A void contract will have unintended legal consequences if you really want the transaction to be smooth and successful. To learn more about the legal consequences of a void contract, you can refer to the next articles by Tran Ngoc Thien.
To know if the non-notarized real estate contract is void, we will analyze the following issues.
First, which real estate contracts need to be notarized and which contracts need not?
According to the general principles of laws on land, housing and real estate, the real estate contracts must be notarized or witnessed (or authenticated). This is a mandatory requirement on the form of the contract. Accordingly, if failing to comply with this requirement, the contract will be void, pursuant to Article 129 Civil Code 2015.
However, according to Clause 3 Article 167 Land Law 2013, Clause 1 Article 82 Decree 43/2014/ND-CP and Real Estate Trading Law, there are 4 exceptions that do not require notarization:
- Contract on exchange of agricultural land use rights (households and individuals must be in the same commune, ward or township),
- Contract in which at least one party is a real estate business organization,
- Contract was signed before January 1, 2008 and the currently used land has not been granted the Certificate,
- Contract was signed form January 1, 2008 to prior to July 1, 2014, the currently used land has not been granted the Certificate, and have papers on land use rights specified in Article 100 Land Law 2013.
Thus, if it falls into one of the four above cases, non-notarized real estate contracts will not be void. However, we still need to pay attention in the last two above cases, that although the contract is not considered void, the parties in the contract may not arise disputes when the land user applies for the issuance of the first land use right certification.
Second, if the law requires the real estate contract to be notarized but not notarized, will it be void?
The answer is “Yes” and “No”.
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