IS IT ILLEGAL TO BUILD A HOUSE ON FOREST LAND?

Legal situation:

My family lives in a rural mountainous area, where we engage in agriculture and forestry. After I got married, my parents allowed me to build a 120 square meter house right next to their house so that my wife and I could live separately. The house has been completed, and my family has been living there steadily. About a year later, my wife gave birth to a baby. Now, a local official has come to my house and claimed that my family has illegally built a house on forest land and requested that the house be demolished soon. Otherwise, the district will inspect and audit, and penalties will be imposed. Although it is forest land, it is my parents' land, and I have built a house on this land. Will I be fined?

FDVN’s Opinion:

One of the prohibited acts stipulated in Clause 3, Article 12 of the Land Law 2013 is the misuse of land. Article 10 of the Land Law 2013 stipulates that houses can only be built on residential land. In addition, Clause 1, Article 170 of the Land Law 2013 stipulates that one of the obligations of a land user is to use the land for its intended purpose.

Moreover, according to Article 57 of the Land Law 2013, in cases of converting agricultural land to non-agricultural land, permission must be obtained from the competent state agency, and the land user must fulfill the financial obligations as prescribed by law.

Based on the information you provided, you have constructed a house on agricultural land (forest land) without the permission of the competent state agency. The aforementioned act constitutes illegal land use conversion, with an illegally converted land area of approximately 120 square meters. You may be subject to administrative penalties under Point a, Clause 2, Clause 3, Article 10 of Decree 91/2019/ND-CP, specifically a fine ranging from 3,000,000 VND to 5,000,000 VND if the area of land converted for illegal purposes is less than 0.02 hectares in the case of converting special-use forest land, protective forest land, or production forest land to non-agricultural land. In case of converting natural special-use forest land, natural protective forest land, or natural production forest land to other purposes, the form and level of penalties shall be twice the corresponding level of penalties prescribed for each case of conversion as mentioned above.

In addition, the violator may also be subject to remedial measures such as being forced to restore the land to its original state before the violation and being forced to return any illegal profits obtained from the violation.

According to Lawyer Pham Thao - FDVN Law Firm

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