Mitigating risks
A draft amendment to the 2024 Land Law, prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, proposes removing the requirement for notarization or certification of contracts and documents when land users exercise their rights.
Under Clause 3, Article 27 of the 2024 Land Law, contracts and documents involving the transfer, gifting, mortgage, inheritance or capital contribution using land use rights and land-attached assets must currently be notarized or certified, except in certain cases such as real estate business transactions.
The proposal has received support from some experts as VNeID, digitized land databases and real estate identification codes become increasingly developed. The legal status and ownership of a land parcel could potentially be verified and cross-checked directly through the State's digital platforms.
Land registration agencies would still be responsible for recording changes in land use rights. The proposal would therefore concentrate administrative control at a single point based on criteria such as whether the property has a certificate, is free of disputes and enforcement measures, and remains within its permitted use period.
However, concerns have been raised over the important role of notaries in verifying civil capacity, voluntary consent, representation authority, the authenticity of documents, joint or separate ownership, marital status and potential disputes. These checks help prevent risks before a transaction is completed.
Without notarization, experts warn that the risks of transactions involving forged documents or unauthorized disposal of jointly owned property, including assets owned by spouses or households, could increase.
Accurate databases essential for property transactions
Vu Nhu Bach, a lawyer and master of law from the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, said removing notarization would be safe only after an alternative mechanism capable of providing equivalent safeguards is established.
He said this would require a reliable and accurate land and property database that can verify information in real time.
The database should go beyond identifying property owners to include information on marital status, co-ownership, restrictions on disposal, mortgages, enforcement actions, disputes, transaction suspensions, legal violations and the property’s transaction history.
The land database should also be integrated with population, civil status and business databases, electronic identification systems, digital signatures and automated warning mechanisms for properties or transactions showing signs of risk.
Lawyer Hoang Kim Minh Chau of the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association similarly said the national geographic information system should be directly connected with the national population database, enforcement data, transaction-blocking information from courts and police, and bank mortgage data.
When people conduct transactions online, the system should be able to immediately issue warnings or automatically block transactions if it detects that a property is under dispute or has been frozen, she said.
Meanwhile, notary Nguyen Thanh Luong of Ham Tan Notary Office in Lam Dong Province said abolishing notarization for real estate transactions would require coordinated amendments to the Housing Law, Law on Real Estate Business, Civil Code and Law on Notarization.
Notaries currently help verify the parties’ legal capacity and free will, while also identifying cases involving coercion, threats or other forms of undue pressure.
If real estate transactions are conducted digitally, regulations should clearly set out authorization procedures and special transaction mechanisms to safeguard vulnerable groups, such as elderly people and those with limited legal capacity.
He proposed a gradual approach, allowing people to choose between traditional notarization and VNeID-based transactions after a sufficiently stable trial period before considering the complete removal of notarization.
Lawyer Vu Nhu Bach noted that in common-law countries such as the UK, US and Australia, legal due diligence in real estate transactions is generally handled by lawyers, who assume responsibility for the process.
In civil-law countries such as France and Germany, specialized legal professionals, including notaries, perform authentication functions for transactions. A common feature among these countries is that they have basically established standardized data management systems for real estate.
