Ho Chi Minh City’s first public-interest lawsuit returns state property to government control

Ho Chi Minh City has seen its first public-interest civil lawsuit brought by the People’s Procuracy to recover state property. On the morning of Sept. 4, the People’s Court of Region 2 accepted all major claims in the case against H.B. Company.

The dispute concerns the state-owned house and land at 17/3 Street 27 in the former Thu Duc City area. The court found that H.B. Company had no legal basis to manage or use the property from July 6, 2020, and ordered it to stop occupying the premises and return the land-use rights to the designated manager in its existing condition.

The company must also pay more than 58.2 million dong for each month of use from September 2026 until it actually returns the premises. The property had been leased to H.B. Company in July 2003 by the Thu Duc District Public Services Company for production and business activities. The parties later signed a lease-termination record on July 6, 2020, but did not sign a new agreement. H.B. Company continued using the site afterward without a legal basis.

Before filing the case, the Region 2 People’s Procuracy issued a decision demanding that the violation end and urged the parties to remedy the consequences voluntarily. Those efforts produced no result. At the hearing, H.B. Company broadly accepted the procuracy’s claims, agreed to return the property and pay through the handover date. It said it had paid rent through August 2026 and asked the court to record its claim that it had managed, improved and financed the site for more than 35 years. The company said those costs totaled nearly 15 billion dong and that two earlier attempts to complete a purchase process had stalled after policy changes. The court preserved the company’s right to bring a separate lawsuit over any alleged losses related to its lease rights.