In reality, the area of land used does not always coincide with the area recorded in the red book, which may be larger or smaller. For taxpayers or when carrying out transactions such as transfer, donation, inheritance, the area difference may affect their rights and financial obligations, and even lead to disputes.
Based on Clause 6, Article 135 of the 2024 Land Law, it is stipulated as follows:
Article 135. Principles for issuing Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land
6. In case there is an area difference between the actual measured data and the data recorded on the papers specified in Article 137 of this Law or the Certificate of land use rights or the Certificate of house ownership and residential land use rights or the Certificate of land use rights, ownership of houses and other assets attached to land or the Certificate of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land that has been issued but the boundary of the land plot being used does not change compared to the boundary of the land plot at the time of having land use rights documents, Certificate of land use rights, Certificate of house ownership and residential land use rights, Certificate of land use rights, ownership of houses and other assets attached to land, Certificate of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land that has been issued, there is no dispute with adjacent land users, then when issuing or renewing the Certificate of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land, the land area is determined according to the actual measured data.
In case of re-measuring and the boundary of the land plot changes compared to the boundary of the land plot at the time of having land use right documents or Certificates of land use rights, Certificates of house ownership and residential land use rights, Certificates of land use rights, ownership of houses and other assets attached to land, Certificates of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land that have been issued and the actual measured land area is more than the area recorded on land use right documents or Certificates of land use rights, Certificates of house ownership and residential land use rights, Certificates of land use rights, ownership of houses and other assets attached to land, Certificates of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land that have been issued, the larger area difference is considered for issuance of Certificates of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land.
In case the Certificate of land use rights, Certificate of house ownership and land use rights, Certificate of land use rights, house ownership and other assets attached to land, Certificate of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land has been issued but the location is not accurate, review and reissue the Certificate of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land for land users.
From the above regulations, it can be seen that in case the actual land area is larger than the area on the red book that has been issued, the red book will be considered for the additional area.
For land plots that are actually smaller than the red book issued, they can be divided into 2 cases as follows:
Case 1: The boundary of the land plot being used does not change compared to the boundary of the land plot at the time of having the red book, there is no dispute with adjacent land users. The area is determined according to actual measured data when issuing or re-issuing the red book. If falling into this case, the land user shall carry out procedures to reissue the red book to record according to the actual measured area.
Case 2: The boundary of the land plot being used has changed compared to the time of having the red book. If the area difference is due to errors of land administration officials, land users need to carry out correction procedures with competent authorities.
If the land area difference is determined to be due to the encroachment of adjacent households, land users can reconcile themselves or send a petition to the commune-level People's Committee where the land is located to carry out reconciliation. In case of unsuccessful reconciliation, they can send a complaint to the competent authority for resolution.
For cases of successful mediation and changes in the current status of boundaries and areas, within 30 working days from the date of receiving the document recognizing the successful mediation result, the parties participating in the mediation must send the document recognizing the successful mediation result to the competent state agency to carry out the registration and issuance of red books according to regulations (Clause 4, Article 235 of the 2024 Land Law).
