A family in Hai Phong was shocked when strangers built a solid 2-story house on their land that had been granted a red book, and blatantly forced them to sell or exchange the land.
The above rare incident happened in Kien Bai commune (now Thien Huong ward), Hai Phong city.
According to Ms. Tran Thi Kim Loan (born 1979), on September 23, 2024, the family bought a plot of land with an area of 60m² in land plot number 4856, map sheet number 03 was granted a Land Use Rights Certificate by the People’s Committee of Thuy Nguyen district, Hai Phong City on October 19, 2024, in the certificate issuance book number: CN986 at the address of village 7, Kien Bai commune. (now Thien Huong ward, Hai Phong city).
Ms. Loan affirmed that the purchase and sale took place legally, and was recognized by the government and the Law, transferring the title to her and her husband. However, on November 12, 2024, when the family went to check the land, they suddenly saw that someone else was occupying their land, building a solid 2-story house.
The solid 2-story house was occupied by strangers and “wrongly built” on land that had been granted a Land Use Rights Certificate by the authorities to Ms. Loan’s family.
“We did not know or have any conflicts with the person who was building the project on our land. When we asked, we learned that it was Mr. Do Van Huu and his wife, Ms. Vu Thi Tuyen, residing in Village 3, Kien Bai Commune, hiring workers to build.” – Ms. Loan said.
Immediately after discovering the incident, Ms. Loan’s family asked the real estate broker to contact Mr. Huu to ask to stop the construction, but Mr. Huu blatantly considered it his land and continued to build.
“Unable to resolve our feelings, we filed a report with the local government at that time, the People’s Committee of Kien Bai commune. Through verification, the government determined that my family’s land plot was indeed being built by Mr. Huu and Ms. Tuyen illegally, so they issued a written request to stop the construction, but Mr. Huu’s family still refused to comply.” – Ms. Loan was upset.
Mr. Nguyen Dang Ca (born 1977, Ms. Loan’s husband) said that on November 20, 2024, when the Commune People’s Committee organized reconciliation between the two families, Mr. Huu admitted that he had built “wrongly” because Mr. Huu himself also bought a plot of land in this area but 4 lots away from Mr. Ca’s plot of land.
“However, instead of returning the land, Mr. Huu suggested a solution by forcing us to accept a “land exchange” or to resell the land to Mr. Huu at the price he offered.
We do not accept such an unruly viewpoint and do not intend to change anything because from the beginning the family bought 2 adjacent plots of land for the purpose of building a house. If we had to change, our 2 plots of land would be far apart, making it inconvenient to build according to the family’s purposes. We can’t force us to sell to Mr. Huu at the price he offered.” – Mr. Ca shared.
After unsuccessful conciliation, the People’s Committee of Kien Bai commune then requested Mr. Huu to stop construction. However, the commune did not have any further measures, so Mr. Huu’s 2-storey project was still built, and has now been completed and put into use.
Ms. Loan’s family then had to submit an application to the People’s Court of Thuy Nguyen District (formerly), Hai Phong City (now the People’s Court of Region 1 – Hai Phong City) to request arbitration.
On August 11, 2025, the Trial Council of the People’s Court of Region 1 – Hai Phong City held a first instance trial, forcing Mr. Huu and his wife to dismantle the 2-story house, return the premises as well as land use rights to Mr. Ca and Ms. Loan.
“Up to now, 15 days have passed since the court’s verdict, but Mr. Huu’s family has not yet made any move to process the house to return the land to us. My family has also not received any notice about Mr. Huu’s appeal of the verdict, so next week I will continue to ask the enforcement agency to intervene so that the family can quickly get their land back.” – Ms. Loan shared.