REQUIREMENTS, AUTHORITY AND PROCEDURES OF THE LICENSE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SEPARATE HOUSES

 [1] LEGAL BASIS

      – Law on Construction No. 50/2014/QH13 dated June 18,2014;

     – Decree No. 59/2015/NĐ-CP  dated June 18,2015 of the Government on construction project management;

     – Circular No. 15/2016/TT-BXD dated June 30,2016 of the Minsitry of Construction  on guiding issuance of construction permit;

   – Decision No. 45/2018 / QD-UBND dated December 27, 2018 of the People’s Committee of Da Nang City on granting construction permits in Da Nang city.

[2]  CASES FOR OBTAINING CONSTRUCTION PERMIT

        Project owners have to apply for the construction permit for most new construction works. However, there are still a number of works exempted from construction permits prescribed in Clause 2, Article 89 of the Law on Construction 2014, including:

      – Works of state secrets, works constructed under emergency orders and works located in the territories of two or more provincial-level administrative units;

       –  Works of construction investment projects in which investment is decided by the Prime Minister, ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies or chairman of People’s Committees at different levels;

       – Temporary construction works to serve the construction of main works;

    – Works constructed in lines outside urban areas which conform to construction plans approved by competent state agencies or approved by competent state agencies on direction of the line of works;

     –  Construction works under projects of industrial parks, export processing zones or hi- tech parks with the 1/500-scale  detail plan already approved by competent state agencies and appraised by construction designs according to regulations of this law;

     –  Houses under urban development projects or housing development projects with under 7 stories and a total floor area of under 500 m2 and detailed 1/500-scale plans already approved by competent state agencies;

       – Works used for repair, renovating or installing of construction’s interior equipment, not affecting the force-bearing structure and the use of the construction, as well as the environment and work safety.

    – Repair, renovation works that change the exterior architecture not adjacent to urban roads with architectural management requirements;

       – Technical infrastructure works in rural areas for which only construction investment economic-technical reports are required and in areas without approved detailed construction plans on rural residential points;

       – Construction works in rural areas without approved urban development plans and detailed construction plans; separate houses in rural areas, except for separate houses built in conservation zones or historical and cultural relics;

       Although project owners of the above constructions do not need to apply for the construction permit, the investor must inform the time of commencement of construction enclosed with the construction design documents to the construction management agency at the People’s Committee of the district or the Department of Construction depends on the type of project.

 [3] LICENSING REQUIREMENTS

       “Separate house means a work constructed within a residential land area under the use rights of a household or an individual in accordance with law.” – (According to Clause 29, Article 3 of the construction law 2014)

* Conditions for designing and building of separate houses (According to Clause 3,7, Article 79 of the construction law 2014)

       a) Construction designs of separate houses must comply with applied standards, technical regulations, regulations of the law on the use of construction materials, meet requirements on utilities and applied technologies (if any);ensure force-bearing safety, safety in use, artistic appearance, environmental protection, response to climate change, fire and explosion prevention and fighting, and other safety conditions.

       b) Households may design by themselves the separate houses with a total construction floor area of under 250 m2 or with fewer than three stories or a height of under 12 meters in accordance with approved construction master plans, and shall take responsibility before law for design quality, the impacts of construction works on the environment and the safety of neighboring works.

* Conditions for the grant of construction permits for separate houses in urban areas include (According to Article 93 of the construction law 2014;  Point b, Clause 1, Article 39 of Law on architecture )

       – Correspond to purposes of use of land according to the approved land-use planning and regulations on management of architecture enforced by competent state authorities;

       –  Ensure sfety for the works and neighboring works and meeting requirements on environmental protection and fire and explosion prevention and fighting; Ensure safety for technical infrastructure and protection corridors of irrigation works, dikes, energy works, traffic works, cultural heritage zones, historical-cultural relics; ensure safe distance to flammable, explosive and toxic works and important works related to national defense and security .

* General conditions for the grant of construction permits with definite terms (According to Clause 1, Article 94 of the construction law 2014)

        – Being located in the areas with construction subdivision plannings approved and announced by competent state agencies but not yet implemented, for which there are no land recovery decisions of competent state agencies;

       – Being suitable to the size of works prescribed by provincial-level People’s Committees for each area and the existence duration of works according to plans for implementation of approved construction zoning plans;

       – Project owners undertake to demolish the works by themselves at the expiration of the existence duration stated in the construction permits with definite terms; if failing to dismantle the works by themselves, the dismantlement shall be coerced and project owners shall bear all dismantlement costs.

[4] PROCEDURES OF THE  LICENSE FOR CONSTRUCTION OF SEPARATE HOUSES

* Application for the license –( According to Article 11of Circular No. 15/2016/TT-BXD on guiding issuance of construction permit)

      – The application form for construction permit;

      – The copy or the file containing the photograph of the original of one of the documents proving the land use right in accordance with the land law;

       – The copies or files containing photographs of two sets of original technical design drawings or construction design drawings which have been approved as referred to in the law provisions on construction, each set consists of:

       + A drawing of the construction ground on the land lot, scale of 1/50 – 1/500, enclosed with the work location diagram;

       + A drawing of the floors, main vertical sections and cross sections of the work at a scale of 1/50 – 1/200;

       – Drawing of foundation with scale of 1/50 – 1/200 enclosed with the diagram showing the connection between the work and drainage system, sewage treatment system, water supply, power supply and communications systems with the information of the scale of 1/50-1/200;

       – With regard to a works with basement in a densely constructed area, apart from documents regulated above , the application for construction permit shall also include the copy or the file containing the photograph of original written approval by the investor for foundation construction method in order to ensure the safety of the work and adjacent works.

       – For construction works with adjacent works, there must be a copy or a file containing a copy of the investor’s commitment to ensure the safety of the adjacent work.

*Authority to license –( According to Article 17 of circular No. 15/2016/TT-BXD)

       District-level People’s Committees shall grant permits to build separate houses in urban centers, including separate houses in areas already recognized by the State to preserve in the administrative boundaries under their respective management.

*Procedures of the  license for construction of separate houses (According to Article 102 of the construction law 2014)

       – The project owner shall submit 2 sets of dossier of application for a construction permit  to the agency competent to grant construction permits;

       – The agency competent to grant construction permits shall receive the dossier, check the dossier and write a receipt if the dossier is valid as prescribed or guide the project owner to complete the dossier if it fails to meet prescribed requirements;

       – Within 7 working days after receiving a dossier, the agency competent to grant construction permits shall organize appraisal of the dossier and conduct field inspection. During appraisal, the competent agency shall determine which documents are still missing, improper or untrue to reality and inform them once in writing to the project owner for supplementation and completion of the dossier. If the supplemented dossier still fails to meet the notified requirements, within 5 working days, the competent agency shall issue a written notice to the project owner guiding the latter to further improve the dossier. The project owner shall supplement and complete the dossier according to the written notice. If the supplemented dossier still fails to satisfy the notified contents, within 3 working days, the competent agency shall notify the project owner of the reason for refusal to grant a permit;

       – Based on the size, nature, type of works and place of construction of works in the dossier of application for construction permit, the agency competent to grant construction permits shall have to compare the conditions as prescribed this Law and send documents to state management agencies for opinions on construction-related fields in accordance with law;

       – Within 12 days, for works or separate houses, after receiving a dossier, consulted state management agencies shall issue written replies on the contents under their respective management functions. After the above time limit, if they give no opinions, they shall be considered having agreed and shall take responsibility for the contents under their respective management functions; in pursuance to current regulations, the agency competent to grant construction permits shall decide to grant construction permits;

        –  From the date of receiving a valid dossier, the agency competent to grant construction permits shall examine the dossier for the grant of a permit within 30 days in the case of grant of construction permits, including also construction permits with definite terms, adjusted construction permits and relocation permits, and within 15 days, for separate houses. At the end of the time limit for the grant of a construction permit, if the agency competent to grant construction permits needs more time for examination, it shall notify in writing the reason to the project owner and at the same time report it to the direct management agency for consideration and direction, but within 10 days after the expiration of the time limit prescribed in this Clause.

Legal expert: Hoang Tran Ngoc Anh

FDVN Law Firm