Vietnamlawmagazine

I am a foreigner eligible to buy residential houses in Vietnam. What can I do to have my house purchase contract notarized?

According to the Vietnamese law, to have a house purchase contract notarized, you are required to submit a notarization request dossier to a notarial practice organization, which can be either a notary bureau established under a decision of the provincial-level People’s Committee or a notary office established by notaries and operating as a private business.

A notary will receive and check the papers in your notarization request dossier. Once your dossier is complete and valid as prescribed by law, he/she will accept it and record it in the notary register.

When having grounds to believe that your notarization request dossier contains unclear matters, the contract was concluded under threat or coercion, or having doubts about your civil act capacity, or the object of the contract has not yet been specifically described, the notary may request you to clarify the matters or, at your request, conduct verification or request expert examination. If the unclear matters cannot be clarified, the notary has the right to refuse to notarize the contract.

When the contents of, and the intention of concluding, the contract are true, lawful and conformable with social ethics, the notary will draft the contract.

In case the contract is already drafted, the notary will check the draft contract. If the draft contains some clauses contrary to law or social ethics or the subject matter of the contract is incompliant with law, he/she will point them out for you to modify, and has the right to refuse to notarize if you fail to modify such.

You may re-read the draft contract yourself or request the notary to read it. If agreeing with the whole content of the draft contract, you have to sign every page of the draft. The notary will also write testimonies and sign every page of the contract.

However, you should be advised that the spoken and written language used in notarization is Vietnamese. Therefore, if you cannot speak or write Vietnamese, you must bring an interpreter with you to the notarial practice organization.

Receiving notarization request dossiers at the Hanoi Notary Office__Photo: Internet

A dossier must comprise:

- A request for notarization of the contract;

- A copy of your identity card or passport; a copy of papers proving the competence of the representative (if you are a representative);

- A copy of the certificate of house ownership and land use rights granted in accordance with Government Decree No. 60/CP of July 5, 1994; a copy of the certificate of house ownership and land use rights granted in accordance with the housing law; or a copy of the certificate of land use rights, house ownership and other land-attached assets;

- A contract (for ready-made contracts);

- Copies of other papers related to the contract or transaction as required by law, which may be photocopied, printed or typewritten copies containing full and accurate contents as the originals and do not need to be authenticated. You will be required to produce the originals of such papers for comparison when submitting the copies.

Number of dossiers: 1 set

Time limit for notarization:

The time limit for notarization of a real estate contract or document must not exceed five (5) days after the receipt of a complete and valid dossier.

Fee:

The fee rates for notarization of contracts on the purchase or donation of other assets or capital contribution through other assets (calculated based on the value of assets) are as follows:

In case I want to have English translations of my Vietnamese papers notarized, what must I do?

According to the Vietnamese law, the translation of papers and documents from Vietnamese into a foreign language or vice versa for notarization can only be done by translators being collaborators of notarial practice organizations.

These collaborators must be graduates from foreign language universities or other universities who are fluent in the foreign languages used. They will take responsibility before notarial practice organizations for the accuracy and consistency of their translations.

A notary will receive your original papers and documents that need to be translated and check them before handing them to the above-mentioned translator for translation. The translator has to sign every page of translations before the notary writes the attestations and signs every page of such translations.

Every page of translations must be appended with the “Translation” mark in the right top blank space; translations will be attached with copies of originals and have every two adjoining pages appended with a seal on their inner edges.

Attestations of the notary on translations must clearly state the time and place of notarization, his/her full name and name of the notarial practice organization; full name of the translator; certify that the signature in the translations is truly that of the translator; and certify that the translations are accurate and compliant with law and social ethics; such attestations must bear the signature of the notary and seal of the notarial practice organization.

A notary may not receive and notarize your translations in the following cases:

- He/she identifies that your original papers or documents are granted ultra vires or are invalid or counterfeit;

- Papers or documents requested for translation have been erased or modified, have additions or omissions, or are damaged or rumpled, making their contents unreadable;

- Papers or documents requested for translation have been classified as state secrets; papers or documents are banned from dissemination under law.- (VLLF)