From January 5th 2020, Decree No. 91/2019/ND-CP on November 19th 2019 of the Government stipulating the administrative sanctions relating to land (hereinafter referred to as “Decree 91”), shall take effect and will replace the Decree No. 102/2014/ND-CP of the Government on November 10th 2014 on administrative sanctions relating to land; as well as Decree 91 annuls Point d, Clause 3 and Point i, Clause 6, Article 57 of Decree No. 139/2017/ND-CP of the Government on November 27th 2017.
Decree 91 has some adjustments to the subjects of application, details a number of definitions and has specific provisions on the time to determine the time limit for sanctioning administrative violations for each case of violation which has ended or is committed.
One of the outstanding contents of Decree 91 is the increase in fines for violations relating to land, specifically as follows:
Organizations executing real estate projects failing to submit applications to adopt procedures for issuance of certificates for house and construction buyers or lease purchasers, persons receiving the transfer of land use rights or failing to provide or fully provide paper and documents for house or construction buyers or lease purchasers, persons receiving the transfer of land use rights submitting an application for issuance of the certificates by themselves as specified in Clause 7, Article 26 of Law on Housing and Clause 4 Article 13 of Law on Real Estate Trading. Specifically, the sanctioning form and level corresponding to the time and severity of violation are as follows:
| No. | Number of Apartments violated | Fine Ranging |
| From 50 days exclusively to 06 months: | ||
| 1 | Less than 30 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 10,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 |
| 2 | From 30 to less than 100 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 |
| 3 | From 100 or more buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 50,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 |
| From exceeding 06 months to 09 months: | ||
| 1 | Less than 30 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 |
| 2 | From 30 to less than 100 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 50,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 |
| 3 | From 100 or more buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 100,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 |
| From exceeding 09 months to 12 months: | ||
| 1 | Less than 30 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 50,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 |
| 2 | From 30 to less than 100 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 100,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 |
| 3 | From 100 or more buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 300,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 |
| From exceeding 12 months: | ||
| 1 | Less than 30 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 100,000,000 to VND 300,000,000 |
| 2 | From 30 to less than 100 buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 300,000,000 to VND 500,000,000 |
| 3 | From 100 or more buildings, constructions and land plots | From VND 500,000,000 to VND 1,000,000,000 |
Note:
- Period of the violations shall begin from the date on which project developers hand over buildings, constructions or land plots to buyers or from the date on which buyer has finished payment according to agreements to the date on which records of administrative sanctions are made; in case the project developers have rectified the violations, the violation period shall conclude on the date on which the project developers rectify the violations.
- In case a project developer violates at many different points in time within the same project with respect to buildings, constructions and land plots, the fine amount shall be calculated according to each violation mentioned above but total amount must not exceed VND 1,000,000,000.
- In addition, investors may apply the rectification measures as prescribed in Decree 91.