DECREE

ON COMPENSATION, SUPPORT AND RESETTLEMENT WHEN LAND IS RECOVERED BY THE STATE

THE GOVERNMENT

Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;

Pursuant to the November 26, 2003 Land Law;

At the proposal of the Finance Minister,

DECREES:

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1.- Scope of regulation

1. This Decree provides for the compensation, support and resettlement when land is recovered by the State for defense and security purposes, for national interests, public interests and economic development purposes prescribed in Article 36 of the Government’s Decree No. 181/2004/ND-CP of October 29, 2004 on the implementation of the Land Law.

2. For projects using official development assistance (ODA), if the compensation, support and resettlement requests of the donors are different from the provisions of this Decree, before concluding international agreements, the agencies managing the investment projects must report such to the Prime Minister for consideration and decision.

Where the international agreements which Vietnam has signed or acceded to contain provisions different from those of this Decree, the provisions of such international agreements shall apply.

3. Cases not falling within the scope of application of this Decree:

a/ Population communities build or embellish works in service of the communities’ public interests with capital contributed by the people or supported by the State;

b/ Where land recovered by the State does not fall within the scope defined in Clause 1 of this Article.

Article 2.- Subjects of application

1. Domestic organizations, population communities, religious establishments, households and individuals, overseas Vietnamese, foreign organizations and individuals that are using land which is recovered by the State (hereinafter collectively referred to as persons who have land recovered).

2. Persons who have land recovered and suffer from damage of property attached to the recovered land shall receive land, property compensation,   supports as well as be arranged with resettlement according to the provisions of this Decree.

3. The State encourages persons having land, property situated within the land areas to be recovered for use for the purposes defined in Clause 1, Article 1 of this Decree to voluntarily donate or present part or whole of their land, property to the State.

Article 3.- Payment of compensation and support and resettlement money

1. The State shall organize the compensation, support, resettlement and ground clearance:

a/ For organizations which are assigned land by the State without land use levy  collection, compensation, support and resettlement money and funds for organizing the compensation, support and resettlement according to the provisions of this Decree shall be included in the projects’ investment capital;

b/ Organizations and individuals that are assigned land by the State with land use levy collection or are leased land by the State shall have to pay in advance compensation, support, resettlement money and funds for organizing the compensation, support and resettlement according to the provisions of this Decree and have such money and funds subtracted from the payable land use levies or land rents;

c/ Foreign organizations and individuals, overseas Vietnamese investing in Vietnam shall not have to pay compensation, support, resettlement money; where they have paid such money, they shall have the paid money amounts subtracted from the payable land use levies or land rents.

2. Compensation, support and resettlement expenses shall be determined as a separate item in the projects’ total investment capital.

Article 4.- Resettlement

When land users who have land recovered by the State under the provisions of this Decree must be relocated, they shall be resettled in one of the following forms:

1. Compensation with dwelling houses.

2. Compensation with new residential land.

3. Compensation with money for acquiring new residences.

Article 5.- Compensation, supports

Compensation, supports for land users who have land recovered by the State under the provisions of this Decree are prescribed as follows:

1. Compensation or supports for the whole land area recovered by the State.

2. Compensation or supports for the existing property attached to land and for expenses invested in the land recovered by the State.

3. Supports for relocation, supports for life stabilization, supports for job change  training and other supports for persons who have land recovered.

4. Supports for stabilization of production and life in the resettlement areas.

Chapter II

COMPENSATION FOR LAND

Article 6.- Compensation principles

1. If persons who have land recovered by the State meet all conditions prescribed in Article 8 of this Decree, they shall receive compensation; if they fail to meet all conditions for compensation, the People’s Committees of the provinces or centrally-run cities (hereinafter referred collectively to as provincial-level People’s Committees) shall consider and provide supports.

2. Persons who have land recovered shall be compensated with new land having the same use purpose; if there is no land for compensation, they shall receive  compensation equal to the land use right value at the time of issuance of the recovery decisions; in case of compensation with new land or houses, if there is any difference in value, such difference shall be paid in cash.

3. Where land users who have land recovered by the State receive compensation while they have not yet fulfilled their land-related financial obligations towards the State according to law provisions, the money amounts for fulfilling such financial obligations shall be subtracted from the compensation, support money for payment to the State budget.

Article 7.- Cases where land is recovered without compensation

1. Land users fail to meet all conditions prescribed in Article 8 of this Decree.

2. Organizations which are assigned land by the State without land use levy collection or with land use levy collection but have paid levies which originate from the State budget; which are leased land by the State and have paid annual land rents; and which have been transferred the land use rights and have paid therefor money originating from the State budget.

3. The recovered land falls into one of the cases prescribed in Clauses 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12, Article 38 of the 2003 Land Law.

For the recovered land prescribed in this Clause, the disposal of land use levies, land rents and property built on such land shall comply with the provisions of Clause 3 of Article 34, and Article 35 of the Government’s Decree No. 181/2004/ND-CP of October 29, 2004 on the implementation of the Land Law.

4. Agricultural land used by the population communities.

5. Agricultural land used by communes, wards or townships for public purposes.

6. Persons who have land recovered by the State meet one of the conditions prescribed in Article 8 of this Decree but fall into one of the cases prescribed in Clauses 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this Article.

Article 8.- Conditions for compensation for land

Persons who have land recovered by the State shall receive compensation if they meet one of the following conditions:

1. Having the land use right certificates according to the provisions of land legislation.

2. Having the land assignment decisions of competent State bodies according to the provisions of land legislation.

3. Households, individuals that are using land in a stable manner, have certifications of the People’s Committees of communes, wards or townships (hereinafter collectively referred to as commune-level People’s Committees) that such land is dispute-free, and have one of the following papers:

a/ Land use right papers issued before October 15, 1993 by competent agencies in the process of implementing the land policies of the State of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of the Republic of South Vietnam, and the State of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam;

b/ Provisional land use right certificates issued by competent State bodies or named in the land registries or cadastral registries;

c/ Lawful papers on the inheritance, donation of the land use rights or property attached to land; papers on the hand-over of gratitude houses attached to land;

d/ Papers on the transfer of land use rights, purchase and sale of dwelling houses attached to residential land, made before October 15, 1993, with the certifications of the commune-level People’s Committees that the land was used before October 15, 1993;

e/ Papers on liquidation, sale of dwelling houses, purchase of dwelling houses attached to residential land according to law provisions;

f/ Papers issued by competent bodies of the former regimes to land users.

4. Households, individuals that are using land and have one of the papers stated in Clause 3 of this Article which bear the names of other persons and are enclosed with the land use right transfer papers signed by the involved parties, but have not yet completed the land use right transfer procedures by the time of issuance of the land recovery decisions, and now have certifications of the commune-level People’s Committees that such land is dispute-free.

5. Households, individuals that are using land, have local permanent residence registrations and are directly engaged in agricultural production, forestry, aquaculture or salt making in mountainous areas or islands with difficult socio-economic conditions, and now have certifications of the commune-level People’s Committees of the places where the land exists that they are using land in a dispute-free and stable manner.

6. Households, individuals that are using land without the papers prescribed in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article but has used such land stably since before October 15, 1993 and now have certifications of the commune-level People’s Committees that such land is dispute-free.

7. Households, individuals that are allowed to use land under the executed judgments or decisions of people’s courts, judgment execution decisions of judgment-executing agencies or land dispute settlement decisions of competent State bodies.

8. Households, individuals that use land without the papers prescribed in Clauses 1, 2 and 3 of this Article but have used such land from October 15, 1993 to the time of issuance of the land recovery decisions during which they have not violated any plannings; have not encroached upon the corridors for protection of works publicly announced and demarcated by competent authorities; which is not illegally encroached land, and have certifications of the commune-level People’s Committees of the places where exists the to be-recovered land that such land is dispute-free.

9. Households, individuals that are using land which was covered under the State’s management decisions in the process of implementing the State’s land policies but has, in fact, not yet been managed by the State and has been used by such households or individuals.

10. Population communities that are using land on which exist works being communal houses, temples, pagodas, shrines, ancestral worshiping halls or family line worshiping temples and have certifications of the commune-level People’s Committees of the places where exists the to be-recovered land that such land is used commonly for the communities and dispute-free.

11. Organizations using land in the following cases:

a/ Land has been assigned by the State with land use levy collection but the paid land use levies do not originate from the State budget;

b/ Land has been transferred from lawful land users but the money paid therefor does not originate from the State budget;

c/ Land being used has a lawful origin from households or individuals.   

Article 9.- Land prices for compensation calculation and remaining expenses invested in land

1. Land prices for compensation calculation are land prices set for the purpose for which the land in question is being used at the time of issuance of land recovery decisions and publicized by the provincial-level People’s Committees in accordance with the Government’s regulations; compensation shall not be made according to the price of land set for the new purpose to be shifted to.

2. Cases of delayed compensation are prescribed as follows:

a/ If delays in compensation are caused by agencies or organizations responsible for compensation and the land prices at the time of compensation publicized by the provincial-level People’s Committees are higher than those at the time of issuance of the recovery decisions, compensation shall be made at the land prices at the time of payment of compensation money; if the land prices at the time of compensation are lower than those at the time of issuance of the recovery decisions, compensation shall be made at the land prices at the time of issuance of the recovery decisions;

b/ For delays in compensation caused by persons who have land recovered, if the land prices at the time of compensation are lower than those at the time of issuance of the recovery decisions, compensation shall be made at the land prices at the time of compensation; if the land prices at the time of compensation are higher than those at the time of issuance of the recovery decisions, compensation shall be made at the land prices at the time of issuance of the recovery decisions.

3. Remaining expenses invested in land mean expenses actually invested by land users in their land for use for the permitted use purposes, including: remaining prepaid land rents; expenses for ground fill-up and some other directly related expenses with grounds evidencing that they have been invested in land, which, by the time of recovery of land by the State, have not yet been recovered.

Article 10.- Compensation, supports for agricultural land of households, individuals

1. Households, individuals using agricultural land to be recovered by the State shall be compensated with land with the same use purpose; if there is no land for compensation, they shall receive monetary compensation calculated at the price of land having the same use purpose as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 9 of this Decree.

2. For agricultural land lying intermixedly with residential areas, and garden and pond land lying adjacent to residential areas, apart from compensation at the price of agricultural land having the same use purpose, monetary supports are also provided; the prices for calculation of supports shall be equal to between 20% and 50% of the prices of adjacent residential land; the specific support levels shall be decided by the provincial-level People’s Committees to suit the local realities.

3. Where compensation is made in the form of assignment of new land priced lower than the price of the recovered land, apart from being assigned new land, persons who have land recovered shall also receive monetary compensation equal to the difference value; where compensation is made in the form of assignment of new land priced higher than the price of the recovered land, compensation shall be equal to the land use right value of the recovered land.

4. For households, individuals using agricultural land in excess of the prescribed limit, when their land is recovered, compensation shall be made as follows:

a/ Where the land areas in excess of the prescribed limit are those inherited, donated or transferred from other persons, are reclaimed under the plannings approved by competent State bodies, compensation shall be paid therefor;

b/ For land areas in excess of the prescribed limit, which do not fall into the cases prescribed at Point a of this Clause, compensation shall only be paid for remaining expenses invested in land, but not for such land areas.

5. For households, individuals currently using land assigned by State-owned agricultural or forestry farms on a contractual basis for use for agricultural, forestry, aquaculture purposes (excluding land under special-use forests and protective forests), if their land is recovered by the State, they shall receive compensation only for remaining expenses invested in land, but not for the land, and supports according to the following provisions:

a/ Supports for households, individuals that receive land on a contractual basis and are public employees or workers of State-owned agricultural or forestry farms, who are working or have retired, have stopped working for loss of working capacity or have quit their jobs and enjoyed allowances and are directly engaged in agricultural production or forestry; households, individuals that receive land on a contractual basis and are directly engaged in agricultural production as their major source of livelihood.

The highest level of monetary support shall be equal to the price of land to be compensated, calculated on the basis of the actually recovered land area which shall, however, not exceed the local agricultural land assignment limits; the provincial-level People’s Committees shall decide on the specific support levels to suit the local realities.

b/ Where households, individuals receive land on a contractual basis but are other than the subjects specified at Point a of this Clause, they shall only receive compensation for remaining expenses invested in land.

c/ When agricultural land commonly used by State-owned agricultural or forestry farms is recovered by the State, compensation shall only be paid for remaining expenses invested in land if they do not originate from the State budget, but not for the land.

6. For households, individuals that use agricultural land to be recovered by the State but do not meet the conditions for compensation prescribed in Article 8 of this Decree, if they are directly engaged in agricultural production as their main source of livelihood, the People’s Committees of competent levels shall consider and assign them new land, as suitable to the local conditions.

7. Where the recovered land is agricultural land belonging to the public land fund of a commune, ward or township, compensation shall not be paid for such land but the renters of such land shall receive compensation for remaining expenses invested in land.

Article 11.- Compensation for non-agricultural land (excluding residential land) of households, individuals

1. For land which is used as ground for building non-agricultural production and business establishments of households or individuals and originates from residential land already assigned for use in a stable and permanent manner or meets all conditions for being granted the land use right certificates,  compensation shall be paid at the residential land price when such land recovered by the State.

2. Households and individuals using non-agricultural land for a definite term, which they have been transferred, inherited, donated, or assigned by the State with land use levy collection shall receive compensation at the non-agricultural land price; where they use land leased by the State or commune-level People’s Committees according to their competence, they shall receive compensation for remaining expenses invested in land when such land is recovered by the State.

Article 12.- Compensation for agricultural, non-agricultural land of organizations

1. For organizations that are using agricultural and/or non-agricultural land which has been assigned by the State, and have paid land use levies therefor, or which has been transferred from lawful land users while the paid land use levies therefor or money paid for the land use right transfer do not originate from the State budget, they shall receive compensation when such land is recovered by the State

2. For organizations that are using land leased or assigned by the State and do not have to pay land use levies or have paid land use levies which originate from the State budget, they shall not receive compensation for such land when it is recovered by the State but shall receive compensation for remaining expenses invested in land if such expenses do not originate from the State budget.

3. Establishments of religious organizations that are using land in a stable manner, which has been assigned by the State without land use levy collection or has been leased by the State, shall receive compensation for remaining expenses invested in land but not for such land.

Article 13.- Compensation for non-agricultural land being residential land

1. If users of residential land must be relocated when their land is recovered by the State, they shall receive compensation with new residential land, dwelling houses in resettlement areas or monetary compensation if they so request, as suitable to the local realities.

2. The new residential land area compensated for persons who have land recovered shall not exceed the local residential land assignment limits; where the recovered residential land area is larger than the residential land assignment limit, the provincial-level People’s Committees shall base themselves on the local land funds and the numbers of members of the households whose land is recovered to consider and decide to assign additional residential land to the persons who have land recovered provided that the total compensated land area must not exceed the recovered land area. 

Article 14.- Handling of some specific cases of residential land

1. After their residential land is recovered by the State, if users still have some remaining residential land area, which is smaller than the residential land assignment limit prescribed by the localities, competent State bodies must guide them to use such remaining land area according to the detailed urban construction planning and the rural population spot planning; if the persons who have land recovered request the State to recover also the remaining land area, competent State bodies shall recover such land for use according to the detailed urban construction planning and the rural population spot planning.

2. When their residential land is recovered by the State, if users are not entitled to compensation with land and have no other residences, the competent People’s Committees shall consider and allow them to purchase or lease dwelling houses or assign new residential land to them; the persons who are leased houses or purchase houses must pay money for house purchase or house rents, pay land use levies according to regulations.

Article 15.- Compensation for residential land for land use right co-users

1. For organizations, households or individuals that are using common land and have the rights to co-use such land, if their land is recovered by the State, they shall each receive compensations based on the land areas under their respective use rights; if there are no papers determining land areas under the exclusive use rights of any organizations, households or individuals, common compensation shall be paid to the land use right co-users.

2. The provincial-level People’s Committees shall guide the division of monetary compensation for residential land of condominiums to land use right co-users in their localities.

Article 16.- Compensation for land lying within safety corridors when building public works with safety protection corridors

1. When land lying within safety protection corridors is recovered by the State for the building of public works with safety protection corridors, compensation or supports shall be paid according to the provisions of this Decree.

2. Where land lying with safety corridors is not recovered by the State, compensation shall be paid for damage caused by the restricted usability of such land and for damage of property attached thereto as follows:

a/ If the land use purpose is changed, monetary compensation equal to the land use right value difference shall be paid;

b/ If the land use purpose is not changed but the land usability is restricted, monetary compensation equal to the actual damage level shall be paid. The level of compensation for actual damage shall be prescribed by the provincial-level People’s Committees on a case-by-case basis;

c/ If dwelling houses, other construction works and other property lying within the safety corridors are cleared up, compensation shall be pad according to the actual damage level.

Article 17.- Handling of cases where organizations have their land recovered without compensation

For organizations having their land recovered without compensation prescribed in Clause 2, Article 12 of this Decree, if they must be relocated, they shall receive monetary supports under investment projects approved by competent authorities; the maximum support level shall not exceed the level of compensation for recovered land paid by the organizations or individuals that are assigned or leased land by the State.

Chapter III

COMPENSATION FOR PROPERTY