Housing must have a building permit before construction begins.
Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 89 of the 2014 Construction Law, amended and supplemented by Clause 30, Article 1 of the 2020 amended Construction Law, in the following cases, housing construction investors must have a construction permit before starting construction:
(1) Individual houses in urban areas (inner city, suburbs of cities; inner city, suburbs of towns; townships), except for individual houses with a scale of less than 07 floors belonging to urban area construction investment projects, housing construction investment projects with detailed planning 1/500 approved by competent state agencies.
(2) Individual houses in rural areas with a scale of less than 07 floors and located in areas with urban planning, functional area construction planning or detailed planning for rural residential areas approved by competent state agencies.
(3) Individual houses built in conservation areas and historical-cultural relic sites.
(4) Individual houses in rural areas with a scale of 7 floors or more.
If one of the above cases applies, the investor (including households and individuals) must have a construction permit before starting construction to be allowed to build a house.
Accordingly, to be granted a construction permit, it is necessary to have a Certificate (red book, pink book), documents proving land use rights, and documents proving house ownership.
In addition, in cases where there are no documents on land use rights or legal house ownership, it is allowed to use the confirmation paper of the People's Committee of the commune, ward or town and the land registration agency confirms that the conditions for granting a Certificate are met to request a construction permit.
Thus, land without a red book, pink book, documents proving land use rights, legal house ownership rights is allowed to use a confirmation paper from the People's Committee of the commune, ward, or town and this document must be confirmed by the land registration agency as eligible to issue a Certificate to request a construction permit.
This means that not 100% of cases are granted this certificate by the commune, ward or town, but must meet the conditions for granting a new Certificate.
For housing exempted from building permits
Pursuant to Clause 2, Article 89 of the 2014 Construction Law, amended and supplemented by Clause 30, Article 1 of the 2020 amended Construction Law, the following cases are exempt from a construction permit before commencement:
(1) Individual houses with a scale of less than 7 floors belonging to urban area construction investment projects, housing construction investment projects with detailed planning 1/500 approved by competent state agencies.
(2) Individual houses in rural areas with a scale of less than 7 floors and located in areas without urban planning, functional area construction planning or detailed planning for rural residential areas approved by competent state agencies.
(3) Individual houses in mountainous and island areas in areas without urban planning or functional area construction planning.
Accordingly, if exempted from a construction permit, investors (including households and individuals) are allowed to build individual houses but must meet certain conditions as prescribed by law.
