Is it correct to reduce the residential land area when issuing a new Certificate?

Mr. Nguyen Thanh's father has a piece of land left by his father, which was granted a Land Use Rights Certificate in 1996 by Hoa Binh province, with an area of 2,000 m² of residential land. After the merger, the land now belongs to Hoa Lac commune, Hanoi city.

Currently, Mr. Thanh's father wants to divide the land among his 5 children. However, when completing the procedures to separate the plot and issue a new Certificate, the state agency only recognized 400 square meters of residential land, and the remaining 1,600 square meters were converted to land for perennial crops. Meanwhile, in reality, his family has built a house on an area of over 800 square meters.

Mr. Thanh asked, if the State only recognizes 400 square meters of residential land, will the remaining construction area of more than 400 square meters of his family be considered illegal construction and be forcibly demolished?

Is the reduction of residential land area from 2,000 m² to 400 m² in accordance with the law? If so, what support policies does the State have to ensure the rights of the people, avoiding the situation where families have to spend a huge amount of money to convert the land use purpose from perennial crop cultivation to residential land?

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment responded to this issue as follows:

Your question is a specific case, and needs to be answered based on archived records and local regulations. Therefore, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has no basis to answer specifically. The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment has a general opinion on the following principles:

Clause 3, Article 256 of the 2024 Land Law stipulates:

"3. Certificates of land use rights, Certificates of house ownership and land use rights, Certificates of house ownership, Certificates of construction work ownership, Certificates of land use rights, house ownership and other assets attached to land that have been granted in accordance with the provisions of the law on land, the law on housing, the law on construction before the effective date of this Law are still legally valid and do not need to be changed to Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land; in case of need, they can be changed to Certificates of land use rights and ownership of assets attached to land in accordance with the provisions of this Law".

Based on the above provisions, if your family's Land Use Rights Certificate was issued in 1996 in accordance with the law, it is still legally valid.

According to the provisions of Point c, Clause 3, Article 152 of the Land Law, in case the competent authority issuing the Certificate in Article 136 of this Law discovers that the issued Certificate does not cover the correct area, it shall re-examine, notify the land user of the reason and decide to revoke the issued Certificate that is not in accordance with the regulations. The re-issuance of the Certificate after revocation shall be implemented according to the provisions of Clause 7, Article 152 of the Land Law.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environment informs you and studies the implementation. In case you do not agree with the results of the administrative procedure settlement by the local competent authority, you have the right to complain and sue the administrative decision and administrative act on land management according to the provisions of Article 237 of the Land Law.

Source: https://vtv.vn/giam-dien-tich-dat-o-khi-cap-doi-giay-chung-nhan-co-dung-quy-dinh-100251111153237717.htm