Adjacent land is the land area adjacent to residential land in a plot of land with many different types of land. Illustration: Phan Anh

What is adjacent land?

Currently, the law in general and the land law in particular do not stipulate or explain what is adjacent land. However, based on practice and the term "adjacent land" can be understood in the most common sense as follows: Adjacent land is the land area adjacent to residential land in a plot of land with many different types of land.

Legally, adjacent land has no specific boundaries, at the same time, adjacent land is usually non-agricultural land that is not residential land and other types of agricultural land such as land for growing annual crops, land for growing perennial crops, etc. adjacent to the residential land area in the same plot of land.

When is adjacent land converted to residential land?

Point b and Point d, Clause 1, Article 121 of the 2024 Land Law stipulate as follows: Cases of land use purpose conversion that must be permitted by competent state agencies include:

- Conversion of agricultural land to non-agricultural land;

- Conversion of non-agricultural land that is not residential land to residential land.

Thus, all types of land that want to be converted to residential land must be permitted by the competent State agency.

In other words, for land users, only when there is a decision allowing the conversion of land use purpose from the district level (district, county, town, city under province, city under centrally-run city) will they be allowed to convert to residential land (to build houses...).

In addition, the competent State agency that allows the conversion of land use purpose does not arbitrarily decide to allow the conversion of purpose to residential land but must be based on certain grounds.

The basis for allowing the conversion of land use purposes is clearly stated in Clause 5, Article 116 of the 2014 Land Law as follows: The basis for allowing the conversion of agricultural land use purposes in residential areas, agricultural land in the same plot of land with residential land to residential land or the conversion of non-agricultural land use purposes that are not residential land to residential land for households and individuals is the district-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning according to the provisions of the law on urban planning approved by a competent authority.

The People's Committee at the district level decides on the permission to convert land use purposes based on the district-level land use planning or general planning or zoning planning according to the provisions of the law on urban planning approved by a competent authority.

And according to Clause 2, Article 57 of the 2024 Land Law, when converting land use purposes, land users must perform: Financial obligations according to the provisions of law; Land use regime, rights and obligations of land users are applied according to land type after conversion of land use purpose.

Documents and procedures for converting to residential land

Pursuant to Clause 3, Article 44 of Decree 102/2024/ND-CP, the order and procedures for permitting the change of land use purpose in the case of land allocation without land use fee collection are as follows:

Step 1: Submitting the application

The person applying for the change of land use purpose shall submit an application for the change of land use purpose according to Form No. 02c in the Appendix issued with Decree 102/2024/ND-CP to the One-Stop Department according to the regulations of the Provincial People's Committee on receiving the application and returning the results of handling administrative procedures at the provincial, district and commune levels;

Step 2: Handling

The agency with the function of land management shall assign the Land Registration Office to provide information on the land database and make an extract of the cadastral map of the land plot in cases where the application is complete and valid.

At the same time, instruct the applicant to supplement the cadastral measurement of the land plot for the land plot in the place where there is no cadastral map according to regulations or to re-do the dossier or supplement the dossier and resubmit it to the competent land management agency in case the dossier is incomplete or invalid; review and check the dossier; conduct a field inspection;

Next, the competent land management agency completes the dossier and submits it to the People's Committee at the competent level to issue a decision allowing the change of land use purpose.

The time for implementing the procedures for changing land use purpose shall not exceed 20 days.