Mr. Nguyen Van Quyet (Ninh Binh) currently has agricultural land and wants to convert the land use purpose to residential land. Mr. Quyet wonders what expenses will be included when converting agricultural land to residential land?
Answering this question, Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh - Director of Bright Legal Law Firm - said that the largest cost when converting agricultural land to residential land is land use fees. In 2026, it is necessary to clearly distinguish between two cases.
If it is ordinary agricultural land and not eligible for special policies, in principle, land users must pay 100% of the difference between land use fees calculated according to residential land prices and land use fees calculated according to agricultural land prices, according to point a, clause 2, Article 10 of Resolution 254/2025/QH15.
Specifically, for some cases of garden land, ponds or agricultural land originating from residential land that meet legal conditions, preferential collection rates may be applied according to point c, clause 2, Article 10 of Resolution 254/2025/QH15 and Article 6 of Decree 50/2026/ND-CP.
The area within the residential land allocation limit must pay 30% of the difference; the part exceeding the limit but not exceeding one time the limit must pay 50% of the difference; the area exceeding this level must pay 100% of the difference.
Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh noted that the 30% - 50% policy does not apply to all cases of converting agricultural land to residential land. This policy only applies to the right subjects, the right origin of land and in principle is only applied once to one household or individual on a selected land plot. In addition to land use fees, people may also have to pay dossier appraisal fees, measurement fees and fees for issuing or adjusting Certificates according to the collection level of each locality.
People who want to know exactly how much money it costs to convert agricultural land to residential land must specifically determine the current type of land, the origin of the land, the area they want to convert, the residential land allocation limit and the land price list of the locality where the land is located," Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh advised.
