Talking to Lao Dong Newspaper, Lawyer Quach Thanh Luc - Head of Phap Tri Law Company, Hanoi Bar Association said that the 2024 Land Law stipulates that the principle of land use is to be for the right purpose of land use. In case people build houses on agricultural land not in accordance with regulations, they will be forced to dismantle and restore the original state.
However, not all cases of illegal house construction on agricultural land are required to be demolished, depending on the time of use, planning and legal nature according to current regulations.
Clause 4, Article 3 of Decree 123/2024 stipulates: "Households and individuals using land before October 15, 1993 without a document handling violations from a competent state agency before the 2024 Land Law takes effect shall not be handled according to the provisions of this Decree".
Therefore, people can prove and check cadastral records at the commune-level People's Committee. If people's land plots, even if they build houses on agricultural land, are in the case of land use before October 15, 1993 and there is no penalty record, then people do not have to demolish houses.
Clause 3, Article 139 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates the settlement for cases of households and individuals using land that have violated land law before July 1, 2014:
“3. In case households and individuals are using land due to land encroachment and land occupation that does not fall into the cases specified in Clauses 1 and 2 of this Article and in case of using land for improper purposes that have been allocated land, leased land, and recognized land use rights by the State, the handling is as follows:
a) In case the person is using land stably, in accordance with district-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning or construction planning or rural planning, it is considered for issuance of Certificates of land use rights, ownership of assets attached to land and must fulfill financial obligations according to the provisions of law;
Thus, for cases where people use land for wrong purposes but have occurred before July 1, 2014, and now that land use is in accordance with the planning (specifically, residential land planning), the functional agency will consider issuing certificates to people and people are allowed to pay land use fees to use land in accordance with the provisions of law.
In summary, if people have built houses on agricultural land but that construction occurred before July 1, 2014 and at this time, planning inspection shows that people's land plot is already in residential land planning, then functional agencies will consider accepting it without conducting administrative violation handling, without forcing the demolition of people's houses.
Along with that, point a, clause 4, Article 10 of Decree 123/2024 stipulates: "Forcing the restoration of the original state of the land before the violation, except for the cases specified in clause 3, Article 139 of the Land Law;
Thus, for cases where people's land use is subject to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 139 of the Land Law, measures to restore the original state of the land before the violation are not applied, meaning it is not necessary to demolish people's houses.
