Land dispute mediation under new regulations

Office of Legal Consulting Lao Dong Newspaper replied:

Article 235 of the 2024 Land Law (effective from August 2024) stipulates on land dispute mediation as follows:

1. The State encourages parties to land disputes to reconcile themselves, to reconcile at the grassroots level in accordance with the provisions of the law on grassroots mediation, to reconcile in accordance with the provisions of the law on commercial mediation, or to other mediation mechanisms in accordance with the provisions of the law.

2. Before the competent state agency resolves the land dispute as prescribed in Article 236 of this Law, the disputing parties must conduct conciliation at the People's Committee of the commune where the disputed land is located. Conciliation of land disputes at the People's Committee of the commune where the disputed land is located is carried out as follows:

a) After receiving a request for land dispute mediation, the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level is responsible for establishing a Land Dispute Mediation Council to conduct land dispute mediation;

b) The composition of the Land Dispute Mediation Council includes: The Chairman or Vice Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level as the Chairman of the Council, a representative of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Committee at the commune level, a civil servant working in land administration, and a long-time resident who knows clearly about the origin and use process of the disputed land plot (if any). Depending on each specific case, representatives of other organizations and individuals may be invited to participate in the Land Dispute Mediation Council;

c) Land dispute mediation at the People's Committee at the commune level is carried out within no more than 30 days from the date of receipt of the request for land dispute mediation;

d) The conciliation must be recorded in a record signed by the parties participating in the conciliation and confirmed as successful or unsuccessful by the People's Committee at the commune level. The record of conciliation shall be sent to the disputing parties and kept at the People's Committee at the commune level where the disputed land is located;

d) In case the conciliation fails and one or more of the disputing parties do not sign the minutes, the Chairman of the Council and the members participating in the conciliation must sign the minutes, stamp them with the seal of the People's Committee at the commune level and send them to the disputing parties.

3. Mediation of land disputes at Court is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the law on mediation and dialogue at Court and the law on civil procedure. Mediation of disputes between parties arising from commercial activities related to land by commercial mediation is carried out in accordance with the law on commercial mediation.

4. In case of successful conciliation of land disputes prescribed in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article and there is a change in the current status of boundaries, area and land users, within 30 working days from the date of receipt of the document recognizing the successful conciliation result, the parties participating in the conciliation must send the document recognizing the successful conciliation result to the competent state agency to carry out the registration and issuance of the Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land according to regulations.

5. For areas where no commune-level administrative units are established under the district-level People's Committee, the provisions of Clause 2 of this Article shall not apply. The authority to resolve land disputes shall be implemented in accordance with the provisions of Article 236 of this Law.

Thus, from August 2024, land dispute mediation is regulated as above.