What is stable land use?
Lawyer Quach Thanh Luc - Director of Phap Tri Law Company Limited (Hanoi Bar Association) - answers: According to Clause 38, Article 3 of the 2024 Land Law, stable land use is the use of land for a specific main purpose from the time of starting to use land for that purpose to the time the competent state agency considers stable land use.
In fact, determining the stable time and purpose of use of a land plot is not always simple.
For example, a land plot may have been used as a pond, then filled to build a house, then converted to planting trees, or changed the purpose of use in different periods. Therefore, to determine when the land has been used stably, it is necessary to base it on records, documents and the actual use process.
According to the lawyer, first of all, it is necessary to check whether land users have land use right documents according to Article 137 of the 2024 Land Law or not.
Article 137 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates the issuance of Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for households, individuals, and residential communities currently using land with land use rights documents.
For example, people have used the land plot stably as a house and have purchase and sale, transfer papers certified by the commune-level People's Committee in 1991. At that time, this paper was an important basis for determining the time of land use.
In case there are no papers on land use rights according to Article 137 of the 2024 Land Law, the confirmation of stable land use can be based on many types of papers and documents.
According to the current regulations in Appendix I issued together with Decree 151/2025/ND-CP, the bases may include receipts for payment of agricultural land use tax, house and land tax; minutes or decisions on administrative violations related to land and construction; papers for paying electricity and water bills with addresses at the land plot to be identified; maps, survey and measurement documents of land; land registers, land plots; declaration and registration documents of houses and land; permanent and temporary residence registration documents at houses attached to residential land and some other documents as prescribed. These documents are all meaningful in the process of consideration.
A more difficult situation is that land users both do not have papers under Article 137 of the 2024 Land Law and no longer have documents that can be used to determine the time of land use.
According to lawyer Quach Thanh Luc, in this case, it is necessary to return to the nature of stable land use, that is, the actual use of land for a certain purpose in a continuous period of time.
The lawyer argued that when there are no direct records, other sources of information that reflect the actual land use process can be considered, such as the opinions of witnesses, elderly people living in the locality for many years, neighborhood group leaders or people living around the land plot.
Land used stably must first originate from the actual use. In case the State no longer has sufficient records, it is necessary to consider other grounds and information to prove the process of use," lawyer Quach Thanh Luc stated his opinion.
It is necessary to ensure the legitimate rights of land users
Lawyer Quach Thanh Luc said that accurately determining the time of land use is of great significance because in many cases, the land use time milestone can directly affect the consideration of issuing Certificates and other rights of people.
Therefore, in the process of implementing land policies and laws, functional agencies need to fully consider dossiers, documents and actual land use, avoiding mechanical application that affects the legitimate rights of people.
According to the lawyer, the settlement of dossiers must ensure compliance with regulations and respect for the law, but at the same time, it must be consistent with reality and limit unnecessary disruptions to the lives of land users.
This is also the basis for people to know what documents they need to prepare and what to rely on to prove the stable land use process when carrying out procedures for issuing Land Use Right Certificates.
