Sharing on the Government Information Portal, people requested competent authorities to guide the resolution of 2 cases of communes allocating land not within their authority:
- In the first case, Ms. Dao Thi D.'s household was allocated land by the Commune People's Committee without proper authority with an area of 200 m2 on February 20, 2000. At that time, the Commune People's Committee had collected money from Ms. D.'s household to use the land with an amount of 3,000,000 VND. From the date of land allocation to April 2025, Ms. D.'s household used the land to plant trees annually, without land registration, and was granted the first Certificate of Land Use Rights.
In May 2025, Ms. D's household will build a house project (commune under construction permit exemption). Ms. D wants to ask if building a house project violates administrative regulations, if there are administrative violations, what violations are prescribed in which Decree? Request specific guidance for implementation (including remedial measures). If Ms. D's household builds the above project without administrative violations, are there sufficient conditions to register land and issue the first Certificate for residential land purposes according to Article 140 of the 2024 Land Law (please give specific guidance for implementation)?
- Case 2, Mr. P.V.P.'s household was allocated land by the Commune People's Committee without proper authority with an area of 300 m2 on January 22, 1996. At that time, the Commune People's Committee collected money from Mr. P.'s household to use the land with the amount of 2,400,000 VND. From the date of land allocation until the end of 2014, Mr. P.'s household used the land to grow perennial trees, annually. In early 2015, Mr. P.'s household proceeded to build a 2-story house project with a construction area of 100 m2; in October 2015, the project was completed and used for residential purposes from then until now.
Now, Mr. P's household requests land registration and issuance of the first Certificate of Land Use Rights with an area of 300 m2 of residential land. Mr. P provided the land allocation record dated January 22, 1996 of the Commune People's Committee (original); money receipt issued by the Commune People's Committee and money collected on January 22, 1996. This land plot is used by Mr. P without disputes, planning to show residential land. Mr. P wants to ask if the Commune People's Committee allocated land improperly on January 22, 1996 (period from October 15, 1993 to before July 1, 2004), using land for the purpose of growing perennial trees from January 22, 1996 to the end of 2014; using land for residential land purposes from October 2015 to September 26, 2025, is it eligible for land registration and issuance of the first Certificate of Land Use Rights for residential land purposes? If eligible, according to what regulations in Article 140 of the 2024 Land Law? If not eligible, what is the solution according to current regulations?
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment answers this question as follows:
The illegal allocation of land is a violation of state agencies, not of land users, so administrative violations are not punished against land users.
The construction of houses on residential land (allocated beyond authority) is not an act of violating the wrongful use of land.
According to the provisions of Article 140 of the 2024 Land Law on issuing Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land to households and individuals who are using land that are not assigned in accordance with the authority, the authority to issue Certificates for the first time to households and individuals is the Commune-level People's Committee. Therefore, for the case you inquire about, please refer to the above legal regulations and contact the Commune-level People's Committee to determine the origin, current status of use, and stable time of use when considering issuing Certificates.
The current land law has regulations on the issuance of Certificates of land use rights and ownership of other assets attached to land for the first time to individuals and households who are using land with improperly assigned origin that has been used stably from October 15, 1993 to before July 1, 2004 in Clause 2, Article 140 of the Land Law.
Accordingly, a land plot that needs to be registered and granted a Certificate for residential land purposes must meet the conditions that this land plot has been used stably and the current status has houses or houses and works serving life. Thus, the use for residential land purposes in cases where the origin of land use is not assigned to the right authority is based on the current status of the land plot being used with or without houses.
The application of policies to consider and issue Certificates for households and individuals using land needs to be based on each specific case and needs to be based on land management records in the locality. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment informs citizens to study and contact the commune-level People's Committee where the land is located to be considered and resolved according to their authority.
