1. Converting rice fields to perennial crops requires permission.
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law, the conversion of rice-growing land, special-use forest land, protective forest land, and production forest land to other types of land in the agricultural land group is one of the cases where the purpose change requires permission from a competent state agency.
In particular, land for growing perennial crops is classified as agricultural land according to Point b Clause 2 Article 9 of the 2024 Land Law. Thus, when converting rice-growing land to perennial crop land, it is mandatory to obtain permission from the competent authority.
2. Authority to convert rice-growing land to perennial crop growing land
Clause 2, 3, Article 123 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates the authority to permit land use purpose change as follows:
- The People's Committee (PC) at the provincial level (province, centrally-run city) decides to allow the change of purpose of use for domestic organizations.
- The District People's Committee has the authority to permit the change of purpose of use for households and individuals.
In case of leasing land to individuals, allowing the conversion of agricultural land use purpose to commercial and service purposes with an area of 0.5 ha or more, there must be written approval from the Provincial People's Committee before making a decision.
3. Procedures for converting rice-growing land to perennial crop land
* Application for land use purpose change
Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 44 of Decree 102/2024/ND-CP, the person applying for land use purpose change shall submit an application for land use purpose change according to Form No. 02c in the Appendix issued with this Decree to the One-Stop Department as prescribed.
* Procedures and implementation
Pursuant to Article 227 of the 2024 Land Law, the procedures for permitting change of land use purpose are as follows:
Step 1. Submit application for change of land use purpose according to regulations.
Step 2. The competent authority shall check the conditions for changing the land use purpose. In case the dossier is not yet secured, the land user shall supplement the dossier and resubmit it to the land management agency.
Step 3. After submitting a complete application, the competent land management agency prepares a dossier and submits it to the district-level People's Committee to issue a decision allowing the change of land use purpose.
Step 4. Pay land use fees according to regulations, except in cases of exemption.
Step 5. Transfer the file to the Office/branch of the Land Registration Office to carry out the registration, issue the Book, update and correct the land database, cadastral records and return the Book to the land user.
Note: In case of both transferring land use rights and changing land use purposes, the procedure for registering the transfer of land use rights will be carried out at the same time as the procedure for changing land use purposes according to regulations.
