Buying land - pitfalls ?

[lopburi3]

we gained a lot of face

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I have serious doubts about that; although I have your same feeling about lawyers in general. But most lawyer business is done in a low key handshake fashion here and that was why I suggested someone in the family. He just has to attend/read and if officials ask who he is; "my lawyer uncle" can change an attitude just as quickly as guns and arrows, in most cases.

[Guest]

>>>I have serious doubts about that;<<<

 

well, i don't.

since that scene everything goes smooth for us from the official side as well as socially with the other people of the village. not so for the seller.

 

 

>>>He just has to attend/read and if officials ask who he is; "my lawyer uncle" can change an attitude just as quickly as guns and arrows, in most cases. <<<

 

a "lawyer uncle" in a family of landless labours, like in my case, where my missus is the person with the highest level of education, being a chef? nobody is gonna buy that. they would think we gonna take the piss. i would not even know anyone around there who could even pose as a lawyer.

 

in our case all officials have been extremely helpful all around. speeding things up like the landtitles, getting electricity etc. maybe it was just the particular district, but somehow i came away there with the impression that not all of thailand is completely corrupt and hopeless.

 

[liberator]

Be careful of 'copies' of land papers. The original will record any charges there may be on the land (loans etc.) These may not appear on copies. The only certain way is to go to the land office and ask to see thier records for the land plot (get the reference number from the copy). This is one of the things a lawyer will do for you, but you can easily do it yourself. You can also (usually) get a copy of a much larger plan of the land.

 

Chock dee

 

[lopburi3]

since that scene everything goes smooth for us

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My guess is that this is in spite of the outburst rather than because of it. You are probably the party in the right and others know it. In my opinion we are not likely to gain face when we lose our cool and we should not be advocating this course of action. Have seen guns drawn for what we foreigners would consider minor slights and would not advise anyone to use public humiliation here.

 

The lawyer bit is general and understand that you were taking charge of this event and doing what he would probably have done; but doing it your way.

 

I do agree that Thailand is far from being as corrupt as many other countries - in the most part civil servants have always done their job here; but donations helped speed things up. In the last decade there has been a much keener public service mentality.

[gummigut]

There are times when loosing your cool does gain you more face. FOZW can speak for himself but if I had to place a bet, I'd bet he's been here long enough to know which is which and when to do it.

 

I have also "lost" my cool on a number of occasions and gained face. To do otherwise would have let someone else "of lower stature [whatever da f dat means] walk all over me. Then again I've been dealing with this face issue for a significant part of my life. I also think you guys make it larger than it is. Just respect others and one shouldn't have any problems.

 

<<burp>>

[lopburi3]

There are times when loosing your cool does gain you more face

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Although you may have to be firm do not believe you have to lose your cool (and I say that as one who has) but you said (are times) so can not argue with that. Although I do agree that customs can be exaggerated, and often are, this is one area where I firmly believe a closed mouth can gain more than a temper tantrum (almost all the time). You are right about respect being key in relationships and Fly is right about a verbal agreement (handshake) being the most secure contract in general. But I believe it could be a danger for persons not tuned in to be acting in this manner as there is a fine line between anger and death when face is involved.

 

Again, this is just my opinion and I do respect your viewpoints and know that I can be, and often am, wrong. But I also speak with some experience here - my driving license is dated 2513.

[jasmine]

Hi,

 

[color:"red"] I also just found out that the land does not have a chanote. According to the missus it will be another couple of years before one will be issued. [/color]

 

Want to mention that not all lands are qualified for chanote. My Thai family have had a banana plantation without that paper but the land has something called "nor sor 3" (I think) and my family had inherited it from my grandfather through a will. All other land withinn 5 miles vicinity have the same type of papers. My brother who is a lawyer has been trying to get the chanote for the past 20 yrs. and has not been succesful.

 

Rice growing land is also falls into some kind of special type of law and it is not supposed to be able to be sold easily just to anyone.

 

I would get a good lawyer who knows the "land law" very well to handle it.

 

Jasmine

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

We just got back from upcountry and it seems I was the only one that was worried. It also seemed it was unnecessary.

 

When we arrived both parties went to measure the land, which turned out to be 21 rai, before all driving to the 'puu yai baan'. She (yes, this surprised me as well) was very cool and handled things in a very professional manner.

I took some pictures to which nobody objected, they even posed for the camera when signing the paperwork. After that everybody drove back to the house for food and booze.

 

Sanuk!