A resident in Hai Phong reflected that her father was once granted a Certificate of Shared Use Rights for a residential land plot and a pond land plot adjacent to each other, and she was given a pond land plot before 2014.
This person wonders whether the pond area is considered garden land, a pond attached to residential land to be recognized in the same plot when separated before 2014.
Answering this question, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment said that due to the lack of specific information about the time of issuance of the Certificate of Land Use Rights of the people's father, the agency could not answer the case in detail. However, the Ministry clearly stated some related legal principles.
According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 98 of the 2013 Land Law and Clause 1, Article 135 of the 2024 Land Law, the principle of issuing Certificates of Land Use Rights is to implement according to each land plot for people with land use rights.
The Ministry also cited the provision in Clause 1, Article 103 of the 2013 Land Law, according to which garden and pond land of households and individuals is identified as residential land only when located in the same land plot with houses. However, the 2024 Land Law no longer stipulates that garden and pond land is located in the same land plot with houses on the Certificate of Land Use Rights.
Regarding land plots, both the 2013 Land Law and the 2024 Land Law recognize the concept of "land plot" as the area with defined boundaries on the ground or described in cadastral records. Therefore, to consider garden and pond land as attached residential land, the area of garden, pond and residential land must be shown in the same land plot boundaries in the cadastral record.
Notably, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment clearly stated that if land users discover that the content shown on the issued Certificate of Land Use Rights is not consistent with the current status, they should contact the commune-level land management agency for guidance on resolving it in accordance with legal regulations.
Clearly defining residential land and garden and pond land when separating plots or registering for a red book depends on determining the boundary of the land plot, cadastral records and current legal regulations. Therefore, people need to carefully check cadastral records and contact functional agencies to have appropriate handling directions.
