Land dealings - advice please

[jai-dee]

My wife has come up with an intriguing idea to acquire

some land. Unfortunately I don't entirely understand how

these things work in Thailand and I wonder if those of you

who have experience in land dealings in Thailand can

enlighten me. Here is the extract from her letter. I have

also tried to clarify the matter over the phone but it only

got more confusing.

 

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I want to buy that farm close to villege. Mother of my mum

take the certificate of that land to borrow money from the

bank. This year it cost 110,000B next year maybe 150,000B.

That land have oner 4 person, about 29 rai. One person pay

about 30,000B. Include to pay fee in the officer.

 

If my arnt who have money she pay with me. If who don't have

I will give them borrow. But I keep that certificate and work

in her farm. So she cannot sell to anybody. I got intreat

from work in her farm. Untill she pay money back to me she

will get her farm back.

 

So if I have money to pay for the bank they sing my name and

give certificate to me. That land can make a lot of proffit

if the sell to somebody. But I reqest them we want that land

back. So they sell for me cheap the same money that borrow

include intreat 8 years. If they sell to another person

about 300,000 - 500,000B.

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The way I read this is: her grandmother borrowed some money

from the bank, using the land as security. The land in question

is rice growing land, close to the main road and about 4km

from a medium-size town in Isaan. According to some previous

discussions here 29 rai would be worth around 350k baht.

 

But there are 4 owners (her aunts) and my wife has a claim

on one quarter of the land, which is just over 7 rai. The last

figure she told me on the phone was 43,000B to get the

certificate for these 7 rai. This would presumably buy out

her grandmother's debt.

 

Now this is where I don't follow anymore. If she pays up

these 43,000B what does she get? Freehold title to the land?

Or just the lease? 7 rai or the entire 29 rai? Can the

grandmother later recover the land if she comes up with the

money she will now owe to my wife? Or does this transaction

cancel the debt? Is these 43,000B just annual loan repayment?

Can my wife then sell the land? Or just

cultivate it? Will she share the ownership with another aunt

who has money to buy her share?

 

Acquiring 7 rai for 43,000B seems a bargain to me. Why doesn't

grandmother simply sell (part of) the land and pay off her

loan? Or are my wife and her aunts simply being asked to pay

off the loan for the land that they are going to inherit

anyway?

 

I realise there is probably not enough information here

to provide straight answers. But can anyone suggest what

question I should ask? Like I said I tried already but

I'm not any wiser now.

[Guest]

find out first which kind of landtitle it has. some kind of land (sor por kor 401) cannot be legally bought and sold outside the immediate family. other land has no proper title which makes it a very unsafe bet.

according to what you said about the location the land might be too cheap, maybe there is some catch.

don't forget that at the moment there is another artificial land boom again, and those nice prospects of selling with a profit might not stand up to reality later on.

safest bet is to buy land to keep, to build up a farm. speculation especially in such a volatile time with primarily farmland is highly risky.