MangoKorat

I think so. All the staff I met at HCMC were Thai - most were students.

Actually it is.......consulates and embassies are classed as the soil of the country they act on behalf of

As far as I know, the owner's name is registered on the main page but those actually living in the house are also listed on the relevant pages. Those living there would also include offspring until they buy their own house. Many seem to never change their registered address.

A problem concerning signatures? I doubt it. Obviously the OP would be better getting his wife's signature but he states that is not possible. Something close will pass. The Kor Ror 2 states that the marriage is still in place - that will be enough those officials that Do follow some of the rules. By 'follow the rules' I mean check that the required documents are in place, not their authenticity. And of course that massively important item in Thailand - the correct colour of ink.

How many Multi Entry Non O's have you applied for? About 6 in my case and done what I'm suggesting twice - never a problem. You don't need to be a master forger, just something close. People's signatures can vary a lot - mine never looks that same twice. Go pay for something using your Thai bank card using your PIN. The receipt will be handed to you for signing, even though in most cases the writing on the receipt states 'No signature required, verified by PIN'. Watch and see if they check that signature against the one on the back of your card - never! This is Thailand where things are rarely as they seem and requirements aren't actually required on the day

Just get another Thai to sign her name on all the documents. They won't be checked and how would they know in any case?

I know it very well.

???? mai khao jai - some of us just don't get certain things. For me its electricity at the input side of the consumer unit!!! After that I'm fine - as long as I know that I have a live and a neutral running at 220-230v coming out of the consumer unit, I can work with that ????. I spent 25 years of my working life repairing cars - including autoboxes and those babies can take some understanding but when it come to electricity - other than live, neutral and earth, I hit a brick wall. In any case, I've already hijacked the OP's post enough already. As I get nearer to planning my build, I intended asking questions on here, in particular regarding the solar power supply that I want. I want to get this right - from the start, not end up with something that has limitations or doesn't give me what I want. For example, at my current Thai house I installed an air source heat pump water heater (probably just gave away the name I used to go under on here). I did that for environmental reasons as I insist on having hot water available at all times. Those things are incredible in terms of efficiency but in terms of electricity bills, the system doesn't work for me - because I didn't look into it enough in the first place. I didn't realise that I was heating 200L of water and keeping it hot 24/7. For someone who has a requirement for plenty of hot water all day, they would be a 'must have' but for someone who's just taking a couple of showers and washing dishes - a decent electric shower and under-sink water heater (or even just the kettle) would be a better choice. There may be other choices too. I'm still a bit of a 'car nut' and like to do my own repairs - hence the lift installation. As for the power required, I haven't gone into that yet, all I can say is it won't be a massive lift, not for 'hobby' use. In the UK there are quite a lot of single phase lifts available these days - I presume because the efficiency and start-up properties of electric motors is much better than it used to be? I don't know what the situation in Thailand is but a quick scan reveals most that are advertised are 3 phase. I remember years ago - I had a very old 3hp single phase motor running my compressor. That thing used to blow suppy fuses all the time despite me increasing the wiring to 6mm. The fact was, I presume, that on start-up, it was just trying to draw down too much power. I 'fixed' the issue by supplementing the fuse for a 7/16 bolt with the head cut off ????. Looking back, that was pretty dangerous..........to say the least but it worked for over 10 years until I bought a new compressor with a 3hp motor that was half the size of the 'museum piece' and allowed the use of a fuse ????. When I'm ready to do more in depth planning, I'll post on here but thanks for everyone's answers so far.

So would I need some form of transformer to convert one of the phases to 220v to run the 'normal' household appliances? I ask becase it is possible that I will be putting a car lift in and most of those are 3 phase. Obviously that would not be possible if I go for an off grid solar system. The build is about a year away so better to get the thinking done now.

Confused - how many volts are each phase? Sometimewoodworker states that in theory each phase is 220v so would that not = 660v? Told you I was ignorant re electric ????,

Yes, I have always suspected that I'm not receiving the supply I expected but I doubt anything will be done about it if I complain. There are certain times of day when some appliances won't even operate, for example, I have 'touch control' bedside lamps which you tap to turn on or off + they have 3 brightness settings. Recently I went to sleep leaving one light on at the dimest setting. I woke up around 5am and tried to turn the lamp off, it wouldn't respond at all - neither get brighter nor turn off, I had to unplug it. My bedroom ceiling fan often doesn't work between 5am and 6am - it just buzzes. Two other ceiling fans that are a different brand will work at that time. I suspect that what is happening is some major drawdown like a local factory turning on at the start of the day is creating demand on the supply somewhere further back down the line. I thought these problems would stop when I upgraded that's why I did it but there's been no change. When I build the new house its extremely likely that I will install a solar power system - I'm undecided if that will be on or off grid. Off grid would require batteries - I would be going to solar mainly for environmental reasons but I am concerned about the damage that mining the metals required for batteries is causing. It seems that humans have learned very little - in our quest to stop causing one type of damage to our planet, we are simply causing different damage in different regions. However, another major reason is to be able to have aircon 24/7 without huge electricity bills so a lot of reading and thinking to do. I'm also not too happy with the rules about solar installation if I'm understanding them correctly - an 'on grid' system must be installed by one of the PEA's approved suppliers??? To me that actually means - must be installed by one of the most expensive companies around but I'll check that out. I intended on doing a lot of the work myself to save money. I would have expected that it would be acceptable for such an installation to simply be inspected and certified by a professional but it seems not if my understanding is correct.

Agreed but I've just had to..........which swore I'd never do because of security fears. Dtac have cancelled the Dtac call service and that was the only reliable way I could receive OTP's when conducting transactions on my Kasikorn online banking. I can make and receive calls and SMS over wifi when I'm outside Thailand but they usually come way after the 6 minute time out that Kasikorn allow - with DTAC call they were instant. Neither can I use roaming as there is no mobile signal at my UK home. Kasikorn will only send OTP's to a Thai number and suggested that I install the Kplus App which would allow me to carry out transactions over wifi. I had to be on a Thai mobile signal to register for the Kplus App but now its installed it runs over wifi. I use a 6 digit PIN is that easy to hack?

Forgive my ignorance but I've noticed a lot of talk about 3 phase on this thread - never really looked at what 3 phase actually is. When I upgraded to 30/100 the PEA told me if I wanted more, I'd have to go to 3 phase. How would that work? Doesn't 3 phase run at around 400v? The reason I'm asking is that I'm likely to be building a new house soon and I don't think the 30/100 supply I have is actually 30/100. My microwave slows down when I flick the kettle on - I've checked the wiring on the ciruit and its 2.5 so it should carry the load.

So the arrest will probably be the last that's heard of the matter.

Naaa come off it. I'm not making any excuses for the driver but Thailand's roads can be extremely dark - I've lost count of the times I've almost cleaned a motorbike up - the usual no lights, not even a reflector variety. Its just a matter of time. There's also been quite a lot of early morning mist around recently. We have quite a lot of early morning cyclists around Khao Yai but I've never come across one in the dark........yet. I wouldn't dream of riding a push bike in Thailand during the day, let alone at night.

Staying off topic - this was one of the best.

Why do you think I'm making any mistakes? I simply asked a couple of questions. I don't expect the Spanish Inquisition.

I've had a Thai bank account for over 10 years - I have my reasons for asking the question.

Last time I used a foreigen debit card in Thailand, I seem to remember being charged 180 baht. What is the current rate? Are there any banks that don't charge?

Then you should pay tax on it, like everyone else has to.

But we are foreigners - I doubt anyone here is too worried about the new law's effects on Thai's.

??? Do you mean the same as is required for a 12 month extension? I hope they're not expecting it to be dated the same say then?

I do my best ????

Yes, I'm sure they are. Just as I'm sure that any prisoner in a Thai jail who falls ill with similar problems will be transferred to a top quality hospital suite and all that goes with it.

Well that law already exists - you don't pay Thai tax on money earned in the previous tax year. I have no idea but I'd guess they can request proof of when the money was earned. For those with substantial savings/wealth abroad - that should be fairly easy to do but for those living month to month...............somewhat more difficult. Don't forget, there are a subsantial amount of people that do live from month to month - many move abroad on retirement because their pensions go further. Don't panic though - just sit back and see what happens in the next few months.