Vietnam: Can LURC be issued for farmland? Is it possible to convert farmland to residential land?

Thank you for your question. Lawnet would like to answer your question as follows

1. What is farmland?

According to Article 10 of the Land Law 2013 of Vietnam, based on the purpose of use, land is divided into 3 groups:

- Group of agricultural land.

- Group of non-agricultural land.

- Group of unused land.

In particular, the Group of agricultural land includes the following types of land:

- Land for cultivation of annual crops, including paddy land and land for cultivation of other annual crops;

- Land for cultivation of perennial trees;

- Land for production forests;

- Land for protection forests;

- Land for special-use forests;

- Land for aquaculture;

- Land for salt production;

- Other agricultural land, including land used to build greenhouses and other building types for cultivation purpose, including fanning not directly on the land, or to build breeding facilities for cattle, poultry and other animals as permitted by law; land for cultivation, breeding and aquaculture for the purpose of learning, research or experimentation; land for planting and nursing seedlings and breeders, and land for growing flowers and ornamental plants.

The current law does not have a clear definition of farmland. However, farmland is often referred to as land allocated by the State to people for the purpose of growing rice or growing annual agricultural crops. This land fund is allocated by the State to people so that they can use it to create agricultural products.

2. Can LURC be issued for farmland?

Field land is still entitled to LURC, current regulations on the issuance of red books to individuals and households using land without a LURC are as follows:

- Use of land before the effective date of the Land Law 2013 (July 1, 2014);

- Having a permanent household registration in the locality where the land needs to be registered;

- Land under production for growing rice or annual agricultural crops;

- Being certified by the commune-level People's Committee as a stable, dispute-free land user;

Thus, if individuals and households meet all the conditions, they will be granted a LURC and do not have to pay land use fees.

3. Application for issuance of LURC for farmland

To apply for issuance of LURC for farmland, households and individuals need to prepare 01 set of documents as follows:

- An application for registration and issuance of a LURC, made according to Form No. 04a/DK;

- Copies of documents for fulfillment of financial obligations such as receipts of tax payment, land use levy...; papers related to the exemption or reduction of financial obligations on land and properties attached to land (if any);

- One of the papers specified in Article 100 of the Land Law;

This, the time limit for issuance of LURC is not more than 30 days from the date of receipt of valid application. However, in fact, the time to issue the first LURC will be longer based on the appraisal and measurement time of the state agency.

4. Can farmland converted to residential land?

Article 57 of the Land Law 2013 of Vietnam stipulates the change of land use purpose as follows:

- Cases in which change of land use purpose requires permission by competent state agencies:

+ Change of land for rice cultivation to land for perennial crops, forests, aquaculture or salt production;

+ Change of land for other annual crops to land for saltwater aquaculture, salt production or aquaculture in ponds, lakes or marshlands;

+ Change of land for special-use forests, protection forests or production forests to land for other purposes within the type of agricultural land;

+ Change of agricultural land to non-agricultural land;

+ Change of non-agricultural land which is allocated by the State without land use levy to non-agricultural land which is allocated by the State with land use levy, or to leased land;

+ Change of non-agricultural land which is not residential land to residential land;

+ Change of land for construction of non-business facilities or land for public purposes involving commercial purpose, or non-agricultural land for business and production purposes which is not land for trading or services to land for trading or services; change of land for trading or services or land for construction of non-commercial facilities to land for non-agricultural production establishments.

-  When changing the land use purpose under Clause 1 of this Article, land users shall fulfill financial obligations as prescribed by law. The land use regime and the rights and obligations of land users are those applicable to the type of the land used for the new purpose.

Article 134 of the Land Law 2013 stipulates that rice cultivation land is as follows:

- The State shall develop policies to protect land for rice cultivation and to limit the change from the purpose of rice cultivation to other non-agricultural purposes. In case it is necessary to change a certain area for rice cultivation to another purpose, the State shall take measures to supplement such land area or improve the efficiency in using land for rice cultivation.

The State shall adopt policies to support and invest in the construction of infrastructure and application of modern science and technologies into the areas planned for high-productivity and high-quality rice cultivation.

- Those who use land for rice cultivation shall improve and increase the fertility of the soil. They may not use that land for planting perennial trees, afforestation, aquaculture and salt production or for non-agricultural purposes without permission by competent state agencies.

- People who are allocated or leased land by the State for non-agricultural purposes and that land is currently used for wet rice cultivation, shall pay a certain amount of money under the Government’s regulations for the State to supplement the lost area of wet rice cultivation land or improve efficiency in using land for rice cultivation.

Thus, farmland can still be converted to residential use if meeting the conditions prescribed by the law and being considered and approved by a competent state agency.

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