On February 1^st, 2017, I have purchased a land parcel of mr.A without being notarized and authenticated of the authorized organization. At that time, I paid mr.A one- third of land value. In 2020, mr.A found that land value is increased gradually so that he asked me to get that parcel back. I didn’t accept so mr.A suits me at the Law Court to announce that the hand written contract that we made is invalid in term of law. I would like to know if our handwritten contract valid or invalid? What should I do to protect my right and benefit?

In this case, our answer is:

According to Article 167, clause 3, point a of Law on Land 2013:

“3. Document and paper notarizing and authenticating that perform the rights of the land user will be as follows:

a) “Contract of transfer, donation, mortgage, investment by land use right, land use right and assets attached to land must be notarized or authenticate”.

Your provided information is not clear so we will divide into these below cases:

Case 1: If you paid two- third of the land value in 2020:

According to Article 129, clause 2 of Civil Law 2015, invalid civil transaction due to non- compliance with the required form is prescribed as follows:

“Article 129. Invalid civil transaction because of non- compliance with the required form.

2. “In case of a civil contract that has been signed but not meet requirement of notarization and authentication, if one party or both parties has completed two- third of responsibilities in transaction, the Law court will certify the validity of the contract based on the party’s request. In this case, both parties must not to notary or authenticate.”

Thus, even though your handwritten contract is not notarized or authenticated as regulation, you already paid two- third of land value for mr.A. Therefore, this transaction as well as the contract is legally valid. You don’t need to notary or authenticate the contract but complete the rest of the payment for mr.A.

Case 2: In 2020, you don’t complete at least two- third of the land value in the contract for mr.A

Your handwritten contract is not notarized or authenticated as regulation of law. Furthermore, you only paid one- third of the land value in the contract for mr.A. Therefore, the handwritten contract is legally invalid.

However, it is lawful for one of parties suits the other at an assigned time in which that party asks the Law court to certify the invalid civil transaction due to non- compliance with the required form. Specifically, in Article 132, clause 1, point đ of Civil Law 2015, the statute is 2 years from the civil transaction confirmation day, if the statute is over but no one asks for announcing the invalid civil transaction, that civil transaction will be valid. Thus, currently, the statute for asking the Law court to cancel the validity of that handwritten contract is over. In conclusion, handwritten contract between you and mr.A is valid and you need to complete the rest of payment for mr.A.