Ms. N.T.H in Hanoi asked, her father is a soldier, after his discharge from the army, the commune created conditions for him to buy a plot of residential land with an area of 168 m2, for 1,075,000 VND (with receipts for collecting money, one time paid in 1992, one time paid in 1993 with the reason of payment being compensation for flower benefits for residential land 90-91).
However, Ms. H's father was not granted any land allocation decision or land plot diagram. The area of land her father bought was on the same piece of land as her grandmother at that time.
Her father also fulfilled his tax obligations for the above residential land area and still kept the tax collection receipt (all collected with the content of residential land and non-agricultural land tax with an area of 168 m2).
Ms. H asked, when her family completes the procedures to apply for a red book for a piece of land, does it need to pay land use fees, is there a limit for the residential land area, which unit will handle this procedure with how to proceed and how much is the fee?
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment responds to this issue as follows:
The content of her reflection is a specific case under the authority of a local land management agency. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment recommends that you contact the competent authority for instructions on implementation.
The Ministry sets out some regulations on principles as follows:
The law on land does not stipulate that the People's Committees at the commune level sell residential land. Therefore, the land plot mentioned in the reflection has the origin of use due to improper allocation.
The granting of Certificates to households and individuals who are using land allocated without proper authority is stipulated in Article 140 of the Land Law:
"Land is allocated without proper authority to households and individuals according to the provisions of the law on land at the time of allocation or use of land due to purchase, receipt of liquidation, valuation, and distribution of houses and construction works attached to land that are not in accordance with the provisions of law, the issuance of Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land shall be implemented as follows:
In case the land has been used stably before October 15, 1993, and is now confirmed by the People's Committee of the commune where the land is located as not having a dispute, the person using the land shall be granted a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land for the land area assigned according to the provisions of Clause 2 and Clause 6, Article 138 of this Law.
In case the land has been used stably from October 15, 1993 to before July 1, 2004, now confirmed by the People's Committee of the commune where the land is located as not having a dispute, in accordance with the district-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning or construction planning or rural planning, the Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land shall be granted according to the provisions of Clause 3 and Clause 6, Article 138 of this Law;
In case the land has been used stably from July 1, 2004 to before July 1, 2014, now confirmed by the People's Committee of the commune where the land is located as not having a dispute, in accordance with the district-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning or construction planning or rural planning, the Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land will be granted as follows:
For land plots with houses, houses and works serving life, if the land plot area is equal to or larger than the residential land allocation limit prescribed in Clause 2, Article 195 and Clause 2, Article 196 of this Law, the residential land area granted a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land is equal to the residential land allocation limit.
For land plots with houses, houses and works serving life, if the land plot area is smaller than the residential land allocation limit prescribed in Clause 2, Article 195 and Clause 2, Article 196 of this Law, the residential land area shall be determined as the entire area of that land plot.
The remaining area (if any) after determining the residential land area according to the provisions of Point a of this Clause will be recognized according to the current land use status.
In case the land is allocated from July 1, 2014 to before the effective date of this Law, now confirmed by the People's Committee of the commune where the land is located as not having a dispute, in accordance with the land use planning and the land user has documents proving that he/she has paid to use the land, the land limit for granting a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to the land is determined according to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 138 of this Law.
The State shall not issue a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for land that has been allocated or leased without proper authority from July 1, 2014 onwards, except for the cases specified in Clause 4 of this Article.
Land users who are granted a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land as prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3 and 4 of this Article must fulfill financial obligations according to the provisions of law.
The procedures for granting a Certificate in this case are implemented according to the provisions of Section II and Section V, Section C, Part V of Appendix 1 issued with Decree No. 151/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 of the Government.
