A household in Lam Dong province has a land plot with an area of 58.6m2, a width of 4.97m, which is land for perennial crops, and has been granted a separate land use right certificate for the couple. The land plot is located in an alley with a road boundary of 2.1m.
This resident said that when carrying out procedures to convert land use purposes to residential land, the dossier was rejected by the commune-level People's Committee. The reason given is based on Decision No. 41/2021/QD-UBND dated November 15, 2021 of the People's Committee of Lam Dong province promulgating regulations on road boundaries and key indicators on planning and construction management for houses and individual works in wards of Da Lat city.
According to local announcements, the land plot belongs to the isolated architectural planning area. In case the alley has a road boundary of less than 10m, the minimum width of the land plot must reach 10m, and the minimum area is 200m2 to be converted to residential land. Meanwhile, the above-mentioned land plot does not meet the conditions for width and area.
From this reality, people in Lam Dong propose to clarify whether the change of land use purpose according to the Land Law depends on the housing construction plan according to the Construction Law or not. At the same time, in case the land plot has been planned for subdivision as residential land, can the purpose be changed to residential land at the present time or not.
Answering this content, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that because there is no specific management and use dossier of the land plot, the Department of Land Administration does not have a basis to answer in detail each case. This agency requests people to send documents attached to dossiers and related documents to the land management agency in the locality for guidance and resolution according to their authority.
Regarding the basis for allowing land use purpose conversion, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment cited Clause 5, Article 116 of the Land Law. Accordingly, the permission to convert agricultural land use purposes in residential areas, agricultural land in the same land plot with residential land to residential land or convert non-agricultural land that is not residential land to residential land for households and individuals is based on district-level land use planning, general planning or zoning planning according to the provisions of urban planning law approved by competent authorities.
Clause 6, Article 116 of the Land Law also stipulates that the basis for land allocation, land lease, and permission to change land use purposes for cases that are not subject to investment policy approval or investor approval according to the law on investment is implemented according to the Government's regulations.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment added that Decree No. 102/2024/ND-CP, supplemented by Decree No. 226/2025/ND-CP, stipulates the basis for land allocation, land lease, and permission to change land use purposes for cases that are not subject to investment policy approval, investor approval is commune-level land use planning or planning established according to the law on urban and rural planning that has been approved by competent authorities.
In addition, Article 122 of the Land Law stipulates conditions for land allocation, land lease, and permission to change land use purposes. Decree No. 151/2025/ND-CP also allows commune-level administrative units after arrangement to continue to use district-level land use planning, district-level annual land use plan or urban and rural planning approved before July 1, 2025 as a basis for land management until the review and development of land use planning and plans according to the new administrative unit is completed.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, land law has stipulated the basis for allowing land use purpose conversion for each specific case. However, in the case of conversion to residential land, the type of land after purpose conversion must ensure that it can be used for residential purposes, including housing and activities serving life.
Therefore, in addition to the basis according to land law, considering changing the purpose to residential land must also meet other relevant legal conditions. The competent People's Committee will specifically consider each dossier to decide in accordance with land law and related regulations.
