Notes on Auctioned Assets and Starting Prices

1. Auctioned assets

According to the provisions of the law on property auctions, auctioned assets are very diverse: Auctioned assets are movable assets, real estate, valuable papers and property rights that are allowed to be traded. Based on the provisions of the law on auctions, assets can be divided into two types:

- Type one: Assets that the owner of the asset voluntarily sells, also known as auctions at the request of individuals or organizations.

- Type two: Assets that must be sold by auction. The difference between assets auctioned at the request of individuals or organizations and assets that must be sold by auction.

Documents proving ownership/use rights:

+ For assets auctioned at request, the owner of the asset must present the original Certificate of ownership/use rights, which is the basis for the auction organization and the notary organization to determine the owner/user of the asset.

+ For assets that must be sold by auction, in reality, there are cases where we cannot require the owner of the assets to provide documents certifying ownership/use rights.

For example: In a criminal case, according to the Court's judgment: Mr. Tran Van T and his wife, Ms. Tran Thi H, must compensate Ms. Doan Ngoc A with the amount of 6,000,000,000 VND (six billion VND). To ensure the obligation to execute the judgment to compensate, the assets of Mr. Tran Van T and his wife, Ms. Tran Thi H, must be handled: The right to use the entire land plot under the name of Mr. Tran Van T and his wife, Ms. Tran Thi H, according to the land use right certificate issued by the People's Committee of District S, Hanoi on February 22, 2002. When carrying out the asset seizure according to the Asset Seizure Order of the investigating police agency, the investigator and those participating in the asset seizure could not seize the above-mentioned Land Use Right Certificate. The question for notaries, auctioneers and enforcement officers is what documents prove the land use rights of Mr. Tran Van T and his wife, Mrs. Tran Thi H.

- If the property is seized for auction without obtaining a certificate of ownership according to the Law on Civil Judgment Enforcement, the notary must base on other documents to clearly determine whether the auctioned property is the property of the person subject to enforcement or not. When receiving a notarization request, the notary has the right to request the auction organization to present the Minutes of verification of property ownership for the person subject to enforcement of the judgment by the enforcement agency, the reply letter of the Land Use Rights Registration Office if the property is land use rights, the reply form of the Traffic Police Department in case the property is a car, motorbike, etc.

2. Starting price

Individuals or organizations when requesting an auction of property can determine the starting price themselves or authorize another organization or individual to determine it. However, for property that must be sold by auction, the Party owning the property cannot set the starting price themselves, but the determination of the starting price is carried out according to the provisions of Article 8 of the Law on Property Auction 2016, specifically as follows:

+ For property auctioned to enforce a judgment, the starting price is determined according to the provisions of the law on civil judgment enforcement;

+ For auctioned assets that are exhibits or means of administrative violations, the starting price shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the law on handling administrative violations; in case the asset price cannot be determined in accordance with the provisions of the law on handling administrative violations, a council shall be established to determine the asset price;

+ For assets that are evidence or material evidence that are decided to be auctioned by a competent state agency, the starting price shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the law on criminal law, criminal procedure and other relevant laws;

+ For auctioned assets that are state assets, the starting price shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the law on management and use of state assets;

+ For assets that are land use rights auctioned to allocate land with land use fees collected or land leased, the starting price shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the law on land;

Based on the provisions of the law, the notary must know whether the determination of the starting price is correct or not.

For example, according to the provisions of the law on civil judgment enforcement: The price can be agreed upon by the parties, the price is determined by the appraisal organization or in some cases the price can be determined by the enforcement officer.