People's self-dining, use of wasteland and house building has been common in many localities for a long time. However, not everyone knows that building a house on an abandoned land does not mean being granted a Land Use Rights Certificate (red book). To be legally recognized, people need to meet a series of conditions according to the 2024 Land Law.
Current law does not have an official definition of deforested land. However, in practice, open land is often understood as wasteland or unused land, exploited and used by people stably and long-term, but without legal documents such as land allocation decision, land lease or red book.
People's exploitation and use of land does not mean illegal acts, if there are no disputes or encroachments on public land, and the use takes place before the time frames prescribed by law (such as before July 1, 2014). At that time, people can be considered for a Land Use Rights Certificate.
This is an opportunity to legalize land use rights for thousands of households in rural and mountainous areas - where mining activities have been popular for decades.
One of the key conditions is that there must be confirmation from the People's Committee of the commune where the land is located about the time of use, stability, no disputes and the use of the land is not illegal.
Along with that, the land plot must be in the approved planning. For households living in disadvantaged areas, having been allocated land for production or having a stable permanent residence registration, the issuance of red books for residential land can be exempted from land use fees.
During the approval process, the competent authority will conduct an inspection of the current status, verify the origin of the land and compare it with the planning. If eligible, people will be granted red books, thereby legalizing home ownership rights, opening up the ability to borrow capital, inherit, transfer, separate plots...
However, people need to note that if they build a house on land that has not been recognized as legal, this behavior can be subject to administrative sanctions, forced demolition or not compensated if the State reclaims the land. Therefore, completing procedures for granting red books before construction is necessary to ensure long-term benefits.
The 2024 Land Law, effective from August 1, 2024, has new points to expand opportunities for land users without documents, including abandoned land. However, the process of granting books is still strict and requires people to proactively coordinate with local authorities in proving the legal process of land use. This is considered an important step in the roadmap for fairer, more transparent and synchronous land management in the coming time.
