Is a Vietnamese permanently residing abroad allowed to be transferred the land use rights in Vietnam?

Legal situation: I am a Vietnamese citizen but when I was a kid, I moved to England and I have resided there for about 20 years. Now, I would like to be transferred the land use rights in Vietnam from a Vietnamese. I would like know if I am allowed to be transferred of the land use rights in Vietnam.

FDVN’s opinion: 

Thank you for entrusting the FDVN Law Firm (“FDVN“) with your consulting request. In response to your query, we have the following information to share after reviewing the legal regulations:

You have Vietnamese nationality and have resided in England for a long time, according to the facts you gave. Clause 3 of Article 3 of the Law on Vietnamese Nationality of 2008 states: “Overseas Vietnamese” are Vietnamese citizens and persons of Vietnamese origin who permanently reside in foreign countries.”

Regarding the matter where a Vietnamese residing abroad receives the land use rights, it is stipulated in point e, Clause 1, Article 169 of the Law on Land 2013, specifically as follows: 

“Overseas Vietnamese who are eligible to own houses in Vietnam under the housing law may acquire land use rights through purchase, lease-purchase, inheritance or donation of houses associated with land use rights, or acquire land use rights in housing development projects;”

The provisions on rights and obligations related to the housing land use of overseas Vietnamese who are eligible to own houses in Vietnam are also regulated in Clause 1, Article 186 of the Law on Land 2013, specifically as follows:

“1. Overseas Vietnamese who are entitled to own houses in accordance with the housing law are entitled to own houses associated with residential land use rights in Vietnam.”

According to Article 7 of the Law on Housing 2014, overseas Vietnamese are one of the entities eligible for homeownership in Vietnam. According to Article 8 of the Law on Housing 2014, the conditions applied to overseas Vietnamese to be recognized as homeowners in Vietnam include:

First, be permitted to enter Vietnam. 

Second, have legitimate housing through entering into agreements on commercial housing purchase, lease purchase with enterprises or cooperatives conducting real estate trading (hereinafter referred to as real estate enterprise); agreements on housing purchase, gifting, exchange, inheritance with households or individuals; agreements on residential land transfer in the project on commercial housing construction which is permitted to divide the piece of land into smaller lots/plots for sales as prescribed.

Therefore, based on the above provisions, overseas Vietnamese are entitled to receive only the direct transfer of land use rights in projects on commercial housing construction which are permitted to divide the piece of land into smaller lots/plots for sales, as prescribed. For other cases, the law allows overseas Vietnamese to receive only the transfer of housing land use rights through purchasing, leasing, inheritance, or receiving gifts of houses associated with housing land. This means that receiving the transfer of land use rights must be attached to a house. For the above two cases, overseas Vietnamese are required to meet the conditions of being permitted to enter Vietnam.

The above is FDVN’s advising opinion on your consultation request based on legal regulations research. We hope FDVN’s counsel is useful to you.

By Đặng Vũ Đức – FDVN LawFirm