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).
At the same time, Clause 5, Article 116 of the 2024 Land Law also stipulates that households and individuals are allowed to change the purpose of using agricultural land in residential areas, agricultural land in the same plot of land with residential land to residential land if it is consistent with the district-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning according to the provisions of the law on urban planning approved by competent authorities.
Accordingly, the basis for allowing the conversion of agricultural land use to residential land is the district-level land use planning.
Currently, there are no more district-level administrative units. However, according to Clause 2, Article 22 of Decree 151/2025/ND-CP, commune-level administrative units after the arrangement are allowed to continue to use district-level land use planning, annual district-level land use plans or plans established in accordance with the provisions of law on urban and rural planning approved by competent state agencies in accordance with the provisions of law before July 1, 2025 in the area; or land use indicators in the land allocation and zoning plan of the provincial planning are allocated to commune-level administrative units after the arrangement to serve as a basis for implementing state management tasks on land until the review, planning and land use plan making under the new administrative units is completed.
District-level land use planning is stipulated in Article 62 of the 2024 Land Law for 10 years (20-year vision). And the district-level land use plan is prepared annually.
Thus, whether or not to convert agricultural land to residential land depends on the actual time and the approved district-level land use planning (previously). In case the land is not in accordance with the annual land use plan of the district level, it cannot be converted to residential land.
