According to Clause 1, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law, in case of converting agricultural land use to non-agricultural land, converting non-agricultural land other than residential land to residential land must be permitted by a competent state agency.
In which, non-agricultural land includes residential land, including rural residential land, urban residential land (also known as residential land).
Currently, the permission to change the purpose of land use from agricultural land to residential land is implemented by the People's Committee at the district level.
However, from July 1, 2025, the district level will officially stop operating to organize a 2-level local government model.
According to the provisions of Point m, Clause 1, Article 5 of Decree 151/2025/ND-CP (corrected in Decision 2418/QD-BNNMT in 2025), it is stipulated that:
- The authority of the District People's Committee as prescribed by the Land Law shall be transferred to the Chairman of the Commune People's Committee for implementation, including:
+ Decision on land allocation, land lease, permission to change land use purpose for individuals as prescribed in Point a, Clause 2, Article 123 of the Land Law; decision on land allocation for residential communities as prescribed in Point b, Clause 2, Article 123 of the Land Law; decision on agricultural land allocation to individuals as prescribed in Point b, Clause 2, Article 178 of the Land Law;
Thus, according to the above regulations, from July 1, 2025, the authority allowed the conversion of land use purposes to residential land for individuals under the authority of the People's Committee at the commune level.
According to Clause 2, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law, when changing the purpose of land use in cases that must be permitted by a competent state agency, the land user must fulfill financial obligations according to the provisions of law; the land use regime, rights and obligations of the land user are applied according to the type of land after changing the purpose of use.
In addition, Clause 3 of the 2024 Land Law also clearly states that in the case of using land originating from residential land or non-agricultural land with a long-term stable land use term in accordance with the provisions of law and converted to other purposes, but now having a need to convert it to residential land and in accordance with the land use planning, there is no need to pay land use fees.
Thus, according to the above regulations, when converting another land use purpose to residential land, land use fees must be paid.
In particular, in the case of land originating from residential land or non-agricultural land with a long-term stable land use term that has been converted to other purposes but now needs to be converted to residential land and is in accordance with the land use planning, there is no need to pay land use fees.
