Building a house on agricultural land and then converting it into residential land
Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 31 of the 2024 Land Law, the general obligation of land users is to use land for the right purpose, within the boundaries of the land plot, in accordance with regulations on the use of underground depth and height in the air, protection of underground public works and compliance with other relevant legal provisions.
Accordingly, land users must use land for the right purpose.
According to Articles 8, 9, and 10 of Decree 123/2024/ND-CP, it is clearly stipulated that when using land for the wrong purpose, building a house on agricultural land without changing the land use purpose, a fine will be imposed and remedial measures will be applied, including measures to force restoration to the original state.
According to the above regulations, land users are not allowed to build houses on agricultural land before converting it to residential land. If they want to change the land use purpose, the land user may have to demolish the house and restore the original land status first.
Regulations on changing land use purposes
Pursuant to Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law, the change of land use purpose is regulated as follows:
- Cases of changing land use purposes that must be permitted by competent state agencies include:
+ Converting rice-growing land, special-use forest land, protective forest land, and production forest land to other types of land in the agricultural land group;
+ Converting agricultural land to non-agricultural land;
+ Converting other types of land to concentrated livestock land when implementing large-scale concentrated livestock projects;
+ Conversion of non-agricultural land allocated by the State without land use fees to other types of non-agricultural land allocated by the State with land use fees or land lease;
+ Conversion of non-agricultural land other than residential land to residential land;
+ Converting land for construction of public works, land used for public purposes with business purposes to non-agricultural production and business land;
+ Converting non-agricultural production and business land that is not commercial or service land to commercial or service land.
- When changing the land use purpose according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law, 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 land use purpose.
- Changing land use purposes not falling under the cases specified in Clause 1, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law does not require permission from a competent state agency.
In 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 there is a need to convert it to residential land and in accordance with the land use planning, no land use fee must be paid.
- The conversion of land use purposes as prescribed in Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law is implemented in accordance with the provisions of Article 124 of the 2024 Land Law.
