Reader Ngoc Long (Ninh Binh) asked: "My family has a land plot that my parents reclaimed in 1993 and have been using stably to this day. Currently, there is a level 4 house built on almost the entire area of the land plot (the rest is growing vegetables annually). So please ask, if my parents apply for a red book, do they have to pay land use fees?
Lawyer Hoang Tuan Vu (Tue Anh Law Company Limited) answers: According to the information you provided, it can be understood that your parents' land plot does not have any land use right papers, but it is also not a violation of land law, and does not fall into the case of land being allocated without proper authority.
Therefore, the issuance of Certificates (red books) for this case will apply the provisions of Clause 1, Article 138 of the 2024 Land Law.
The issuance of Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for households and individuals who are using land stably without one of the types of land use rights documents specified in Article 137 of this Law, not falling under the cases specified in Article 139 and Article 140 of this Law, shall be carried out according to the following regulations:
1. Households and individuals who use land before December 18, 1980, and are now certified by the People's Committee at the commune level where the land is located as having no disputes, shall be granted a Certificate of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land as follows:
a) For land plots with houses, houses and works serving life, if the land plot area is equal to or greater than the residential land recognition limit as prescribed in Clause 5, Article 141 of this Law, the residential land area is recognized as equal to the residential land recognition limit and is not required to pay land use fees.
In case the land area where houses, houses and works serving life have been built exceeds the residential land recognition limit specified in this point, the residential land area is recognized according to the actual area where houses, houses and works serving life have been built; land users must pay land use fees for the area exceeding the residential land recognition limit in this point;
b) For land plots with houses, houses and works serving life, if the land plot area is smaller than the residential land recognition limit specified in Clause 5, Article 141 of this Law, the residential land area is determined to be the entire land plot area and is not required to pay land use fees;
c) For land plots used for non-agricultural, commercial, and service production and business purposes, recognition of non-agricultural production facilities land, commercial, and service land is based on the actual area used; the form of land use recognized is the form of land allocation with land use fees, the land use term is stable and long-term;
d) For the remaining land area after being determined according to the provisions of points a and c of this clause, it is determined according to the current status of land use.
In case the current status of use is non-agricultural land and not residential land, it is recognized according to the provisions of point c of this clause.
In case the current status of use is agricultural land, it is recognized in the form of land allocation without land use fees by the State; if the land user has a need to be recognized for non-agricultural land purposes that are in accordance with district-level land use planning or general planning or sub-area planning or construction planning or rural planning, it is recognized for that purpose and must pay land use fees according to the provisions of law.
Thus, if the above land plot is used stably by your parents and there is no dispute, it will be eligible for a Certificate according to the above regulations.
For your family's case, depending on each case, determining land use fees may not require payment of land use fees or only a part of land use fees according to the above regulations.
