The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has just sent a report to the National Assembly on the implementation of the 2024 Land Law, two months after this law took effect (from August 1, 2024).

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the new policies of the law have been effective, however there are some problems such as land auctions and land price adjustment.

Push prices up to create a virtual price level

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment said that after the 2024 Land Law was implemented, some localities auctioned land use rights with a very large difference between the starting price and the winning price. This created negative public opinion, affecting the healthy development of the real estate market.

Through inspection, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment found that some of the reasons leading to the above situation are due to the lack of systematic, public, and transparent planning of housing development areas, creating opportunities for subjects to take advantage of land speculation.

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Recently, many districts of Hanoi have increased land auctions to increase budget revenue. Photo: Bao Kien

Some auction participants do not really have a need for residential land or housing, but mainly for the purpose of speculation, manipulating prices by pushing up prices and immediately reselling the land that has just won the auction to make a profit, or creating a virtual price level for surrounding areas.

“In particular, after the auction, some auction winners did not pay land use fees on time according to the auction regulations, showing signs of abandoning deposits, causing negative public opinion in some localities,” the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment stated.

Specifically, according to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, through inspection of land auctions in Thanh Oai and Hoai Duc districts (Hanoi) in the past, it was found that in Thanh Oai, 56/68 auctioned land plots had not been paid by the auction winners, and in Hoai Duc, 8/19 auctioned land plots had not been paid by the auction winners.

In addition, some localities use land prices in the current land price list that have not been adjusted in time, much lower than the actual land price level, as the starting price, leading to a large difference in winning bids and starting prices, which also attracts many people to participate in the auction to make a profit.

“The problems that have emerged in recent times mainly stem from poor implementation in some localities. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen leadership and direction in implementation to limit shortcomings and obstacles in the implementation of the 2024 Land Law,” said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

Problems in adjusting land price list

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the second problem is related to adjusting the current land price list according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 257 of the 2024 Land Law. This is a transitional provision, aiming to help localities implement the roadmap to gradually build a new land price list according to the provisions of the law to be applied from January 1, 2026.

When adjusting the current land price list, if localities do not consider carefully and fully assess the impact, there will be cases where the land price in the land price list after adjustment has a large difference compared to the land price in the current land price list.

Some localities in the 2021-2024 period did not adjust the land price list according to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law. Now that the adjustment has been made, there is a large difference, causing people and businesses to react because the amount of money to fulfill financial obligations on land has increased compared to when applying the land price in the land price list before adjustment.

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment cited the adjustment of land price list in Ho Chi Minh City when it was first put out for public consultation, which met with reactions from people and businesses because land prices in some areas had large changes, increasing dramatically compared to land prices in the current land price list.

After that, the Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, other ministries and Ho Chi Minh City to meet to agree on a solution. After that, Ho Chi Minh City had a plan to adjust the price list with a roadmap suitable to the local reality.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the fact that some localities have reported difficulties and problems in implementing regulations related to land price lists stems from the failure to regularly review, adjust, and supplement land price lists according to the provisions of the 2013 Land Law.

"These problems are not due to problems with policies or regulations of the 2024 Land Law and its implementing documents," the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment affirmed.

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