Currently, buying a house by making a bailiff document is becoming more and more popular. However, is the legal value of this activity guaranteed? Do legal regulations allow buying and selling houses by making a bailiff? What are the legal risks that may occur in this case? This article will analyze the following factors.

1. Legal regulations on house buying and selling

House buying and selling is a common and short term. According to the law, the phrase house buying and selling is called the transfer of land use rights and assets attached to land. Assets attached to land in this case are houses.

Simply put, house buying and selling is when one party transfers the right to use their house and land to the buyer in accordance with the law

Based on Clause 1, Article 165 of the Housing Law 2023, it is stipulated as follows:

“The purchase and sale of houses must be made into a contract with the contents specified in Article 163 of this Law. The parties may agree according to the provisions of Clause 2 of this Article on the seller selling the house within a certain period of time to the buyer”.

Accordingly, the purchase and sale of houses must be made into a contract with the contents specified by law.

Housing contracts are agreed upon by the parties and must be made in writing, including the following contents:

- Full name of the individual, name of the organization and address of the parties;

- Description of the characteristics of the transacted housing and the characteristics of the residential land attached to that housing.

In addition, pursuant to Article 122 of the 2014 Housing Law, it is stipulated that “In cases of purchase, sale, donation, exchange, capital contribution, mortgage of housing, transfer of commercial housing purchase and sale contracts, the contract must be notarized and authenticated, except for the cases specified in Clause 2 of this Article”.

2. What is a bailiff document?

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 2 of Decree 08/2020/ND-CP on the organization and operation of bailiffs, it is stipulated that: “A bailiff document is a document recording real events and actions directly witnessed by a person who is a bailiff, established at the request of individuals, agencies and organizations according to the provisions of this Decree.”

Thus, a bailiff document is established by a person who is a bailiff, recording real events and actions. Therefore, when buying and selling a house by bailiff document, it means that the parties come to the bailiff to witness and then establish a document confirming the purchase and sale of the house.

3. Is buying a house with a bailiff document legally valid?

As analyzed above, the house sale and purchase transaction must be made in writing, i.e. a house sale and purchase contract. The house sale and purchase contract must clearly state the characteristics of the house, the land plot containing the house as well as information of the parties entering into the contract.

It is especially important to note that the house sale and purchase contract must be notarized and authenticated according to the provisions of the Housing Law. The effective date of the contract is the date of notarization and authentication of the contract.

For types of contracts that the law requires in terms of form to be notarized/authenticated, such as house and land sale and purchase contracts, the parties must comply with that requirement to ensure the legal value of the contract.

Except for the case in Clause 2, Article 129 of the 2015 Civil Code, which stipulates that a civil transaction has been established in writing but violates the mandatory provisions on notarization and certification, and one or more parties have performed at least two-thirds of the obligations in the transaction, the Court shall, upon request of one or more parties, issue a decision recognizing the validity of that transaction. In this case, the parties do not have to perform notarization and certification. Thus, a house sale contract must be notarized by a notary organization or certified by the People's Committee at the commune level to be valid. A bailiff document of house sale and purchase only records the event established by a bailiff and has no legal effect.

4. Risks when buying a house with a bailiff document

Because the notarized document of house sale has no legal value, it is impossible to carry out the following procedures. The person who suffers the loss at this time is the buyer because:

First, the seller can sell the house many times, to many people or mortgage the property to another party. Because the bailiff document only records the sale, he is not responsible for checking whether the house has been previously sold to someone else or mortgaged at any agency.

Second, the buyer may have difficulty in repairing, buying, selling, mortgaging, etc. when needed because the house is not the legally belong to the buyer.

Third, the sale transaction is not in accordance with regulations, and may be declared invalid by the Court if a dispute arises.

In short, for some reason, the parties agree to buy and sell a house with a bailiff document, knowing or not knowing its risks. Usually, the legal risks are often on the buyer's side, they can lose both the lead and the net. Therefore, you should consider carefully before buying a house with a bailiff document.

The above is some information about buying and selling houses through the form of micro-document. This article is for reference only, not for advice. For any questions, please contact: info@barrso.com