Building permits for private houses: when needed, documents and steps

This content is for reference and is not legal advice. Rules may change and differ by locality; for a specific case, ask the competent authority or a lawyer. Updated 24 October 2026.

A private house (a townhouse or villa built on land belonging to a household or individual) is a type of building that many owners build or renovate themselves. Building without a permit can lead to fines, a demolition order and trouble when selling or borrowing from a bank.

1. Legal basis

Construction Law No. 135/2025/QH15 was passed by the National Assembly on 10 December 2025 and takes effect from 1 July 2026; according to one source, clauses 2 and 3 of Article 43 (permit exemption) take effect earlier, from 1 January 2026. From 1 January 2026 to the end of 30 June 2026, permit exemption applied under the 2014 Construction Law (legal news source). This article is written under the 2025 Law; if your building began construction before the transition date, ask the permitting authority.

2. When exempt, when a permit is required

Under clause 2 of Article 43 of the 2025 Construction Law (summarised from Nha Dau Tu newspaper), a private house under 7 floors with total floor area under 500 m² that falls into one of 8 groups is exempt from a building permit. The exemption does not apply if the building is in a functional zone or urban development zone under the city's general plan, an area with an architectural management regulation, an economic zone, a national tourist area, or an area built under a commune's general plan (the list of excluded areas comes from the article and the original text has not been checked). A household's or individual's private house is exempt from the commencement notice procedure.

Case	Handling (for reference)
Private house under 7 floors, floor area under 500 m², outside excluded areas	May be exempt from a permit
Private house in an excluded area (functional zone, urban development zone, area with an architectural management regulation, etc.)	Needs checking, likely requires a permit
House of 7 floors or more, or floor area of 500 m² or more	Not in the exempt group above, needs checking
Building in an area with approved planning that has not yet been carried out	May be granted a time-limited permit (legal news source)

Even if exempt from a permit, the building must still be on lawful residential land, in line with planning and standards.

3. Conditions for granting a permit for a private house (summary)

1. Under Article 44 of the 2025 Construction Law (summarised from a legal news source), a private house must conform to the land use purpose under land law and to planning, except where a time-limited permit is granted. You should also check: conformity with planning, the red line and building line, and the permitted density and height (see how to look up planning).
2. Have lawful land use rights, matching the land use purpose (if it is not yet residential land, see change of land use purpose).
3. Ensure building safety, fire prevention and the environment as required.
4. For a building with a design, drawings are needed, prepared by a qualified unit or an individual holding a practising certificate depending on scale.

4. Documents usually needed

Document	Note
Application for a building permit	On the prescribed form
Land use right certificate or valid documents	Copy, or original for checking
Design drawings (floor plan, elevation, section, foundation)	According to the scale of the building
Personal documents of the owner	Citizen ID / passport
Undertaking to ensure the safety of neighbouring buildings	When building right next to other houses or with a basement

5. Step-by-step process

1. Check the planning and permit conditions where the land is.
2. Prepare design drawings suited to the scale.
3. Submit the file at the one-stop desk of the local permitting authority.
4. The authority checks the file and the site if needed.
5. Receive the permit and give the commencement notice as required, then build exactly as permitted.

Processing times follow current regulations; ask the authority where the land is for the actual time.

6. Consequences of building without a permit or contrary to the permit

• Administrative penalty, and possibly an order to adjust or demolish the part that departs from the permit.
• Difficulty completing as-built registration and registering assets attached to land on the certificate.
• Difficulty transferring ownership or taking a mortgage loan when selling or needing capital.
• Risk when buying a house built without a permit: the buyer may bear the cost of remedying it.

7. For buyers of built houses

When buying a ready-built townhouse or villa, ask to see the building permit and the as-built drawings, and check the number of floors and actual area (see checking a project's legal status). For townhouses in a project, the developer obtains permits per project; also see taking over the home and checking the area.

The pages below are all newspapers or legal news sites, not original legal texts; article and clause numbers come from these pages and must be checked against the original text before being relied on.

• Construction Law No. 135/2025/QH15 (passed 10 December 2025, effective 1 July 2026; clause 2 of Article 43 on permit exemption, Article 44 on permit conditions) — Nha Dau Tu Newspaper, Khi giấy phép xây dựng không còn là cửa ải với người dân, opened 24 October 2026 (a news article, not the verbatim provisions).
• Thu Vien Phap Luat — Nhà ở riêng lẻ được miễn giấy phép xây dựng từ 01/01/2026 and Điều kiện cấp giấy phép xây dựng nhà ở riêng lẻ năm 2026, seen only in search results 24 October 2026, opening returned 403.
• Introductory material on the basic content of the Construction Law (Ministry of Construction, moc.gov.vn) — could not be opened because of a server certificate error.