Bringing land procedures to the commune - Sowing reform seeds from the roots

Diverse practices, proactive adaptation

Specifically, of the 15 administrative procedures assigned to the commune level, 4 procedures were amended and supplemented, 9 procedures were replaced, 1 procedure remained unchanged and 1 procedure was abolished. According to Decree 151/2025/ND-CP guiding the implementation of the 2024 Land Law, from July 1, 2025, people can submit land administrative records at any Public Administration Service Center (hereinafter referred to as Public Administration Center), regardless of administrative boundaries, and the Centers are responsible for receiving them.

In accordance with the above regulations, in the first week, the Commune-level Public Administration Center began receiving applications. However, while there were not many applications in the first week, from the second week onwards, land administrative applications, especially secured transactions, to the Ward and Commune Public Administration Centers in the central area increased.

At the Thanh Vinh Ward Public Administration Center, Mr. Nguyen Van Linh - Deputy Director of the Center said: In early July, the ward only received land administrative records within the ward, but since mid-July, the number of people coming to submit land records has increased, especially secured transactions. Land records include both inside and outside the ward, so there are times when they are overloaded. Therefore, the Center has requested the Provincial Land Registration Office to send staff from the Vinh Land Office Branch to support receiving records and processing them, which has temporarily stabilized.

Based on the practice in Thanh Vinh and some other communes, the Provincial Land Registration Office has instructed Thanh Vinh ward and the central communes of the former districts to receive secured transaction records. On average, Thanh Vinh ward receives 150 land records per day, of which 50 records are secured transactions for all wards of the former Vinh city.

Similarly, at the Hung Nguyen Commune Public Administration Center, Ms. Phan Thi Hong Trang - Deputy Director said: In the beginning after July 1, there were not many land administrative records, but then there were communes sending them, so the Center requested the Hung Nguyen Land Office Branch to send 2 more staff to receive and process land records. Since then, the Center has also been assigned to receive land security transaction records for communes in the old Hung Nguyen area, 100 land records per day, accounting for 70% of the communes in the old district.

At the Public Administration Centers of Nghi Loc, Dien Chau or Quynh Luu communes (formerly the district capitals), the number of records increases every day. According to the Provincial Land Registration Office, the reason why the Public Administration Centers have many mortgage transaction records is because they have Notary Offices and banks, which is convenient for the people. The number of secured transaction records accounts for 40-45% of land administrative procedures.

According to Decree 118/2025/ND-CP dated June 9, 2025 on implementing administrative procedures under the one-stop mechanism at the One-stop Department and the National Public Service Portal, directly received dossiers such as secured transactions must be transferred within the same working day (8 hours). Therefore, if the commune-level public administrative centers are far from the Land Office Branch and do not have enough people to receive dossiers, there will be congestion and violations of processing time, leading to overdue procedures.

The representative of the Provincial Land Registration Office shared: The land records processing procedure limits civil servants from contacting people, but temporarily, they still have to send people to the Ward and Central Commune Public Administration Center to receive land records. The old Vinh City area is assigned to the Thanh Vinh Ward Public Administration Center; the old Hung Nguyen area is assigned to Hung Nguyen Commune, the old Nghi Loc area is assigned to Nghi Loc Commune... to receive.

We learned that at the Commune Public Administration Center, in addition to land administrative records under the authority of the commune level, there are a number of other land administrative procedures. Depending on the situation and to create favorable conditions for the people, the staff must handle flexibly to receive and have a plan to process and transfer the records.

The province focuses on guidance and support.

Mr. Thai Duy Hung - Head of the Land Management Department, Department of Agriculture and Environment said: After switching to 2 levels, the administrative authority for land handling at the district level has basically been transferred to the commune and ward levels. Typically, the commune level is granted land use right certificates for households and individuals for the first time and is not required to separately confirm disputes when granting land use right certificates according to Decree 151/2025/ND-CP. The provincial level only handles complex land records, large areas and provides guidance.

After more than 1 month of processing land administrative records under the 2-level government, the contents under the authority of the provincial level are all operating well. However, in reality, the processing of land administrative records at the commune level continues to be adjusted because the 2-level government has just come into operation, some processing procedures and regulations are being adjusted at the same time. The representative of the Land Management Department said that every day, they have to read, guide and respond to land administrative procedures for the commune level.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Tham - a civil servant at the Hung Nguyen Commune Public Administration Service Center said that she had been trained in land so she basically understood the commune-level file forms. Previously, she had many jobs so she rarely handled practical work, but now she is assigned to receive land files so she has more work to do. Some files must be carefully verified to schedule the correct results, avoiding people having to travel a lot. The file processing software is still new, so it must be used and adjusted at the same time. The technical infrastructure in some places is not guaranteed, making data entry through the public service portal sometimes very slow. This causes frustration for people when waiting.

Recognizing the above difficulties, before and after operating the 2-level government, the Provincial Land Use Registration Office organized many training sessions for staff of the Commune-level Public Administration Service Center to update how to enter information on the processing software to record on the land use right certificate blanks...; at the same time, on the 7th day, the organization went to each delta commune with many land administrative records to support the Commune-level Public Administration Service Center to advise and receive records.

Mr. Nguyen Cong Thanh - Director of the Provincial Land Registration Office shared: Since the beginning of 2025, the Office has directed and, together with the Branch, organized dozens of training sessions on software usage, guiding the process of receiving and processing land administrative records for hundreds of commune-level civil servants. According to the 2024 Land Law, along with organizing the delivery and issuance of land use right certificates to organizations, the Provincial Land Registration Office will focus on guiding the Branches and Public Administration Service Centers at the commune and ward levels to process land administrative records for people.