Based on the provisions of Clause 2, Article 43 of the 2025 Construction Law on construction permits as follows:
Article 43. General regulations on issuing construction permits
2. Before starting construction of the project, the investor must have a construction permit except in the following cases:
g) Grade IV construction works, individual houses with a scale of less than 7 floors with a total floor area of less than 500m2 and not belonging to one of the areas: functional area, urban development area determined in the general plan of the city; functional area, rural residential area, urban development area determined in the general plan of urban areas under provinces and cities, general plan of economic zones, national tourist areas; construction area determined in the general plan of communes; area with architectural management regulations;
3. Before starting construction, the investor who builds the project specified in points a, b, c, d, e, g and h, clause 2 of this Article must send a construction commencement notice (except for state secret works, urgent and urgent construction works, temporary construction works specified in point a, clause 2 of this Article, private houses of households and individuals) to the competent state management agency for construction in the locality where the project is built according to the decentralization of the provincial People's Committee for management, specifically as follows:
a) Send a construction commencement notice for the works specified in points b and c, clause 2 of this Article;
b) Send a construction commencement notice accompanied by a dossier corresponding to the dossier requesting a construction permit according to regulations (excluding the Application for a construction permit) for the works specified in points a, d, d, e, g and h, clause 2 of this Article.
Accordingly, not all individual houses are exempt from construction permits, but only individual houses under 7 floors with a total floor area of less than 500m2 and not belonging to one of the following areas are exempt from construction permits:
- Functional zone, urban development area identified in the city's general plan;
- Functional zones, rural residential areas, urban development areas identified in the general urban planning of provinces and cities, general planning of economic zones, national tourist areas;
- Construction area identified in the commune's general plan; area that has architectural management regulations.
The 2025 Construction Law takes effect from July 1, 2026. Except for Clauses 2, 3, Article 43, Article 71 and Clauses 3, 4, 5, Article 95, the 2025 Construction Law takes effect from January 1, 2026.
