What are the sanctions for building temporary houses on land for cultivation of perennial trees in Vietnam?

1. Regulations on land for cultivation of perennial trees in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 10 of Vietnam's Land Law 2013, land for cultivation of perennial trees is classified as agricultural land.

The purposes of land for cultivation of perennial trees are specified in Appendix 01 issued together with Circular 27/2018/TT-BTNMT on statistics, land inventory and mapping of the current status of land use as follows:

land for cultivation of perennial trees is used for the purpose of planting trees that are planted once, grown and harvested for many years, including:

- Perennial industrial plant: A perennial plant for products used as raw materials for industrial production or that must be processed to be used, such as rubber trees, cocoa, coffee, tea, cashews, pepper, coconut…

- Perennial fruit trees: Perennial trees for products that are fruits for eating fresh or in combination with processing, such as pomelo, orange, rambutan, plum, apricot, mangosteen, longan, durian, litchi, mango...

- Perennial medicinal plants are perennial plants for medicinal products such as anise, cinnamon, bean curd, camphor, ginseng...

- Other perennial plants are perennial trees for timber, shade, and landscaping (such as cypress, eucalyptus, mother of pearl, acacia, milkweed, hibiscus, sesame buds, ...) ; including the case of mixed planting of many different types of perennial plants or the intermingling of perennials and annuals.

2. Is it possible to build temporary construction on land for cultivation of perennial trees?

According to Article 6 of the Land Law 2013, the land use principles in Vietnam are as follows:

Article 6. Land use principles

1. Compliance with land use master plans and plans, and use for proper purposes.

2. Economy, effectiveness, environmental protection, and causing no harm to the legitimate interests of adjacent land users.

3. Land users may exercise their rights and perform their obligations within the land use term in accordance with this Law and other relevant laws.

Thus, land users must comply with land use principles for the right purposes. Building temporary houses on land for cultivation of perennial trees is not the right land use purpose.

It can be seen that temporary houses are built on non-agricultural land for the purpose of constructing main works, used for organizing events or other activities according to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 131 of the Law on Construction 2014 (amended and supplemented 2020) of Vietnam. On the other hand, land for cultivation of perennial trees is used for the purpose of planting trees that are planted once, grown, and harvested for many years.

Thus, in case you and your wife want to build a house on that land, it is necessary to apply for permission from the competent state agency to convert the land for cultivation of perennial trees to residential land.

3. Penalties for building temporary houses on land for cultivation of perennial trees in Vietnam?

According to the provisions of Clauses 2 and 3, Article 11 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP on administrative sanctions in the field of land, people who build temporary houses on land for cultivation of perennial trees will be fined. as follows:

Article 11. Use of agricultural land other than paddy land, land for protection forests, reserve forests or production forest for other purposes without permission of regulatory authorities as specified in Points b and d Clause 1 Article 57 of Land Law

Conversion of land for other annual crops, perennial plants, aquaculture, salt production or other agriculture to non-agricultural land in rural areas shall be sanctioned as follows:

a) A fine ranging from VND 3,000,000 to VND 5,000,000 shall be imposed if area of land illegally repurposed is less than 0.02 hectare;

b) A fine ranging from VND 5,000,000 to VND 8.000.000 shall be imposed if area of land illegally repurposed is from 0.02 hectare to less than 0.05 hectare;

c) A fine ranging from VND 8,000,000 to VND 15,000,000 shall be imposed if area of land illegally repurposed is from 0.05 hectare to less than 0,1 hectare;

d) A fine ranging from VND 15,000,000 to VND 30,000,000 shall be imposed if area of land illegally repurposed is from 0.1 hectare to less than 0.5 hectare;

dd) A fine ranging from VND 30,000,000 to VND 50,000,000 shall be imposed if area of land illegally repurposed is from 0.5 hectare to less than 01 hectare;

e) A fine ranging from VND 50,000,000 to VND 100,000,000 shall be imposed if area of land illegally repurposed is from 01 hectare to less than 03 hectare;

g) A fine ranging from VND 100,000,000 to VND 200,000,000 shall be imposed if area of land illegally repurposed is 03 hectare or more.

Conversion of land for other annual crops, perennial plants, aquaculture, salt production or other agriculture to non-agricultural land in urban areas shall be sanctioned for twice as much as the amounts specified in Clause 2 of this Article.

Thus, the act of building temporary houses on land planted with perennial crops will be administratively sanctioned according to the above provisions. In addition, the person must also take remedial action to restore the land to its original condition before the violation.

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