LEGAL PROBLEMS OF HOME OWNERSHIP IN THAILAND

[hhfarang]

"FOREIGNERS: LEGAL PROBLEMS OF HOME OWNERSHIP IN THAILAND
Bangkok Post May 3, 2009

Part I: Is the home in your name?
By: James Finch and Nilobon Tangprasit


This is the first in a series about the legal problems of foreigners who now own homes in Thailand. If you have one or more of these problems, you can and should correct them - before they reach some final stage of the legal system.

Vast numbers of foreigners who have bought homes in Thailand have done so with serious defects in title or ownership. One factor contributing to these numbers is the fact that many first-time home buyers in Thailand let the developer or seller do all the documentation and filing of the ownership documents without consulting with somebody who understands what must be done to protect the buyer's interests. And they sign documents in Thai, even though they don't understand them.

One important issue is whether the home is in your name or not. If you are living in a condo, you should find out whether it is in your name and if you own it on a freehold basis. If you have a house, you should first find out if the house is in your name, even if somebody else owns the land or the land is leased to you.

Foreigners can own houses, even if the houses are on land they don't own.

This is important because most of the value of your home purchase is in the house, not the land, and you should control the house.

How can you find out whether you own the house? Any lawyer can do a search and tell you. If it's not registered in your name, and you bought it from someone, you should take steps now to have it registered in your name. The registration is done by giving an official 30-day notice along with filing copies of the building permit, the certificate of completion, the blue or yellow book and other documentation.

Who owns the land on which your house sits? This may surprise you. The answer lies at the land office, not necessarily in documents you may have signed.

In Thailand, all ownership of land must be registered at the government land office with jurisdiction over the area where the house is. Likewise, all leases longer than three years are not enforceable beyond three years unless they are registered at the land office.

Many foreigners we meet produce elaborate leases, corporate documents and deeds that they think protect their home ownership. Often when we check, nothing has been filed at the land office and they have no ownership or lease at all. What this means is that the real owner of record at the land office can sell the home to someone else. If this real owner dies, his or her heirs will take the home, not the foreigner. If your land ownership or long lease has not been filed at the land office, it should be, right away.

Numerous foreigners, for convenience, put land in the names of Thai spouses or friends. If the relationships don't work out the foreigner may lose everything. This can be protected against by having the Thai party long lease the property back to the foreigner. Alternatively, in the case the Thai party is your spouse, you can use a vehicle of Thai law called a right of usufruct, which gives something like a life estate to the you. There are other ways, as well.

If your land is owned by someone else, even though that someone has held it for some time, you should protect your interests in it now, by asking that person to give you a lease or usufruct or other form of protection."

[crazy88]

Please can any professional correct me if I am wrong .

The house/condo is owned by the person whos name is in the blue or yellow book .Tabien Baan

The land is owned by the person or entity whos name is on the back of the land deed .

Crazy 88

[sunseasand]

Please can any professional correct me if I am wrong .

The house/condo is owned by the person whos name is in the blue or yellow book .Tabien Baan

The land is owned by the person or entity whos name is on the back of the land deed .

Crazy 88

Many get confused with this. The 'Blue' book does not prove ownership of the property. A 'Blue' book is a registration of adress and registration of who lives in the house, i.e. someone renting a house can obtain a 'Blue' book.

To own the house (but not the land) you have to inform the land office who should have a record (building permit) of the house on the land. If there is no building permit you can't own the house.

[JimmyGreaves]

Not sure if the building permit alone says you own the house as the norm is for your contracter to obtain the building permit on your behalf, so me thinks.

[sunseasand]

What I was trying to say is you need to have a building permit to register that the house is owned by a separate person from the landowner. The land office will register the owner of the house is different from the owner of the land. If this is not already done you need to obtain the original building permit and give 30 days notice at the Tessaban before it can be registered at the land office.

Unfortunately many houses are built without a building permit.

[Super Joe]

Right, for a new build bought off a developer:
The building permit can be in your personal name, the developers, the land owners, your builders, your Thai partners etc, doesn't matter.
To supplement this you have a contract that you paid for the building of the house or bought the house from a.n.other. You will also have payment records, receipts etc. These are recognised by the land office as your proof of ownership of house, Tabien Bahn is not proof.
Ideally upon initial registration of the land (lease or transfer to Thai partner), or anytime thereafter, you present the above at the land office, fill out the required forms and then post 30 days public notice for anyone to object. 30 days later go back to land office, with landowner, pay the taxes and house is registered in your personal name.

You do not need to be in the country, a solicitor can do on your behalf with power of attorney.
You should always have it written into your contract that the house will be registered seperately from the land.

SJ

[Brit Jim]

Im not in the business so please correct me if Im WRONG.

For people with new builds who have leased the land or put in Thai name then I believe registration of the house should nt be a problem as long as you have the building permit and receipts to prove the transcation.

I am curious to know IF the building permit is done in the developers name or Thai name IF that person has to be present at the land Dept when one applies to register the house and the 30 day notice is given??

The main problem are the Thai companies!!! Love or hate them.

When the land is owned by the Thai Company and the address of the Co collates to your home address then technically the co own / Lease everything on the land and there is no need to register the house??

Also any visit to the Land dept could attract unwanted attention into your company. Not ideal. Overall failing to register the house is not a good position to be in. You have to weigh everything up and make your own decision.

It would be interesting to see how many people have registered their houses. I think the results would be quite LOW. For the majority that I ve met they only seem bothered about the chanote and not the structures on the Land.

[JimmyGreaves]

Right, for a new build bought off a developer:
The building permit can be in your personal name, the developers, the land owners, your builders, your Thai partners etc, doesn't matter.
To supplement this you have a contract that you paid for the building of the house or bought the house from a.n.other. You will also have payment records, receipts etc. These are recognised by the land office as your proof of ownership of house, Tabien Bahn is not proof.
Ideally upon initial registration of the land (lease or transfer to Thai partner), or anytime thereafter, you present the above at the land office, fill out the required forms and then post 30 days public notice for anyone to object. 30 days later go back to land office, with landowner, pay the taxes and house is registered in your personal name.

You do not need to be in the country, a solicitor can do on your behalf with power of attorney.
You should always have it written into your contract that the house will be registered seperately from the land.

SJ

SJ

What taxes are you having to pay here?

If you are dealing with a house built on company land then a different routine is surely needed as lippy and I would like to know. Lippy if the company address is not the land address then what?

[sunseasand]

The Thai law (as I understand it) states that any structure built on the land is automatically owned by the landowner as default. It's only if you want a different name owning the 'immovable' object (i.e. house) that you really need to register it, in which case, SJs post is quite clear on what needs done.

That said, some people who already 'owns' the chanote via a Thai partner or company still might want to register the house as a separate entity (from the company or Thai Partner), but a warning - the exercise of doing this will be costly. My advice to anyone owning the land through a company would be to stay clear of the Land Office and forget about registering the house if its not already registered, however, some people may wish to pay the money and feel more secure. It would be a good thing to make sure you always have access to the original building permit and if possible certificate of completion, should you wish to register the house in the future, and as SJ says, keep the original sales agreement contract and any receipts.

Another thing to bear in mind is the land office covers a much wider area than the Hua Hin Tessaban which only deals with property close to the centre of Hua Hin. Many new built houses lie outwith the area of the Hua Hin Tessaban's responsibility, so instead of posting 30 days notice at the Tessaban, you may have to post it at the Tumbon (village place) with the "Head Man of The Tumbon"

[STEVE G]

Right, for a new build bought off a developer:
The building permit can be in your personal name, the developers, the land owners, your builders, your Thai partners etc, doesn't matter.
To supplement this you have a contract that you paid for the building of the house or bought the house from a.n.other. You will also have payment records, receipts etc. These are recognised by the land office as your proof of ownership of house, Tabien Bahn is not proof.
Ideally upon initial registration of the land (lease or transfer to Thai partner), or anytime thereafter, you present the above at the land office, fill out the required forms and then post 30 days public notice for anyone to object. 30 days later go back to land office, with landowner, pay the taxes and house is registered in your personal name.

You do not need to be in the country, a solicitor can do on your behalf with power of attorney.
You should always have it written into your contract that the house will be registered seperately from the land.

SJ

SJ, sooner or later I’m planning on building on some land that I bought in my partners name a few years ago.
Are you saying that I can put a building permit into my name even if I don’t have a residence visa of any type? (I always come in on a tourist visa.)

[Super Joe]

Yes Steve you can, you can even be a shareholder and director of a Thai Ltd co without residing here, or have any visa status.
The building permit in your name is not as important a document to show proof of ownership as a contract saying you are having a house built and all the payments/receipts being kept.
In car going BKK at moments so not easy to type properly.

SJ

[splitlid]

Yes Steve you can, you can even be a shareholder and director of a Thai Ltd co without residing here, or have any visa status.

SJ

yes thats true, BUT you need to have a place of residence, ie. a lease on that land or another property, to be able to get the build permit.

have tried many times to get build permits in owners name, only to be told that they must have a registered address.
ummmmmmm, catch 22 situation

[STEVE G]

Thank you SJ, that’s interesting, I’ll do that when the time comes.
As to the point that splitlid makes, I suppose I'll have to get registered at my present rented house which I've never had to bother doing before.

[loverboy44]

Yes Steve you can, you can even be a shareholder and director of a Thai Ltd co without residing here, or have any visa status.
The building permit in your name is not as important a document to show proof of ownership as a contract saying you are having a house built and all the payments/receipts being kept.
In car going BKK at moments so not easy to type properly.

Yes you can be a shareholder or a director without residing here but you can be a shareholder without having a work permitt when you are here but if you are a director, you will be a managing director and a managing director is????????... working otherwise he would only be a shareholder and if you are working you need a ??????. Right, work permitt!
Other people might see it different but if you ask honest lawyers in Bkk they say the same.

[STEVE G]

To be honest I don’t have any need of a limited company, I misread the point splitlid was making and I was just thinking of putting the building into my own name if that is easy.
I’ve been with my partner for quite a few years now and I don’t have any issue with the land remaining in her name.