A resident in Hanoi reflected that his family was allocated a rice-growing land plot adjacent to the road and residential area, rural residential land type. This resident wants to know whether the above case can be converted to residential land or not, if so, what regulations and procedures need to be met.
Answering this content, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that point b, clause 1, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates that the conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural land must be permitted by a competent state agency.
Regarding the basis for allowing land use purpose conversion, Clause 5, Article 116 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates that the conversion of agricultural land use purpose in residential areas, agricultural land in the same land plot with residential land to residential land or conversion of non-agricultural land that is not residential land to residential land for households and individuals must be based on district-level land use planning or general planning, zoning planning according to the provisions of urban planning law approved by competent authorities.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also cited the provisions in Clause 2, Article 22 of Decree No. 151/2025/ND-CP dated June 12, 2025 of the Government on decentralizing the authority of local authorities at 2 levels, decentralizing and decentralizing in the field of land.
Accordingly, commune-level administrative units after arrangement are allowed to continue to use district-level land use plans, district-level annual land use plans or plans established according to legal regulations on urban and rural planning that have been approved by competent authorities before July 1, 2025. This is the basis for performing state management tasks on land until the review and development of land use plans and plans according to new administrative units is completed.
In addition, Article 2 of Resolution No. 66.3/2025/NQ-CP dated September 15, 2025 of the Government also stipulates measures to organize the implementation of land use planning and plans after arranging provincial and commune-level administrative units.
According to this regulation, agencies and competent persons shall base on the district-level land use plan, the annual district-level land use plan approved before July 1, 2025, or land use targets in the land allocation and zoning plan of the provincial plan allocated to commune-level administrative units after arrangement, or plans established in accordance with the law on urban and rural planning to carry out land recovery, land allocation, land lease, and permission to change land use purposes.
Regarding the order and procedures for changing land use purposes, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that Article 227 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates that land users submit dossiers requesting land use purpose conversion according to regulations.
After receiving the dossier, the land management agency checks the conditions for changing land use purposes. If the dossier does not meet the regulations, this agency guides land users to supplement the dossier and submit it again.
For cases of applying land prices in the land price list to calculate land use fees and land rents, land management agencies shall prepare dossiers and submit them to the competent People's Committee for promulgation of decisions allowing land use purpose conversion, land allocation, and land lease.
In case it is necessary to determine specific land prices to calculate land use fees and land rents, the land management agency shall prepare a dossier to submit to the competent People's Committee for promulgation of a decision, and at the same time organize the determination of land prices and submit to the competent authority for approval of land prices for calculating land use fees and land rents.
Land users are responsible for paying land use fees and land rent according to regulations. After that, the land management agency transfers the dossier to the land registration organization or branch of the land registration organization to carry out registration and issuance of Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land; update and revise the land database, cadastral records and issue certificates to land users.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment also said that, according to Clause 1, Article 14 of Decree No. 49/2026/ND-CP dated January 31, 2026 of the Government, the Provincial People's Committee has the authority to decide on land recovery, land allocation, land lease, permission to change land use purposes and some other contents in the field of land.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment emphasized that this is a specific case. Therefore, people need to have documents, records and accompanying materials sent to the land management agency in the locality for guidance and resolution according to their authority and in accordance with legal regulations.
