The citizen sent a question to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment stating: "I am a class 2/4 disabled soldier. In 2020, I built a house for my children on a piece of land with an area of 120m2, residential land of 50m2, licensed 50m2. However, due to the need to have many people in the family, a house was built with an area of 100m2, exceeding the 50m2 perennial land area, and the government has prepared a penalty file and forced the demolition of the project.
I would like to ask: my family has complied with the fine but the construction is all property and if it had to be demolished, the quality of the remaining part of the project (easy to damage and collapse) would not be guaranteed, so is there any regulation to keep the house and convert additional residential land in accordance with regulations? (my family's land is in accordance with the land use planning, a stable residential area)".
Responding to this question, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said:
- At point b, clause 1, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law, it is stipulated that: Converting agricultural land to non-agricultural land is a case of changing the purpose of land use that must be permitted by a competent state agency.
- In Clause 2, Article 10 of Decree No. 123/2024/ND-CP dated October 4, 2024 of the Government regulating the penalty for converting agricultural land that is not rice-growing land, not forestry land to residential land within the administrative boundaries of a commune, the forms and levels of penalty are as follows:
a) Fine from VND 10,000,000 to VND 20,000,000 for land area from less than 0.01 hectare;
b) Fine from VND 20,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 for land area from 0.01 hectares to less than 0.03 hectares;
…”
Clause 4, Article 10 of Decree No. 123/2024/ND-CP also stipulates remedial measures, specifically as follows:
a) Forced restoration of the original state of the land before the violation, except for the case specified in Clause 3, Article 139 of the Land Law;
b) Forced return of illegal profits obtained from committing the violation".
Thus, based on the above regulations, in case a land user arbitrarily converts agricultural land (a perennial land) to residential land without permission from a competent State agency, he/she will be subject to administrative sanctions in the form of fines and apply remedial measures such as forcing the restoration of the original state of the land before the violation, forcing the return of illegal profits gained from the violation (except for the case specified in Clause 3, Article 139 of the 2024 Land Law).
