Question: I am an investor acquiring land use rights and ownership of a factory building in a factory construction project. In order to be issued a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for the land area and works I acquire, I would like to ask which conditions the project and the transfer must satisfy, which authority is competent and what procedures and application dossier I need to carry out and prepare?
Answer:
Concept: Pursuant to Article 3 of the Law on Real Estate Business 2023, an investment project on construction of works serving industrial purposes, such as a factory construction project, is regarded as a real estate project. When an organization or individual receives transfer of land use rights and ownership of houses or construction works in such project, it has the need to register and obtain a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for the transferee with respect to the relevant land area and works.
1. Conditions applicable to the project and the transfer transaction
For the transferee to be considered for issuance of the Certificate, the real estate project and the transferred portion of the project must satisfy a number of conditions.
In particular, the project must have its investment policy or investment approved by the competent authority and must have a detailed planning scheme approved. The transferred portion must have completed compensation, support and resettlement and must have the technical infrastructure constructed in accordance with the approved design and detailed planning if it is an infrastructure project. The land use right must not be subject to any dispute, seizure, prohibition on transactions or suspension of transactions. The project must not be suspended or terminated and must not be subject to any land recovery decision; any administrative sanctions, if imposed, must have been fully complied with; any security interest over the project must have been released and the project must still be within its implementation term; where only a part of the project is transferred, the transferred portion must be capable of being used and exploited for business independently.
(Legal basis: Article 40 of the Law on Real Estate Business 2023)
2. Competent authorities for handling the issuance of the Certificate
According to Point 2, Section X, Subsection C, Part V, Appendix I of Decree No. 151/2025/ND-CP provides for the allocation of competence of local authorities at 02 levels, decentralization, delegation in the field of land (Hereinafter “Decree No. 151/2025/ND-CP”), the authorities competent to receive and process the procedures for registration and issuance of the Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for the transferred portion of a real estate project are the provincial One-Stop Door Division, the Land Registration Office or its Branch at the location of the project. In practice, investors should first check the internal regulations of the relevant locality in order to identify the exact address and mode of filing the application and should also plan for the processing time, since each locality may designate either the One-Stop Door Division or the Land Registration Office as the direct receiving body.
3. Procedures and application dossier for issuance of the Certificate
In case the transferee of land use rights, ownership of houses, construction works, construction work items directly carries out the procedures for registration and issuance of the Certificate of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land, the dossier shall be submitted to the One-Stop Door Division or the Land Registration Office or the Branch of the Land Registration Office. The agency receiving the dossier shall carry out the tasks prescribed in Point 1, Section X, Subsection C, Part V, Appendix I of Decree No. 151/2025/ND-CP hereof.
The dossier comprises:
a) A document on the houses, construction works having been accepted for putting into operation and use in accordance with the provisions of the law on construction in case of receipt of transfer of houses, construction works;
b) A document on satisfaction of conditions for transfer to individuals who self construct houses in case of transfer of land use rights with completed technical infrastructure in accordance with the provisions of the law on real estate business;
c) An application for registration of changes in land and assets attached to land in the form of Form No. 18 promulgated together with this Decree, declared by the transferee of land use rights, ownership of houses, construction works, construction work items;
d) The contract for transfer of land use rights, ownership of houses, construction works, construction work items in accordance with the provisions of law;
đ) The minutes on handover of houses, land, construction works, construction work items;
e) The Certificate issued to the project investor;
g) Certificates prooving the fulfillment of financial obligations in case the Land Registration Office receives a document of a competent authority on the project being adjusted in detailed construction planning which gives rise to financial obligations in accordance with the provisions of law.
Consulting reference: Real estate and construction services
