Lawyer Chau Duy Nguyen - An Dang Law Office (under the Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) - said that building individual houses is a popular and essential need, especially in areas that are rapidly urbanizing. However, if people do not carefully research the regulations before construction, it will be easy to violate and subject to strict sanctions from the law.
"Building a house is not simply a personal matter. People need to pay attention to planning, construction standards, legal responsibility, and most importantly, whether they need to apply for a license or not, said lawyer Nguyen.
Lawyer Nguyen said that Article 89 of the 2014 Construction Law stipulates that some cases are exempted from construction permits, including: Individual houses under 7 floors in urban area construction investment projects, houses with approved 1/500 detailed planning; Individual houses in rural areas (scale below 7 floors), not subject to urban planning, functional areas or detailed construction planning and Individual houses at level IV in mountainous areas, islands, and areas without construction planning. However, individual houses located in conservation areas and historical - cultural relic sites still have to apply for a construction permit, whether in rural or urban areas.
According to Clause 7, Article 16 of Decree 16/2022/ND-CP, the act of constructing a project without a license in cases where required by law will be subject to the following penalties: Fines from 60 to 80 million VND, for individual houses built without permission; Fines from 80 to 100 million VND if violated at the conservation area, historical - cultural relic; Fines from 120 to 140 million VND for works subject to a feasibility study report or economic - technical report on construction investment.
In addition to the fine, violators may also be forced to suspend construction, dismantle all violating works and remedy the consequences, said Lawyer Nguyen.
Lawyer Chau Duy Nguyen also shared that a notable new point is that according to Decree 140/2025/ND-CP of the Government, the People's Committees at the commune level are more decentralized in managing construction activities in the locality. Specifically, have the right to grant construction permits for individual houses and level III and level IV works in the area; Receive notices of start-up, check the status and coordinate inspection of the construction process; Closely monitor construction to promptly handle violations right from the first stage.
"The People's Committee at the commune level no longer only acts as an intermediary in transferring documents as before, but now plays the role of direct management. This helps strengthen supervision and prevent violations early, especially in rapidly developing rural areas, said lawyer Nguyen.
