The Art of Agricultural Land Donation: Unveiling the Secrets to a Seamless Process

The conditions and procedures for donating agricultural land are very important information, but not everyone knows them. Therefore, today we will explore these issues with you in the following article.

1Conditions for Transfer of Agricultural Land

Regarding the conditions for the transfer of the right to use agricultural land, Land Law 2013 (Land Law) has regulations in Clause 1, Clause 3, Article 188:

• Land users must have a Certificate of Land Use Rights.
• Land must be free from disputes.
• Land use rights must not be seized to ensure the execution of judgments.
• The land user must still be within the land use term.
• The transfer of land use rights must be registered with the land registration agency and takes effect from the time of registration in the land register.

Certificate of Land Use Rights

In addition, there are cases where the Law restricts or prohibits the transfer of agricultural land. Specifically, according to Clauses 3 and 4, Article 191 of the Land Law, the following cases are not allowed to receive land transfer rights:

• Households and individuals not directly engaged in agricultural production are not allowed to receive the transfer or donation of the right to use rice land.
• Households and individuals are not allowed to receive the transfer or donation of the right to use agricultural land, land for housing, land in the protective forest area, in the strict protection sub-zone, and the ecological recovery sub-zone of the special-use forest, if they do not live in the protective forest or special-use forest area.

Protective Forest

According to Article 130 of the Land Law and detailed regulations in Article 44 of Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP, the limit on the transfer of the right to use land for annual and perennial crops and production forests of each household and individual for agricultural purposes is applied to the following forms of transfer:

• Land for annual crops: Not exceeding 30 hectares for provinces and centrally-run cities in the Southeast region and the Mekong Delta; Not exceeding 20 hectares for other provinces and centrally-run cities.
• Land for perennial crops: Not exceeding 100 hectares for communes, wards, and towns in the deltas; Not exceeding 300 hectares for communes, wards, and towns in the midlands and mountainous areas.
• Land for production forests, which are planted forests: Not exceeding 150 hectares for communes, wards, and towns in the deltas; Not exceeding 300 hectares for communes, wards, and towns in the midlands and mountainous areas.

Mekong Delta

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2Procedure for Transfer of Agricultural Land

The procedure for the transfer of agricultural land includes the following steps:

Step 1: The land user submits a set of documents to realize the right to transfer. If the land user only has the right to part of the land lot, the measurement and separation of that area from the land lot must be performed by the Land Registration Office before submitting the application.

Land Registration Office

Accordingly, the transferee shall submit a dossier for registration of land use right changes, change of name and transfer of ownership at the Land Registration Office under the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of the district where the land is located after the contract for transfer of land use right is signed and certified by a notary public organization.

The dossier includes:

For the transferor:

• 02 copies of the household registration book
• 02 copies of the ID card of the transferor
• 02 copies of the marriage registration certificate for married persons or the certificate of marital status for unmarried persons
• Certificate of Land Use Rights.

For the transferee:

• 02 copies of the household registration book
• 02 copies of the transferee’s ID card
• 02 copies of the marriage registration certificate for married persons or the certificate of marital status for unmarried persons.

Step 2: The Land Registration Office will inspect the dossier, and if it meets the prescribed conditions, it will perform the following tasks:

• Send cadastral information to the tax authority to determine and notify the financial obligations for cases where financial obligations must be fulfilled as prescribed.
• Confirm the changes in the issued Certificate according to the regulations of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

In case a Certificate of Land Use Right must be issued, the Land Registration Office shall establish a dossier and submit it to the competent authority for the issuance of the Certificate of Land Use Right to the land user.

The Land Registration Office inspects the dossier upon receipt of a complete set of documents

Step 3: The Land Registration Office shall make corrections and update changes in the cadastral records and the land database; deliver the Certificate to the land user or send it to the People’s Committee of the commune-level administrative unit for delivery if the dossier was submitted at that level.

Finally, the Land Registration Office corrects and updates changes in the cadastral records and the land database

According to Point b, Clause 2, Article 61, Decree No. 43/2014/ND-CP, the time limit for performing administrative procedures for registration and issuance of the Certificate of Land Use Right to the transferee of the land use right is no more than 30 days.

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The above is important information about the conditions and procedures for donating agricultural land that we would like to share with you. We hope that this knowledge will be helpful to you and those around you in the future.