Auction "breaking" behavior
The Soc Son District Land Fund Development Center has just sent a report to the leaders of the Soc Son District People's Committee about the auction of 58 land plots in Dong Lai village, Quang Tien commune on November 29, which caused a stir in public opinion when a group of customers paid unusually high prices, then simultaneously did not bid in the next round and gave up.
According to the Soc Son District Land Fund Development Center, in the 5th round, some land plots were bid at unusually high prices, including customer P.N.T who bid 30 billion VND/m2 for 3 plots (lots A12, A13, C6). In addition, customer N.V.D bid 101.4 million VND/m2 for 13 plots (B1, B10, B11, B12, B19, C7, A7, A8, A9, A10, A15, A16, A17). Two customers N.T.Q and N.T.T bid 98.4 million VND/m2 for 10 plots (A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, B13, B14, B15, B16, B17).
However, in the 6th round (the final round), there were 36 plots of land that customers did not continue to bid and 22 plots of land that customers bid. At the end of the auction, 22/58 plots of land were successfully auctioned with the lowest winning price of 32.4 million VND/m2; the highest was 50.4 million VND/m2.
The People's Committee of Soc Son district has assigned the Soc Son district police to investigate and clarify the motives of a group of customers who "sabotaged" the auction by paying more than VND30 billion/m2 for 3 land lots in Soc Son district (Hanoi), then "asked" to withdraw.
Need to deal with land auction manipulation firmly
Mr. Nguyen Van Dinh - Real estate legal expert said, it is possible to determine that the auction participant intentionally "destroyed" the auction because this person knew and was forced to know that when bidding over 30 billion VND/m2, the auction would have to stop without a winner.
Currently, the law does not prescribe sanctions for this "destructive" behavior except for not being able to get back the deposit. Regarding administrative sanctions, Article 23 of Decree No. 82/2020/ND-CP on administrative sanctions in the field of judicial support stipulates the levels of sanctions for auction participants who obstruct auction activities; cause disturbances and disorder at the auction; provide false information and documents, use fake papers to register for auction participation... but there are no sanctions applicable to the above case.
Lawyer Dang Van Cuong - Head of Chinh Phap Law Office - commented that to strictly control and help the real estate market operate healthily, it is necessary to perfect legal policies.
In addition, it is necessary to legalize the concept of "real estate market manipulation" to have regulations on management as well as strong sanctions for this behavior.
Professor Dang Hung Vo - former Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment - said that bidding high and then abandoning the deposit is becoming a "joke" with the law. It is time to postpone land auctions until a separate law on natural resource auctions is issued. Because natural resources will have different characteristics compared to ordinary goods. Next, the valuation of natural resources must be consistent with the market to prevent speculation and market manipulation.
Regarding the situation of unusually high land prices after a number of recent land auctions, at a recent land forum, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Do Duc Duy said that the ministry has proposed that the Government direct localities to apply synchronous solutions to overcome and rectify land auction activities, and strictly handle those who take advantage of land auctions to inflate prices for personal gain.
Minister Do Duc Duy emphasized that to overcome shortcomings in land auctions and prevent land price inflation for profit, localities need to be transparent about land use plans and urban planning, especially in auction areas. The next solution is that provinces and cities need to study and reasonably adjust land prices in the land price list as a basis for pricing when auctioning land.
