Notarization procedures for real estate purchases and sales from July 1, 2025

Notarization procedures for real estate purchases and sales from July 1, 2025 plays a key role in ensuring the legality, transparency and safety of real estate transactions. With the new regulations, the improved process helps shorten document processing time, minimize the risk of disputes and increase responsibility between relevant parties. The article below will analyze the notarization process for buying and selling real estate according to new regulations from July 1, 2025.

The role of notary activities

Notary activities serve as the foundation for real estate transactions in Vietnam. The notary confirms the legality and authenticity of the real estate purchase and sale contract according to the law. Notarization creates legal effect for documents and contracts, ensuring the legal rights and interests of the parties participating in the transaction.

In addition, notarization of contracts and real estate purchase and sale transactions serves to prevent disputes and protect the property ownership rights of the parties. The notarization process helps control the legal compliance of the transaction, verify the legal status of the participants, and ensure that the buyer receives legally “clean” assets. When the contract is notarized, its legal value is enhanced, creating a solid basis for registering ownership and resolving disputes if they arise.

The Law on Notarization 2024, effective from July 1, 2025, has updated many new regulations to meet the requirements of digital transformation and simplify administrative procedures. Online notarization is officially recognized, creating favorable conditions for parties to conduct real estate transactions, saving time and travel costs, while still ensuring the legal value of the contract.

Is notarization required for real estate purchase and sale contracts?

Real estate purchase and sale contracts must be notarized or authenticated according to current legal regulations. Points a and b, Clause 3, Article 27 of the Land Law 2024 clearly stipulate: land use rights transfer contracts must be notarized or authenticated, except in cases where one party or parties participating in the land sale transaction are organizations engaged in real estate business.

And based on Article 500, Civil Code 2015, a real estate transfer contract is an agreement between the transferor and the transferee, whereby the seller transfers land use rights to the buyer, and at the same time the buyer performs financial obligations and other rights and obligations in the contract. This contract still requires notarization to ensure legal validity when carrying out ownership registration procedures.

From a legal perspective, a handwritten land purchase and sale contract is considered a violation of the condition of formal validity. The Civil Code 2015 stipulates in Article 129 that contracts that violate regulations on form are void. However, the law also provides notable exceptions:

• First, if a party or parties have performed at least two-thirds of the obligations in the transaction, the Court may consider recognizing the validity of that contract at the request of one or more related parties. For example, the buyer has paid most of the land purchase price or the seller has handed over the land and the buyer has stabilized its use.
• Second, if the parties have fulfilled their obligations and the rights of third parties are protected, the Court can also recognize the validity of that contract.

Recognizing the validity of a non-notarized handwritten contract through a court is a complicated, time-consuming and costly process, and the outcome depends on many factors and is uncertain.

Announcement 171/TB-VPCP dated April 11, 2025 of the Government Office allows the use of electronic documents integrated into electronic identification accounts equivalent to traditional documents when performing administrative procedures. Many people misunderstand that from July 1, 2025, when the Law on Notarization 2024 takes effect, real estate sales contracts do not need to be notarized. In fact, this regulation only applies to authenticating copies of documents, and does not eliminate the notarization requirement for real estate purchase and sale contracts.

>>> See more: Notarization or authentication is not required for all types of housing contracts.

Current regulations on notarization procedures for real estate purchases and sales

To carry out real estate buying and selling procedures safely, effectively and transparently, individuals need to grasp procedural changes when performing notarization and authentication.

Notarization of real estate purchases and sales via direct form

Notarization procedures for direct real estate purchases require the parties involved in the transaction to be present at the notary practice organization. The person requesting notarization will prepare documents and documents, the Notary Public will verify information and check the legality of documents before performing the notarization.

Step 1: Prepare documents requesting notarization

Real estate purchase and sale notarization documents include the main documents specified in Clause 1, Article 42 of the Law on Notarization 2024 (effective from July 1, 2025) as follows:

• Draft real estate purchase and sale contract (you can draft it yourself or ask a notary office for assistance);
• Copies of identification documents of the parties participating in the transaction (identification cards, passports or other documents to identify identities);
• Copy of Certificate of land use rights, ownership of houses and other assets attached to land (red book, pink book);
• Other relevant documents as prescribed by law (such as documents proving marital status, written consent of the spouse, approval decision for the organization…).

Note: In case the notary practice organization has exploited the above information (except for draft contracts) in the National Population Database or other databases as prescribed by law, the notary requester does not have to submit these documents but must pay a data mining fee in accordance with the law for the notary practice organization to exploit the data.

Step 2: Submit documents to the notary practice organization

The person requesting notarization submits the documents directly at the notary office. Here, the notary will:

• Check the completeness and validity of the documents.
• Accept if the application meets the requirements or refuse and clearly explain the reason if the application does not meet the requirements.

Step 3: Consulting and explanation of the transaction

Notaries are responsible for:

• Guide and explain to the parties in the purchase and sale transaction about their legal rights, obligations and interests.
• Clarifying the meaning and legal consequences of participating in real estate transactions.
• Answer questions related to contract content.

Step 4: Verify and clarify (if necessary)

In case an unclear issue is detected, the notary may:

• Request the notarization requester to clarify questionable issues;
• Verify information about real estate and transaction status;
• Request an appraisal at the request of the notarization requester;
• Refuse to notarize if the above issues cannot be clarified.

Step 5: Check and complete the draft contract

The Notary will:

• Check the draft sales contract;
• Point out provisions that violate the law or are contrary to social ethics (if any) for correction;
• Refuse notarization if the requester does not correct inappropriate points.

Step 6: Confirm contract content

• The person requesting notarization reads the draft themselves or the notary reads it to them;
• The parties confirm their agreement with the entire contract content;
• Sign each page of the contract and sign and write full name (or fingerprint) on the last page.

Step 7: Complete notarization procedures

Before signing the testimony, the notary requires the original copies of the documents to be presented for comparison:

• The notary signs the testimony and each page of the contract;
• Notary practice organizations record the number of notarized documents and stamp them;
• Deliver the original notarized document to the notarization requester;
• Enter the notary book and store notary documents according to regulations;

Note:

• Both the seller and the buyer need to be fully present when performing the notarization;
• Pay notary fees according to regulations (usually calculated based on transaction value);
• After completing the notarization, the parties proceed with the procedures to transfer ownership at the land registration agency.

Notary fees are calculated according to regulations in Circular 257/2016/TT-BTC, based on the value of transaction assets, ranging from 50,000 VND to a maximum of 70 million VND/case.

Notarize real estate purchases and sales online

Online notarization in real estate sales is a new regulation officially applied from July 1, 2025 and is specifically stipulated in Article 62 of the Law on Notarization 2024. This form of notarization applies digital technology in the process of verifying identity, signing contracts and confirming notarized content. However, electronic notarization can only be performed when the following conditions are met:

• Ensuring security, safety, data message protection and information security according to the provisions of law; the information in that data message is accessible and usable for reference;
• Notaries and notary practice organizations may provide electronic notarization services when they fully meet the prescribed conditions.

The online notarization process includes main steps:

Step 1: Register an account on the online notary system

Regulations on account registration are prescribed as follows:

Notaries may provide electronic notarization services when they fully meet the following conditions:

• Have an account to perform electronic notarization;
• Have a digital signature and use a timestamp service in accordance with the law on electronic transactions.

Notary practice organizations may provide electronic notarization services when they fully meet the following conditions:

• Have an account to perform electronic notarization;
• Have a digital signature and use a timestamp service in accordance with the law on electronic transactions;
• There is enough technical equipment to perform electronic notarization.

Step 2: Prepare electronic documents and submit them

The person requesting notarization prepares 01 set of electronic documents including:

• Draft real estate purchase contract file (PDF or Word format);
• Scanned copies of identification documents of the parties participating in the transaction;
• Scanned copy of Certificate of land use rights, ownership of housing and other assets attached to land;
• Other related paperwork files as prescribed by law;
• All documents need to be digitized with clear quality and complete information.

Note: An electronic notarized document is an electronic certificate created according to the principles and scope specified in Article 62 of the Law on Notarization 2024. An electronic notarized document is effective from the time it is signed with the digital signature of the notary and the digital signature of the notary practice organization.

Step 3: Authenticate the electronic identity of the person requesting notarization online using a level 2 electronic identity account.

Step 4: Digitally sign documents using digital signatures or electronic signatures

The parties participating in the transaction request notarization via online means in the direct presence of a notary; Notaries and notary organizations certify transactions with digital signatures to create electronic notarized documents of real estate purchase and sale documents.

Step 5: Receive electronic copies of notarized documents.

Currently, the process for electronic notarization has not yet been announced, so the above is only the basic procedure as prescribed in the Law on Notarization 2024. You need to pay attention to updating the latest information to avoid errors during the procedure.

In-depth consulting services on notarization procedures for real estate purchases and sales at Long Phan Consulting Company

Long Phan Consulting Company provides in-depth consulting services on notarization of real estate purchases and sales for individual and business customers. A team of experts with high expertise in the field of real estate, knowledgeable about land law and notarization. We support customers from drafting contracts to completing notarization procedures and registering ownership.

Real estate purchase and sale notary consulting services at Long Phan Consulting Company include:

• Review documents and legal status of transferred real estate;
• Drafting real estate purchase and sale contracts;
• Prepare complete notarization documents according to the provisions of law;
• Representing customers to carry out notarization procedures;
• Instructions for performing online notarization (if any);
• Supports registration of ownership changes.

Long Phan Consulting Company applies a professional and transparent working process, ensuring customer interests in all real estate transactions. Our services help customers save time, avoid legal risks and complete notarization procedures quickly and in accordance with the law.

Frequently asked questions

Below are frequently asked questions about notarization procedures for real estate purchases and sales from July 1, 2025.

What exactly is the role of a notary public in eal estate purchases and sale?

Notarization serves as a fundamental legal process in property purchases, with the notary confirming the legality and authenticity of the purchase contract according to the law. This process gives legal effect to documents, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of all parties involved.

Will the new Land Law 2024 completely eliminate the need for notarization in real estate purchases and sale?

No, the Land Law 2024 still requires notarization or authentication for land use rights transfer contracts, except in cases where one or more parties participating in the land sale transaction are real estate businesses.

Is it true that the recent announcement by the Government Office implies the abolition of the mandatory notarization requirement for real estate transactions after July 2025?

No, the Government Office’s announcement regarding the use of electronic documents on eID accounts applies to the authentication of paper copies and does not eliminate the notarization requirement for real estate sales contracts.

For direct notarization, which original identification documents are accepted according to the new regulations?

The regulations require submitting original ID cards or citizen identification cards of both the buyer and the seller during the direct notarization process.

When performing online notarization, is it necessary to have a notarized copy of the property ownership certificate?

For online notarization, it is necessary to submit electronic copies of land use rights and house ownership certificates (red book/pink book) through the online public service portal.

Can a preliminary draft of a property purchase contract be electronically submitted for online notarization?

Yes, the draft of the real estate purchase contract is part of the electronic file that needs to be uploaded through the online notary platform.

What specific digital authentications are needed for both notaries and notary organizations to perform online notarization?

Both notaries and notary organizations must have digital signatures and use timestamp issuance services in accordance with the law on electronic transactions to perform online notarization.

Is a standard digital signature sufficient for all parties involved in an online real estate transaction?

No, buyers and sellers participating in online notarization are required to use level 2 electronic identity accounts to authenticate electronic identities. They will then use their digital or electronic signature to sign the electronic notarized document in the direct presence of the notary.

How are electronic notarized documents on property purchases and sales legally authenticated?

An electronic notarized document has legal effect from the moment it is signed with the digital signature of the notary and the digital signature of the notary practice organization.

After completing online notarization, how do I receive the official notarization document?

After successful online notarization, relevant parties will receive an electronic copy of the notarized document.

Conclude

Notarization procedures for real estate purchases and sales from July 1, 2025 bring many important innovations, especially online notarization. Customers need to master the regulations to ensure real estate transactions take place smoothly and legally. Long Phan Consulting Company is ready to assist you in all issues related to notarization of real estate purchases and sales with professional, comprehensive consulting services. Contact hotline: 1900.63.63.89 immediately for in-depth advice.