mortgage, capital contribution in the form of land use rights, land use rights and assets attached to land must be notarized or certified, except for the cases specified in Point b of this Clause.
According to Point b, Clause 3 of this Article, a contract for transfer of land use rights, land use rights and assets attached to land for which one party or the parties participating in the transaction is a real estate business organization shall be notarized or certified at the request of the parties (not required to be notarized or certified).
Thus, when transferring or donating land use rights, it must be notarized or certified according to regulations, except in the case of real estate business in which one of the parties participating in the transaction is an organization operating real estate business.
2. Buying and selling with handwritten documents will not be transferred
Currently, there is no legal document using the word "buy and sell real estate using handwritten documents", this is just a way of calling people to refer to the transfer of land use rights (only land) or land use rights, ownership rights of assets attached to land (buy and sell all land, houses and other assets attached to land (if any)) using handwritten documents without notarization or certification (there may be witnesses).
Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 27 of the 2024 Land Law, when transferring or donating land use rights between households and individuals, it is mandatory to notarize and certify the transfer or donation contract. If not notarized or certified, the transfer or donation will be invalid (invalid) and there will not be enough documents in the file to register changes (no documents in the file to transfer the red book).
Note: Clause 2, Article 129 of the 2015 Civil Code stipulates that civil transactions that violate the provisions of conditions that are effective in form are invalid, except in the following cases:
- Civil transactions that have been established in writing but violate mandatory regulations on notarization and certification and one party or parties has fulfilled at least two-thirds of their obligations in the transaction, at the request of one party or parties, the Court shall issue a decision to recognize the validity of that transaction. In this case, the parties do not have to notarize or certify.
Accordingly, in theory, it is possible to transfer the name when transferring or donating a house or land by handwritten documents, but the Court must be required to issue a decision to recognize the transfer or donation. However, in reality, it is very difficult to do and time-consuming.
Thus, currently, when transferring or donating land use rights or land use rights, ownership rights of assets attached to land, the contract must be notarized and certified according to regulations. Only then are the conditions to carry out the change registration procedure.
