Cases managed by the land offices: 
protection of agricultural land

Quantitative protection of agricultural land
Issuing permit for utilizing agricultural land to other purposes
Utilization of agricultural land to other purposes without permit
Rate of the land protection contribution

Quantitative protection of agricultural land

The agricultural land, the arable land is the most important and richest natural resource of Hungary, the preservation of which, and maintaining its multipurpose functionality is a significant national interest. Land protection refers to the quantitative protection of agricultural land, while soil protection means qualitative protection of the agricultural areas. The Act No. CXXIX/2007 contains provisions about quantitative and qualitative protection of arable land taken in narrower meaning (areas without forest).

The land protection procedure is an official procedure that is carried out in connection with the enforcement of quantitative protection of agricultural land and issuing permit to utilize agricultural land for other purposes. The land protection procedure is carried out by the land office; in other words: the possible preservation of the quantity of agricultural areas is the duty of land offices. The land office enforces the standpoints of land protection as a decisive authority and as a professional authority in procedures managed by other authorities.

The land office enforces the requirements as a professional authority in the following types of cases and in line with the following rules of law:

• Annex No. 3 of the Governmental Decree 263/2006 (XII.20.) in the procedure of issuing permit for road construction,
  
• Annex No. 3 of the Governmental Decree 267/2006 (XII. 20.) in the procedure of issuing mining permit,
  
• Annex No. 4 of the Governmental Decree 347/2006 (XII.23.)in the procedure of issuing permit for preliminary examination of the environment, of impact study of the environment and the uniform environmental use,
  
• Annex No. 2 of the Governmental Decree 76/2009 (IV. 8.) in official procedures of spatial planning

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Issuing permit for utilizing agricultural land to other purposes

The following are considered as utilization of agricultural area to other purposes:

• a temporary or final deviation from the obligation of utilization, the result of which is that the agricultural land becomes unsuitable to agricultural purposes further on,
  
• the agricultural land will be used for urban development,
  
• afforestation of farmsteads or afforestation as parts of road, railway or other technological establishment, not regulated by the act on forests, forest protection and silviculture.

Agricultural area can be used to other purposes with the land office permit only. The land office as arbitral authority carries out an independent procedure while issuing the permit to utilize the land to purposes other than agriculture. The permit should be in hand before starting the utilization of the agricultural land to other purposes. The land office is obliged to organize an on-site inspection before making the decision about the permit.

The provision of law originating in the enforcement of public interest related to the quantitative protection of agricultural land is that the justified need should be limited on the area as small as possible. One of the most important duties of land protection is that the accelerating urbanization and the development of infrastructure implying hunger for agricultural area should not affect those agricultural areas of best quality. 

Therefore, a basic requirement provided by the law is that agricultural area can only be used to other purposes in exceptional cases, and first of all by taking out from the production the agricultural areas of lower quality. The law defines the criteria of the agricultural land of average quality.

Because of its conditions and special destination, the conversion of agricultural land into urban area is a special case of utilizing agricultural area to other purposes. As a result of the conversion, the destination of the former rural land used to agricultural purposes will change, as the competent local government has allocated it to other land utilization or spatial development purposes. This is the basic reason that the law considers the conversion of agricultural land into urban area as a case of utilizing an agricultural area to other purposes. An application aiming at conversion of agricultural land into urban area can only be submitted by the local government. 

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Utilization of agricultural land to other purposes without permit

The cases when the utilization of agricultural area to other purposes started without having received the permit or the lessee (land user) does not follow the instructions indicated in the permit are considered as utilization of agricultural area to other purposes without permit.

If it turns out that the utilization of agricultural area to other purposes without permit has started earlier than 10 years, the land office cannot initiate procedure, or if the procedure has already begun, and it could be proved that the 10-year deadline expired, then the procedure should be terminated. The lessee or the owner should prove the expiration of the 10-year deadline. 

According to the main rule, in the case of utilizing agricultural land to other purposes without permit, the restitution of the agricultural area into its original status is to be ordered. The land office will fix a deadline for the restitution of the original status.

In the procedures of utilizing agricultural land to other purposes, the land office issues a decision on the sum of the land protection contribution to be paid – as the utilization of the agricultural land to other purposes is an action already realized – and also imposes a land protection fine as a sanction.

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Rate of the land protection contribution

The land protection contribution is a legally determined compensation in favour of the State for the permitted utilization of the agricultural land to other purposes (or conversion into urban area). Beyond the aims of the licensing procedure, the differentiated rate of the land protection contribution also motivates the land owners and lessees to land-sparing utilization. But the sum of the land protection contribution cannot be less than HUF 10 000.

The land office obliges the owner/lessee to pay the contribution – except the conversion of the land into urban area. In this latter case, the local government is obliged to payment. No exemption can be given from the payment of this contribution due to the State budget; neither payment in instalments nor other allowances can be granted. The contribution not paid by deadline is taken as a public debt to be collected.