Article 26 of the 2024 Land Law clearly states that when a land user meets the prescribed conditions, he/she will be granted a Certificate of land use rights, house ownership rights and other assets attached to the land.
Accordingly, people with a Land Use Rights Certificate will have their land use rights and land plot boundaries protected by the State. In case another person violates land use rights without permission, it is considered an illegal act of land encroachment.
At the same time, Article 164 of the 2015 Civil Code stipulates measures to protect ownership and other rights to property as follows:
1. owners and entities with other rights to property have the right to self-protect and prevent any person from violating their rights by measures not contrary to the provisions of law.
2. Owners and entities with other rights to property have the right to request the Court or other competent state agency to force the person who violates the right to return the property, stop the act of illegally obstructing the exercise of ownership rights and other rights to property and request compensation for damages.
According to the above provisions, land users have the right to self-protect and prevent any person from violating their rights by measures not contrary to the provisions of law.
Accordingly, when others have acts of illegally planting trees, land owners have the right to protect their land by negotiating and asking the other side to relocate the trees themselves. In case of negotiations without results, the commune People's Committee may conduct mediation or sue the People's Court to settle it.
In case the land user arbitrarily cuts down trees causing damage to others, it is considered an act of arbitrarily destroying the property of others and may be subject to punishment.
Thus, people with land use rights are not allowed to arbitrarily cut down trees or destroy other people's property even if this property is illegally established. The parties need to negotiate or seek intervention from a competent State agency to resolve the issue.
Pursuant to Point a, Clause 2, Article 15 of Decree 144/2021/ND-CP, the administrative penalty for individuals who cause destruction or intentionally damage the assets of individuals or organizations shall be a fine of 3 - 5 million VND.
In addition, confiscate exhibits and means of administrative violations and force restoration to the original state of the violation. Organizations with similar violations to individuals will be fined twice the above amount.
