Specific mechanisms to remove legal bottlenecks
From April 1, 2025, Resolution No. 170/2024/QH15 of the National Assembly on specific mechanisms and policies to remove difficulties and obstacles for projects and land related to inspection and examination conclusions and judgments in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang City and Khanh Hoa Province will take effect.
Ho Chi Minh City has 4 projects with obstacles removed according to Resolution No. 170 of the National Assembly. Among them, three projects of Novaland will be removed, including: The Water Bay project (224ha, Binh Khanh ward, Thu Duc city), Lakeview City project (106ha, Nam Rach Chiec) and The Tresor project (39 - 39B Ben Van Don, District 4).
According to a leader of Novaland Group, the removal at the Lakeview City project is the result of the direction of the Government and ministries, departments and branches, a legal boost, creating trust for the business community in the general policy of the Government in directing the drastic removal of legal problems for projects that are still stuck.
Another project that has been removed this time is New City Thu Thiem, located on a 38.4ha land plot in Binh Khanh Ward, Thu Duc City, invested by Thuan Viet Construction and Trading Company Limited. In 2007, when Ho Chi Minh City implemented a plan to build 12,500 resettlement apartments to serve the Thu Thiem New Urban Area, Thuan Viet Company participated in building 3,550 apartments, divided into two areas of 2,220 apartments and 1,330 apartments, with a commitment that the city would buy them all when completed.
However, after the project was completed, the city recalculated and found that there were 5,600 surplus apartments because there was no longer a need to be used for resettlement. Therefore, the land of 1,330 apartments is used by the city to liquidate contracts with Thuan Viet Company through the form of land allocation, land use fees collection, allowing investors to convert to commercial projects for sale and capital recovery.
Due to the specific figure not being determined, Thuan Viet Company has temporarily paid land use fees at the rate of VND26 million/m2, then renovated and renamed the New City Thu Thiem project. Although the project has been completed and handed over to residents, the land use fee valuation has been prolonged for many years, causing home buyers in the project to not be granted pink books.
Land valuation is still a major barrier to the market
Regarding land use fees problems in Ho Chi Minh City, in addition to changing regulations on the Land Law, which is somewhat difficult in determining land prices, the issue of selecting a consulting unit with the function of land appraisal is also a point that is not easy to resolve.
In Ho Chi Minh City, there are nearly 100 businesses registered to operate with the function of appraising land prices in the area. However, only nearly 10 enterprises are truly carrying out land appraisal work. This has caused many project documents to be invited by the department to select a consulting unit for appraisal prices according to regulations, but there are no participating units, leading to a deadlock in land price determination.
Mr. Le Hoang Chau - Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate Association (HoREA) - said that the approval of land prices can take a long time, possibly up to several years, even decades, not only causing stagnation, but also increasing costs for businesses, because during the time waiting for valuation, businesses still have to bear interest costs and opportunity costs. When the approval process is prolonged and the value of land use fees cannot be predicted accurately, it also causes difficulties for businesses in forecasting and making financial plans, causing businesses to face the risk of financial shortages or inability to repay debts.
Lawyer Nguyen Dang Tu, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, said that the problem of calculating land use fees for real estate projects for businesses is not difficult to handle, because the Land Law stipulates that when a business cannot be found to appraise land prices, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment proposes that the Provincial People's Committee establish an interdisciplinary team to appraise land use fees for the project. However, in reality, after many violations in price appraisal that have caused a loss of state budget revenue in recent times, local officials are afraid of mistakes, responsibility, and legal risks.
"Currently, there are no clear regulations on the detailed calculation of land prices. Therefore, State management agencies in the land sector need to work with localities to review and choose appropriate land valuation methods, because this is the "root" to solve the current land valuation problem", lawyer Dang Tu expressed his opinion.
