Citizens sent their questions to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment questioning that my family has a piece of land in the village, a house opposite the cooperative's pond, 3m from an alley. Citizens said that this pond was previously large, but many surrounding households have encroached and now many houses have been built and are stable.
This citizen's family lives opposite and occupies 250m, has been using it stably since 2000 until now, and on top of that, the family has built a small room to live in and store things. The citizen said that after going to the commune many times to ask about the procedures for the first issuance of a book, the commune refused and said that the documents in the commune all stated that they were a pond of cooperation.
Responding to this issue, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that the issuance of Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for households and individuals using land that violated land law before July 1, 2014 is stipulated in Article 139 of the Land Law (including regulations on land use due to encroachment).
The procedures for granting the first Certificate of Land Use Rights and Property Ownership Rights attached to land are specified in Section V, Part C, Appendix I issued with Decree No. 151/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 of the Government.
Article 139 of the Land Law resolves cases of households and individuals using land that violated land law before July 1, 2014 as follows:
1. In case of using land due to encroachment, occupation of safety protection corridors for public works after the State has announced, marking of protection corridors or encroachment, occupation of roadways, sidewalks, and sidewalks after the State has announced construction boundaries or encroachment on land, occupation of land used for the purpose of building headquarters of agencies, public works, or other public works, the State shall reclaim the land to return to the works without granting a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land for the encroached and occupied land area.
In case there have been adjustments to land use planning and construction planning approved by competent authorities, but the encroached and occupied land area is no longer a public works safety protection corridor; is not within the traffic road construction boundary; has no purpose of use for agency headquarters, public works and other public works, the land user will be considered for granting a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land and must fulfill financial obligations according to the provisions of law.
2. In case of using land due to encroachment or occupation of land of agricultural and forestry origin that has been allocated land by the State without collecting land use fees to subjects through the periods, the following shall be handled:
a) In case of using encroached or occupied land areas under the forestry planning for special-use forests and protective forests, the Provincial People's Committee shall direct the recovery of encroached or occupied land to assign to the Forest Management Board for management and use of land. People who are using encroached or occupied land are considered by the Forest Management Board for forest protection and development contracts according to the provisions of the law on forestry. In case there is no Forest Management Board, the person using the land encroaches or is subject to the State's allocation of land for use in the purpose of protecting and developing protective forests and is considered for granting a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land;
b) In case of using encroached or occupied land areas under the land use planning for the purpose of building public infrastructure works, the Provincial People's Committee shall direct the recovery of encroached or occupied land to allocate to the investor when implementing the construction of that project.
People who are using land in violation are allowed to temporarily use the land until the State reclaims the land, but must maintain the status of land use and must declare land registration according to regulations;
c) In case of encroachment, occupation of land and now being used for agricultural production purposes or housing purposes before July 1, 2014, not subject to forestry planning for special-use forests, protective forests, or not subject to land use planning for the purpose of building public infrastructure works, the person using the land shall be considered for a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land and must fulfill financial obligations according to the provisions of law.
3. In case a household or individual is using land due to encroachment or occupation of land that does not fall under the cases specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article and in case of using land for purposes other than those for which the State has allocated land, leased land, or recognized land use rights, the following shall be handled:
a) In case the person is using land stably, in accordance with the district-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning or construction planning or rural planning, he/she shall be considered for a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land and must fulfill financial obligations according to the provisions of law;
b) In cases not specified in Point a of this Clause, the person using the land is allowed to temporarily use the land until the State reclaims the land, but must maintain the current status of land use and must declare and register the land according to regulations.
4. Households and individuals who are using agricultural land due to self-reclaimed land without disputes will be granted a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land by the State according to the agricultural land allocation limit prescribed by the Provincial People's Committee; if the limit prescribed by the Provincial People's Committee is exceeded, the excess area must be converted to State land lease.
5. In case a household or individual using land violates the land law prescribed in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article from July 1, 2014 onwards, the State shall not issue a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land and handle it in accordance with the provisions of law.
6. The Government shall detail this Article.
