bcross2001

Does this apply to Phuket and Samui? If so would are the new buyers going to be?

They were 25% too much anyway,a bit more realistic now.Its daylight robbery to charge big bucks for condos,as the companies are taking advantage of theloophole to say farangs can own their own shoebox

Does this apply to Phuket and Samui as well - if so who will the new buyers be?

Did you ever read the article in the Bangkok post about the two elevator technicians that parked the elevator on the 23rd floor for repairs? it fell to the bottom floor and kiiled them both.

Ground wire - hey let moma roast on the rice cooker.

This is Thailand - there is no such thing asd right.

Does anyone have the legal particulars for this process - I seem to remember that someone posted them before?

Thanks

Barry

There's a contractor in Phuket named John George Woods (Australian) if you can locate him he may be able to help you - he's in Phuket but I do not know where.

If you locate him please advise us also - we built a home on 5 Rai with 200+meters on the water outside of Chaiya.

Good luck

B

Hi George

One word of advise - DON'T get invovled with a Mr. John George Woods ( Australian National) - we have a judgement against him for 1.4 million Baht that he stole from our copany.

Barry Cross

We are using a Puritec whole home water filtration system (15 gallons a minute at 41psi) from the U S - this comprises a .05 micron carbon filter - a .05 filtration filter and UV system. Even importing the filters (with the duty) is cheaper and better then relying on anything built in Thailand - whether it is plastic or stainless steal.

Our system is plastic - thus no concern at all about rust.

Believe me - purchase a good quality foreign made water filtration system and then you will not have to worry.

it was funnier before editing ! Especially the last sentence

I built a 550 meter laterite road in Chaiya just north of Suratthani and can tell you that the price is whatever the local Thai wants to do the job - they will lie cheat steal and sell their mother if they can make a dollar

I am looking for a solid constructin company that can design and/or build my house

Area Lad Krabang, Minburi

I am hoping you people have had some good experiences..... and want to share

A word to the wise - Do not hire a Mr. John G Woods - he has been severed with court papers for theft of business funds - this man makes a living swindling Farangs on construction projects - to wit - he will start the job take all the up front money he can and then disappear - he has a criminal record in America - he carries an Australian passport.

B Cross

Everything one buys in Homepro for house, kitchen or bathroom rusts. IT IS C**P.

Shelves that fall down, nothing in stock.

I have had a bad morning putting up shelves that should take 5 mins, missing pieces, useless instructions. It is overpriced rubbish.

There's no way that a Thai will ever stock anything as this means spending money - they have no concept of what a real world business should be operated - everythings cheap cheap cheap and if your silly enough to buy it they will try and charge you more then you would pay just around the corner

Hi,

I am hopefully completing my Spanish House sale late November and both my Thai wife and myself wish to buy a house (not condo) in the coming months.

I am hoping there are expert or knowledgeable members that know:

1) How do I satisfy Thai authorities that the LAND purchase is my wife's ALONE and that if it is sold the proceeds are 100% hers as required by Thai law.

My wife has NO money so I wish to gift the money (without conditions or rights over money or the land to her) with NO claims on it now or in the future) so she can buy land (or the LAND part of a "land & house on it" purchase. What do I/she need to sign declare to satisfy Thai authorities the land will be hers ALONE.

2) If we buy a pre built house is there any legal reason why we cannot ask the builder to split the sale into 1) LAND in my Thai wife's name and 2) House I buy in my name. I believe it is ONLY land that a Foreigner cannot own but I can buy and own the house or property on it

3) What would I need to protect my interest in the HOUSE (not Land it is on) value. My intention is that if we decide to sell (as friends or NOT) that my wife would get her 100% value of the LAND sale and I would get 100% value of the house.

AND

that neither of us could cause the value of eaches interest to devalue artificially below market values at the time.

Examples AVOID

i) my wife selling land and I have no right to be there so my house is worthless.

ii) I won't budge or am difficult so my wife cannot sell her LAND for market value of the land.

4) Is it legal to draw up a contract that if we divorced that one or the other could insist on the land and property being put on the market for the MARKET VALUE (but both with 1st option to buy out the other (I understand I would need a Thai to buy the land as I could not - I am thinking more for my wife's interests here than me )

4) Is a Usufruct on the the Land OR the house or on both.

5) What are the Benefits and Negatives of a

i) Usufruct

ii) Lease

iii) Pros and Cons of Lease & Usufruct when compared directly with each other.

6) If My wife and I buy land in my wifes name (she has 100% right to land and proceeds money gifted without conditions).

Can I THEN build a house on it in my name with my wife's (as land owner) permission?

If I can, is it allowed to have a legal (Thai law) contract drawn between us stating my wife or me cannot cannot throw the other off the land or out of house. If that is desired then she/I must pay the Market value of the House ALONE or that either one of us can insist the land and property go on the Market together at the same time, subject for genuine market value (OR both parties agreement on price - subject to Thai wife must retain full value of Land sold and its genuine value.)

7) Why do foreigners need a Tor Tor 3 (TT3) if they wish to buy a house or condo? Why can't they buy without it?

I hope I have asked clearly and suitable and that members can give me valuable information.

I do NOT distrust my wife at all BUT it makes sense that if a future parting occurred then we BOTH are OK and BOTH get something (as permissible under Thai Law).

I know my wife MUST get Land value so I am trying to get HOUSE value in such a scenario. In UK this would be easy as we would buy house and land together in joint names and have a legally binding percentage owned by each (usually 50%/50%). This is regretfully not perm titted in Thai law for Foreigner/Thai marriage.

I am also mindful that if Thailand changes its Visa laws in the future forcing me out and my wife felt unable to leave Thailand (I have a Thai stepson only 4yrs) that I could force a house sale to third parties (or her or others nominated by her to buy me out as a FIRST option) REASON BEING: I would need "MY share" namely the HOUSE value to go set myself up and live there. EQUALLY my wife would need her share (LAND value) to be be able to live in Thailand.

Many thank for you time.

I hope some members can advise my Wife and I, in clear unambiguous terms what I can and cannot do under Thai Law.

(I ALREADY know I can have have NO interest in LAND or its sale or proceeds for its sale)

Kind Regards

Dave

Hello Dave

We have a home just north of Suratthani that is in the final stages of construction - three bedroom - two bath - western style kitchen (cabinets - oven dish washer stove etc) large master bedroom marble floors - red wood flooring in living room.

There is five Rai of land with 65 meters on the beach - private road and private bridge leading to the property.

If you are interested in more details and pictures please let us know your budget - if you are interested.

We have to return to China as my wifes mother is very ill and given her business interests the time frame we do not believe we will be able to return to Thailand - so we have decided to sell.

Barry

OK guys, i don't know much about the building game. After nearly 2 years of messing about, i have the design for the houses i want to build, and yesterday got the BOQ from the contractor.

Whats the next step?

I know i have to make a contract with the contractor, right? I guess this encompasses timescales, when i pay him for what, completion date etc.

Haven't laid a single brick yet, but it's stressful already!

Get a second quote and possibly even a third for comparison

No matter what you do - DO NOT HIRE JOHN GEORGE WOODS - He's wanted now for two court cases involving fraud

Do ensure that the meter they provide can handle your load.

It may be a silly question, but what happens if you have a 10A meter and install several A/C and run them

all at the same time?

Will it fry the meter or just blow the company fuses, if they have such things in LOS?

Just curious.

BTW My house as a 30A 3PH supply as I did not want to take chances.

Crossy

I checked with the power people today and they inform me the transformer they intend to use is 30KVa - at 65.2amps - our meter is rated at 40 amps - I have requested one to handle the 65.2amp rating of the transformer.

Many Thanks

Barry

Barry,

I am pretty much in the same situation as yourself, I also am at the end of the line getting the dregs of what power there was from the village transformer. I wouldn't worry about switching things on though, the main problem we have is the power most of the time isn't sufficient to start the compressors on the air-con so they just shut themselves off. Here we are only talking 22k btu (6500watt) units. The smaller 11k btu units, the 2200 watt water heater and 1000watt water pump work without issues.

Can you just clarify you are on single phase rather than 3 phase? The main reason I ask this is that we have been told that the smallest 3 phase transformer they can supply is 50Kw. I am trying to get clarification that this is the case and we are just being oversold - although this I doubt as they know I understand the electrical side of things and are wary of me! The company has told me that if I was on single phase I could have a 20, 25 or 30Kw Tx no worries.

Oh the cheerie side I did laugh the yesterday when I drove past a large house that is being built no that far from myself by a local Lao. He obviously has plenty of money to splash about but not much idea as he's just had a 100Kw Tx located outside his house (obviously just said give me the biggest so I can show my mates!). What he is going to do with 450amps(!) I really do not know!! Probably got a 63amp breaker in his house . .. .

technocracy - you most likely saw our reply to crossy - we are using single phase - I noted your tx sizes - given crossy's values a 20Kw would provide around 100amps and I'm sure would lower our costs - Im looking today to see if I can locate one.

Thanks for your input

Barry

At a glance, I suggest that you're going to need your own Tx.

10 houses on a 30KVA gives you 3KVA each on average, a whole 13Amps

Are the supply chaps suggesting a Tx to yourself? (and you pay for it) if so I suggest you go for it. How much are they suggesting it will cost?

A 30KVA unit will give you a 150 Amp supply which seems a bit OTT, perhaps that's the smallest available. We manage with a 45A supply although we don't have as many A/C units (3 in total).

It really needs a proper prospective load calculation doing but you can bet that the supply chaps won't bother, they'll just guess. Do ensure that the meter they provide can handle your load.

Crossy - I believe your right on the need for a Tx - these units are fed 19KVolts to the primary and either 230/460 output on the secondary.

Given the .6 Kilometer run to our home and the normal voltage drop associated with the power line this option we feel is the best.

Pricing I'm told runs around 30K Baht per unit plus installation.

I check on the meter issue.

You should worry, our incoming supply in Delhi is about 190V

Thailand is nominally 220V 50Hz, 210-230 is reasonable.

Did you check the supply on-load? (ie with stuff turned on)

What appliances don't run properly?

Is there already a transformer at the road, how many other houses are connected to it?

It would also be useful to know what your prospective load was calculated at (or how big your house is).

Hello Crossy

I'll take these one at a time.

We have not turned on everything as the electrician is afraid that we might cook something at present. We have three 36,000Btu Trane a/c units, 2 9,000Btu a/c units, oven, dish washer, frig, freezer, cooler, 300 ltr hot water heater plus all the extra's well pump, tv's computers, lights etc.

Each of the 30Kv transformers on the main road are spaced about .5kilometer apart. We are at the very end of one of these connections with about 10-20 homes between us and the transformer - after our connection there are no further transformers - we are at the end of the line.

Barry

Our home is about ready - but we now have discovered that the 230V power coming from the road (approximately .6 K away) is only 221V at our home and there is not enough current to properly run our electrical appliances.

The local power company suggested installing a 30KV transformer (19Kv primary 230V secondary-single phase) at the road in order to keep the voltage and current constant at 230V.

Does this sound like the proper solution?

The electrical wire which runs approximately .6 Kilometer to our home is rated at 750V 131 Amps.

Barry

Quick and easy way is with a voltmeter, it won't however tell you how good your ground is, for that you need specialist kit

You should see:-

220V Live - Neutral

220V Live - Ground

0V Neutral - Ground (up to about 10V is acceptable, you'll rarely see 0V).

Do you have an ELCB / RCD / RCCB / GFI / Safe-T-Cut? If not I suggest you get one installed, it will improve safety significantly.

You also should have a MEN link in your consumer unit (it links ground to incoming neutral).

Have a look here :- http://www.crossy.co.uk/wiring/ for some useful information (including what an MEN link is), post here if you have further queries.

Crossy

We are having a new home built and I have given the contractor your drawing for the MEM installation - how can I be sure (how do I test) that all the ground wires are connected and that the installation conforms to your drawing?

B Cross

The download and upload speeds do say something, but the "round trip" of a ping test is what I use to test different Web sites.

All US sites that I've accessed give round trip pings of 400 plus milliseconds. Usually between 500 and 1000 with plenty of time outs.

ThaiVisa round trips are around 50 milliseconds. Local servers around 20 milliseconds.

I use TT&T and CAT broadband services. The TT&T is currently the better of the 2 although it's the slower service when both are functioning to full capacity.

Koh Phangan 7 Dec, 2006

Last Result:

Download Speed: 121 kbps (15.1 KB/sec transfer rate)

Upload Speed: 71 kbps (8.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

Where would u go

How about Brazil - Fotaleza to be exact - onshore breeze year around - cheap housing - cheap food - plently of warm water and beautiful beaches - an people who actually like to sing and dance with a true sense of warmth and compassion.?

I've followed with much interest the thread about having a house built in Thailand and the difficulty of getting good quality from many local builders. This tracks with everything I've picked up recently from people in Thailand.

I'm moving permanently to Phuket next year when I retire and am planning then to build a house on some land in Phuket (design and construction drawings are complete through a local architect and building permission already optained). Now I'm looking for a good contractor who can do a quality job, or project-manage a quality job, at an honest price, and communicate adequately with me, a farang, before and during the job.

Has anybody had some good construction experiences in Phuket? Can anybody suggest any competent builders which I could start talking to? Are there any farangs in Phuket running construction firms which produce good quality? My house will be western style with concrete structure about 250 sq m.

How about this - I have a foreign contractor building our home now - the foundation is just going in. You may want to take a look and see what you think - First call a Mr. John Woods - our contractor and he will be I'm sure more then happy to bring you to the building site - it's in Chaiya - you got a year

Barry

Get a lease for that property you want and change it to a Co.ltd when the law is less strict then now in samui and checking everything out here for the moment, you can always change.

And by the way, Koh Phagnan, better invest somewhere else, it's not worth it if you buy to intend to sale again, and it will never be a 2nd samui.

Good luck

This is not as easy as it sounds. There is no guarantee that once you have taken out a lease the lessor will allow you to change to Company purchase. This is Contract Law which is outside leasehold arrangements.

I seem to do everything backwards - so here goes.

What if - You work this the opposite way - your the company and want to lease to yourself? Can't you have virtually have the best of both worlds?

Hi We are two retiring ladies moving to Hua Hin next year and are in the process of buying a house there.

We are pretty upset at all we have just read ref the property market and the current uncertainty.

We have no relatives etc and have gone down the route of setting up a company.

This was recommend to us by the estate agent and developer. and laterly the lawyer. our company name is now registered.

We are under no illusions that we would ever own the land, but thought that this would be the safest route to stay in control of our own destiny, and help us enjoy a long and happy retirement out there.

Would you experienced people out there continue with our purchase, watch this space, or cut our losses and run?

Your opinions to two new kids(over50) on the block will be most welcome.

Thanks

I don't know about you two but I would think if you leased it to yourself perpetually for 33yr leases you might be OK

After it is all said and done, I and my wife are the proud owners of a stylish 3 bdrm house in the country. To be fair about it , I will say that it is good looking and comfortable to live in, but getting it done has to be the worst experiance of my life, no question about it. One totaly frustrating experiance after another. Dealing with people with a childish attitude, poor work ethics, lack of concern for quality, and contracters losing interest in the project when nearing completion. After a year of living here, we still have roof leaks, toylets that don't function when it rains heavy, and cement work that looks like it is fourty years old and patched up. I can honestly say I would not do it again. I think I would consider buying a used house and remodeling it , at least you can see what you are getting before you lay down the cash. Besides for some reason new property seems to look old by the time it is built in Thailand, they just can't seem to get everything together and done at the same time. One thing is finished fine and the next guy comes along, to do another, job and messes up the prior work time after time. I guess that is enough ranting for one go, but it has been such a negative expeiance, it is hard to like the house, like you think you would.

Question - was this all done with Thai labor and were you the contractor?

Barry

Thanks for replying to me ..He is going on that 49/51% property set up or something he said ..He does not tell me a lot about it as he thinks he is getting a good deal and i am trying to put him off ...I have not slept for days now with all the worry and cant even get in touch with him as dont have a phone number for him right now but he believes/likes to believe everything is fine !! £20,000 is a lot of money about $37,000 think the land in total is costing him about $120,000 can you also tell me if the laws are different for purchasing land in kophangan or are they all the same ..I would hate for him to lose out on money as my children would suffer also if he did ..He said he owns less votes but that the thai people cant vote or something i dont know i just think hes being foolish !!

Tell him to talk to Greg at Sunbelt, if he doesn't, he's an idiot.

Who Is Greg? and how do I contact sunbelt??