Cases of land expropriation due to violations of land law in Vietnam

Cases of land expropriation due to violations of land law in Vietnam

Hi, I'm a newly appointed civil servant to be the cadastral office. Can you tell me, currently, according to the provisions of the law on land, what are cases of land expropriation due to violations of land law? This issue is very related to my professional work, I hope to hear from you soon.

Answer: Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 64 of the 2013 Land Law, which stipulates that cases of land expropriation due to violations of the land law include:

a/ Land is not used for the purposes for which land has been allocated, leased, or land use rights have been recognized by the State and the land users, after having been sanctioned administratively for using land for improper purposes, still continue committing the violation;

b/ Land users intentionally damage land;

c/ Land was allocated or leased to wrong subjects or ultra vires;

Cases considered as improper land allocation include:

+ The head of a residential area allocates land or the People's Committee of communes at the commune level does not allocate land within his/her competence according to the provisions of the law on land over time;

+ Organizations that have been allocated or leased land by the State for their own use, but have distributed and arranged them themselves to officials, employees, and cooperative members for use as houses and other purposes.

Note: Land that is improperly allocated before July 1, 2014 may be issued with a certificate of land use rights (not revoked).

d/ Land that is ineligible for transfer or donation as prescribed in this Law is transfered or donated; According to Article 191 of the 2013 Land Law, cases in which land use rights are not transferred or donated include:

- Organizations, households, individuals, communities, religious institutions, overseas Vietnamese and foreign-invested enterprises may not receive transfer or donation of land use rights in case the transfer or donation of land use rights is prohibited by law.

- Economic organizations may not acquừe the rights to use paddy land, protection forest land or special-use forest land from households or individuals, except the case of change in land use purpose in accordance with the land use master plan and plans approved by competent state agencies.

- Households and individuals not directly engaged in agricultural production may not receive the transfer or donation of paddy land use rights.

- Households and individuals may not receive the transfer or donation of residential land use rights and agricultural land use rights with regard to the land located in the areas of protection forests, strictly protected zones and ecological rehabilitation zones in special-use forests if they do not live in such protection forests or special-use forests.

e/ Land that is allocated by the State for management is encroached or occupied;

f/ Land that is ineligible for transfer of land use rights as prescribed by this Law is encroached or occupied due to the irresponsibility of land users;

g/ Land users who fail to fulfill obligations to the State and have been administratively sanctioned for such violation but do not comply;

In Clause 13, Article 2 of Decree No. 01/2017/ND-CP stipulates: Land expropriation against a land user's non-fulfillment of obligations to the government pursuant to Point g, Section 1, Article 64 of the Land Law shall proceed if the land user does not or has not fulfilled the payment of the land use fee or land rent as per the laws and then oppose competent government authorities' coercion of financial obligations.

h/ Land for annual crops that is not used for 12 consecutive months; land for perennial plants that is not used for 18 consecutive months; land for afforestation that is not used for 24 consecutive months;

i/ Land that is allocated or leased for implementing investment projects is not used within 12 consecutive months, or the land use schedule is 24 months late compared with the schedule stated in the project documents since the hand-over in the field. In case of not putting the land into use, the land use term may be extended 24 months and the investors shall pay a sum of money equivalent to the total land use levy or land rental for the delayed period. If the investors still fail to put the land into use when the extended time is over, the State shall recover the land without compensation for land and land-attached assets, except due to force majeure.

According to Clause 1, Article 15 of Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP, force majeure circumstances which directly affect the land use schedule of investment projects allocated or leased land by the State under Point i, Clause 1, Article 64 of the Land Law include:

a/ Natural disasters, environmental disasters;

b/ Fires and epidemics;

c/ Wars;

d/ Other Force majeure circumstances as decided by the Prime Minister.

Above is the content of our advice on the issue that you have questions about.

If I am not satisfied with the compensation price when the State expropriates the land in Vietnam, can I make a complaint?

I live on Ton Thang street, Phu My town, Phu Tan district, An Giang province. The State recovers land for road construction. The price of the state is 1.5 million, the actual market price is 8-10 million, the survey price and the compensation agreement is 3.6 million. I don't think this price is appropriate and want to make a complaint?

Answer: According to the provisions of Article 74 of the Land Law 2013, principles of compensation upon land expropriation by the State:

1. Land users who meet the conditions prescribed in Article 75 of this Law upon land expropriation by the State shall be compensated.

2. The compensation must be made in the form of allocating new land with the same land use purpose with the expropriated land. If there is no land available for compensation, the land users shall receive compensation in money calculated according to the specific land price of the type of expropriated land which is decided by the provincial-level People’s Committee at the time of the recovery decision.

3. The compensation upon land expropriation by the State must be made in a democratic, impartial, equal, public, timely and lawful manner.

Thus, according to the above regulations in Vietnam, when the State expropriates land for road construction, the compensation amount shall be decided by the People's Committee of the province at the time the decision on land expropriation is issued.

According to the information you provided, the state price according to the land price list according to the decision of the People's Committee of An Giang province is 1.5 million, the agreed price of compensation is 3.6 million. In this case, you want to agree on an additional land price for compensation, but he still has to get the consent of the Chairman of the People's Committee of An Giang province.

Is there compensation for plants on land in case the land expropriation by the State in Vietnam?

My family has planted a dragon fruit garden with about 200 plants, and this land area has recently been part of the annual land use plan of Ham Thuan Nam district, so it will be acquired soon to implement the project. Can I ask for compensation in addition to land compensation, will my house be compensated for 200 dragon fruits now? Thank you!

Answer: Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 90 of the 2013 Land Law, in case the land expropriation by the State causes damage to plants, the compensation shall be made according to the following provisions:

a/ For annual crops, the compensation must be equal to the output value of the harvest. The output value of the harvest is the highest yield of the harvests in the preceding 3 years of the local main crop and the average price at the time of land expropriation;

b/ For perennial crops, the compensation must be equal to the current value of the planting area calculated in local prices at the time of the land expropriation, excluding the value of land use rights;

c/ For plants which have not been harvested yet but can be brought to another location, the transportation cost and the actual damage due to the transportation and re-planting must be compensated;

d/ For planted forests funded by the state budget and for natural forests allocated to organizations, households and individuals for planting, management, growing or protection, the value of the actual damage must be compensated. The compensation amount must be divided to those who manage, grow and protect the forests in accordance with the law on forest protection and development.

Thus, based on the above regulations in Vietnam, when the state expropriates your land and causes damage to 200 dragon fruits as you information, they must compensate according to regulations.

Best regards!