As soon as VietTimes published the article “Hanoi residents ‘shocked’ as land use fees skyrocket under the new pricing table”, many readers inquired about whether their parents, who own garden land, could convert it into residential land, what procedures were required, and how much they would have to pay.
Regarding the issue of converting garden land to residential land, Mr. Nguyễn Thanh Hà, Chairman of SB LAW Firm, analyzes the conversion process and associated costs as follows:
First, Regarding the Conversion Process:
Currently, the law does not provide a specific definition of garden land. However, Decision No. 507/1999/QĐ-TCĐC provides the following guidance:
“Mixed garden land: This refers to the garden area attached to residential land within the premises of each household in residential areas, where annual crops are interspersed with perennial trees or where different types of perennial trees are planted together, making it impossible to separate and calculate the area for each type.”
Additionally, the Appendix on Land Use Purposes and Notation Rules issued with Circular No. 1990/2001/TT-TCĐC dated November 30, 2001, classifies garden land under agricultural land, denoted as “Vườn” (Garden). Therefore, garden land is considered agricultural land.
According to Article 9 of the Land Law 2024, land classification is as follows:
“2. Agricultural land includes the following types:
a) Land for annual crops, including land for rice cultivation and other annual crops;
b) Land for perennial crops;
[...]
3. Non-agricultural land includes the following types:
a) Residential land, including rural residential land and urban residential land;”
Thus, land users who wish to convert garden land to residential land must obtain permission from the competent state authority.
According to Clause 2, Article 123 of the Land Law 2024, the People’s Committee at the district level has the authority to approve the conversion of land use purposes for households and individuals after receiving the application and ensuring that the requested conversion aligns with the district’s land use plan.
According to Article 227 of the Land Law 2024, the procedure for converting land use purposes is as follows:
Step 1: Submit an application for land use conversion as required.
Step 2: The competent authority reviews the conditions for land use conversion. If the application is incomplete, the land user must supplement and resubmit it to the land management agency.
Step 3: Once a complete application is submitted, the land management agency prepares the necessary documents and submits them to the district-level People’s Committee for approval of the land use conversion.
Step 4: Pay the required land use fees, unless exempted.
Step 5: The application is forwarded to the local Land Registration Office/branch for updating, issuing, and revising land records and returning the certificate to the land user.
If both land use rights transfer and land use purpose conversion occur simultaneously, the registration for land use rights transfer will be conducted alongside the land use purpose conversion process.
Second, Fees Payable for Converting Garden Land to Residential Land
When converting garden land to residential land, land users must pay the following fees:
- Land Use Fee
According to Article 8 of Decree No. 103/2024/NĐ-CP on land use fees and land rent, the land use fee for conversion is calculated as follows:
Land Use Fee for Conversion
= Land use fee for the new land type after conversion
- Land use fee for the previous land type before conversion (if applicable)
- Certificate Issuance Fee
- Applicable Cases: This fee is required only if a new Land Use Rights Certificate (Red Book) is issued.
- Fee Amount: Varies by province, but generally does not exceed 100,000 VND per certificate issuance.
- Registration Fee (Lệ phí trước bạ)
According to Article 8 of Decree No. 10/2022/NĐ-CP, the registration fee is calculated as follows:
Registration Fee = (Land price in the official land price list × Area) × 0.5%
