The Department of Land Administration (Ministry of Agriculture and Environment) has just responded to the reflection and recommendation of citizen D. T. N. T on the Information System for receiving and processing reflections and recommendations on legal normative documents of the Ministry of Justice.
Accordingly, citizens request to clarify the definition of arbitrarily changing land use purposes against regulations and based on what types of documents to determine incorrect land use purposes when sanctioning administrative violations?
The Department of Land Administration has the following opinions:
The Land Law stipulates that the principle of land use is "According to the land use purpose" (Clause 1, Article 5); land users have the obligation: "Use land for the right purpose, within the land plot boundaries, in accordance with regulations on the use of ground depth and aerial height, protect public works in the ground and comply with other relevant legal regulations".
The act of building houses on agricultural land without permission from competent State agencies to change land use purposes is a violation of the provisions of point b, clause 1, Article 121 of the Land Law, and must be considered for handling administrative violations according to the provisions of Articles 8 to 10 of Decree No. 123/2024/ND-CP dated October 4, 2024 of the Government stipulating penalties for administrative violations in the field of land and must apply remedial measures that are "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".
Clause 3, Article 139 of the Land Law stipulates the consideration and issuance of Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land for households and individuals using land with violations of land law before July 1, 2014 (including: land encroachment, land occupation or use of land for improper purposes that have been allocated land, leased land, and recognized land use rights by the State).
Clause 5, Article 139 of the Land Law stipulates that in cases where households and individuals using land violate land law from July 1, 2014 onwards, the State shall not issue Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land and handle them according to the provisions of law. The application of remedial measures "Forcing the restoration of the original state of the land before the violation, except for cases specified in Clause 3, Article 139 of the Land Law" for acts of using land for improper purposes specified in Articles 8 to 10 of Decree No. 123/2024/ND-CP is in accordance with the provisions of the Land Law; therefore, cases where households and individuals using land for improper purposes have been allocated land, leased land, and recognized land use rights by the State from July 1, 2014 onwards, must apply remedial measures "restoring the original state of the land before the violation".
The administrative sanction for acts of arbitrarily changing land use purposes without permission from competent State agencies is specified in Article 10 of Decree No. 123/2024/ND-CP dated October 4, 2024 of the Government stipulating administrative sanctions in the field of land. The change of land use purposes is specified in Article 116 of the 2024 Land Law and Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law stipulating the basis for changing land use purposes.
