According to Lawyer Tran Tuan Anh - Director of Bright Legal Law Firm, current land laws do not regulate which type of land is called residential land, but this is the common name for residential land (rural land and urban land). This type of land is used to build houses and build residential works.
Notably, Clause 1, Article 5 of the 2024 Land Law clearly states the principle of land use must be for the right purpose. This means that all types of land that are not residential land cannot be used for housing, and if you want to build a house, you must first apply for a change in land use purpose.
However, the basis for allowing land use purpose change must rely on:
- District-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning according to the provisions of law on urban planning approved by competent authorities.
- Application for change of land use purpose.
In addition, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law also stipulates that cases of converting to residential land must be permitted.
Therefore, before converting land use to residential land to build works and houses, people need to carefully check whether the type of land they are using can be converted to residential land or not? Checking before converting land to residential land will help people avoid future legal risks.
Article 59 of Decree 101 stipulates the forms of information exploitation and use of land information and data as follows:
1. Exploiting online on the National Land Information Portal, National Public Service Portal, Public Service Portal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, Provincial Public Service Portal, through SMS texting service, through web service and API services; exploiting through utilities and applications to create products and added value from the national land database according to regulations.
2. Exploit directly at the headquarters of the land data provider or the Department of Receiving and Returning Results for handling administrative procedures.
3. Exploitation through other forms as prescribed by law.
People can check whether the land they are using can be converted to residential land or not using the following simple methods:
Method 1: Exploit online
All content of land use planning approved by the State will be publicly announced at the headquarters of the People's Committee of the commune or ward.
People can access the National Land Information Portal, National Public Service Portal, Ministry of Agriculture and Environment Public Service Portal, Provincial Public Service Portal, via SMS text message service, through web service and API services; exploit through utilities to check the status of land use planning.
Method 2: Exploit directly at the headquarters of the land data provider or the Department of Receiving and Returning Results of Administrative Procedures
People can go directly to the People's Committee of the commune where the land is located to see the land use planning. Here, the cadastral officer will provide information about the detailed planning of the land plot, including purpose of use, duration of use, boundary, etc. When applying for an extract, people need to prepare the following documents:
- Land use right certificate (red book) or other documents proving land use right.
- Identification card or citizen identification card.
Method 3: Check the information on the land use right certificate
The land use right certificate (also known as a red book) will display the planning information section marked with broken lines next to the land plot information. Although this is a way to help land users save time and costs, there will be some limitations such as:
- The information on the land use right certificate may be old and unupdated information.
- Not all land use right certificates record planning information.
Thus, with the 3 simple ways mentioned above, people can check whether the land is being converted to residential land or not to have appropriate and legal use and exploitation plans.
