Building a House in Thailand

[jasmine]

[color:"red"] Property taxes? Assessments? That's a new one on me. Any taxes, payments, or fees that we have paid in the village have been minimal.

 

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You mean you never heard of it? ::

 

The taxes are paid and people who have not paid will be paying very soon. When I built an apartment in my mother's lot, the tax doubled.

 

With this government getting all lands documented, you bet your sweet self, the main purpose was for tax.

 

Jasmine

[SingaporeSteve]

MightyMouse said:

Regarding property tax: Does Thailand assess the property tax on a new home based on the cost of building the home or is it inspected and assessed for what they believe it is worth?

 

 

Property tax on sale/transfer is based on govt land values and standard prices per square metre of buildings. Moves are there to amend this to reflect actual selling price, however as its difficult to track exactly what is the true selling price (i.e this being such a cash based society), they continue to use standard rates which in most areas of interest to farang are below market value.

 

Cheers

[SingaporeSteve]

CondomKing said:

We are approved for a construction loan. The bank wanted to see the foundation and the "frame" of the house before giving out any money. I am not a co-signer on the loan.

 

The bank has been around to the build site and my wife is also dealing with the bank's insurance agent who's job it is to take pictures of the construction so far and give his approval to release the funds. That's all in place.

 

The problem is that now the bank wants me to sign papers that the house belongs to my wife alone, I guess. It's only because she is married to a foreigner, and I have no problem with that. They wont accept a fax, I have to show up in person.

 

I already know that Thai business practices in general are archaic and it is always a slow moving process. Not to tell us that I would have to be present before the funds become available is just plain stupid, but really not surprising.

 

We have good enough credit to get whatever building supplies we need until I can arrive in Thailand at Christmas time and show up at the bank. Right now the builder is busy with the roof and that should give him plenty to do for a week or so.

 

Dont forget that period between Christmas and early January will be very quiet on your site. Most building workers take a long holiday over this period even though buddists dont really celebrate Christmas but new year is a washout.

 

Cheers

[Guest]

If you have a well, how far away is the septic tank and leech field?

[CondomKing]

SingaporeSteve said:

Dont forget that period between Christmas and early January will be very quiet on your site. Most building workers take a long holiday over this period even though buddists dont really celebrate Christmas but new year is a washout.

Cheers

 

Well, now that you mention it...About a week ago we were discussing specific travel plans and since I'll be in the village from Dec 26 until Jan 3 I suggested that we host a New Year's Day Party for the family, friends and the construction crew.

 

We decided that we will barbeque a couple of pigs and load up on Chang Beer and also offer unlimited supplies of rice whiskey my from brother-in-law's still.

 

Mrs. CK asked the builder what he thought of the idea and he offered to go out and pick up a 55 gallon drum to cut for a BBQ grill. He said his guys are up for the party and looking forward to it.

 

None of the guys come from right around the village. I don't know how far away they live but it's somewhere in the area, some needed to be replaced a few weeks ago to go home and "do with the rice". They have built themselves temporary housing on an empty piece of land owned by one of my wife's uncles and many have their wives or g/f's stay with them. Fortunately, this land is right in between the new house construction and recent purchase where the family is staying while the new house is being built.

 

I don't know exactly what will happen but I'm planning on watching the work progress until New Year's Eve and resume again on Jan 3. On the 1st and 2nd I guess I'll be hanging out with a bunch a really drunk and/or hung over family members and construction workers.

[CondomKing]

jasmine said:

You mean you never heard of it? ::

 

The taxes are paid and people who have not paid will be paying very soon. When I built an apartment in my mother's lot, the tax doubled.

 

With this government getting all lands documented, you bet your sweet self, the main purpose was for tax.

 

Jasmine

 

I have never heard of yearly tax assessment paid to the local government they way we do here in the States, for instance.

 

My wife has told me that her mother pays 50 B per year. Yes, 50 baht, I asked her twice. ::

 

Of course I've heard of and paid property taxes in Thailand on the purchase of the land and transfer of the deed. Those were not painful compared to what I'm used to in Farangland, which hurt a lot.

[rickfarang]

"With this government getting all lands documented, you bet your sweet self, the main purpose was for tax."

 

Jasmine, I am shocked! Absolutely shocked! When this all started a certain high-ranking government official said that this was so that people could take advantage of the value of their land. Now you say its so they could be taxed? I am completely stunned! ::

[CondomKing]

Well, just spoke with the wife and the New Year's Day party has become a New Year's Eve party so that the workers can have time off to go home.

 

The pigs will arrive on the 30th to be preped and we'll cook 'em up on New Year's Eve Day. Now Mrs. CK says that everyone will be off on the 31st and 1st and be back at work on Sunday the 2nd. I told her I thought it would be more likely that work would resume on the 3rd, but she say that she expects work to start up again on the 2nd. Either way, fine by me.

[Khun_Kong]

CondomKing said:

jasmine said:

You mean you never heard of it? ::

 

The taxes are paid and people who have not paid will be paying very soon. When I built an apartment in my mother's lot, the tax doubled.

 

With this government getting all lands documented, you bet your sweet self, the main purpose was for tax.

 

Jasmine

 

I have never heard of yearly tax assessment paid to the local government they way we do here in the States, for instance.

 

My wife has told me that her mother pays 50 B per year.

 

I wonder if there are different rules in different aeas?

 

In my GF's village near Loei, she claims that the family pays 300 B/year tax for the farmlands only- no tax on the land that the family homes are on.

 

We added another home last year and there was no increase in taxes.

 

I asked her about local repairs, such as fixing the local water system. She claims that comes from the local tax.

[keekwai]

>>"The guy that did my bathroom plumbing neglected to put the P-trap in"

 

You could possibly create some kind of a bend in your drain pipe on the outside of your exterior wall that would hold water to seal the gas from your septic entering the house. For a 60k house you probably have the basic stacked concrete rings for a septic tank. You may have to lower them a bit.

 

>>"He also royally fucked up the door placement, putting it virtually flush with the floor"

 

Hopefully he didn't put your door frames below the level of your concrete floor into dirt. If he did you can expect the termites to visit. Doors and windows are some of the biggest challenges in constructing a house especially one on the cheap side (60k what are you whining about.) If I were ever to build another house in Thailand I'd buy a roll of string, some plumb bobs and a few levels of different types and sizes and make sure they were used often and also to check the work on a daily basis for plumb, level and square.

 

>>"the external wiring is poorly finished where the switch/outlet boxes are set into the walls. Just sloppy finish work"

 

Go see how your workers homes are wired and finished.