rambose

ubonjoe (I could figure out how to respond to your response)  Thanks for your response.  She's only staying a month, so it wasn't critical that she enter as a Thai citizen.  A follow up question: What does she need to renew her Thai passport?  Is showing the old passport enough?  Does she need to show a Thai ID (which she doesn't have), a Thai birth certificate (which she doesn't have with her), or a tambien ban (showing her residence in Thailand, which she also doesn't have because she resides in the US, but she could get registered at a relative's home).  I think it cost 1000 baht.  Thanks again.

My minor daughter has both Thai and USA passports.  She resides in the US, but is currently in Thailand.  Her Thai passport is expired, so the immigration officer issued a visa on arrival, stamped in her USA passport.  She's trying to get her Thai passport renewed in Thailand.   Exiting Thailand, will she show both passports, and will they stamp both passports as exiting Thailand?  

10 minutes ago, nataliecooke said:

My hubby needed a replacement birth certificate as well for his visa requirements here in Australia. We went to his home town in Seka to have this done. We had to go to his school, get a copy of his school report, a copy of his parents property title and bring along two independent witnesses...so very different from how things are done in Australia. His B/C stated the same as you mentioned as well as a current photo of himself. 

Thanks for the reply!   Sounds the same as my wife's experience.  She took along witnesses and the "tabien baan.", but not school records.  What you got sounds the same as what my wife got; it includes a current photo of herself.  Thanks again!.  

My Thai wife, born where she now lives, went to the local Amphur to get a replacement birth certificate, needed to apply for immigration.  The Amphur does not have an original document they could copy.  They created a new document based on digital information they have stored in their computer system.

 Translated, it's title is "Letter of Birth Certificate".  However, is different from what I expected.  It does not have my wife's name at birth.  Instead, it includes a current photo and her current name (my last name), her mom's and dad's names, and the date and place of birth.  Essentially, it certifies the birth of this person named and pictured in the document.

Question: Is what I received similar to what others have gotten as a replacement birth certificate?  If not, please describe what you have received, and how you got it.  

Thanks

My wife went to the local Amphur and got a Thai birth certificate.  After having it translated, I saw that her name at birth--neither first name or last name--was not included, only her current married name (including my last name).  Moreover, the family name of her father and mother were missing; only their first names given.   I sent her back to the Amphur.  With reluctance, they are adding the father's family name (and some ID number that is important in Thailand), but not her family name at birth.  Anyone have any insight into this?  Normal for Thailand?  Acceptable in the US?  Thanks!  

When ever the land office come to recheck on the boundary markers here they always seem to ask for ALL the land owner to be present and have to agree with the new markers was this done with you and if so did you agree to the new boundaries

The Land Office are coming to remark our next doors land this week and we have been notified that we have to be there at the time and the last time i had it checked all the owners of the land had to be present

Yes, my wife was there. She asked them to double check. They assured her that their measurements were correct.

do you still have the original survey report? if not, try to get hold of it.

if you do, present it and encourage your friendly neighbors to sue the surveying company.

Don't forget, if they take you to court then it is very likely that they will be awarded legal costs against you as well.

Best to resurvey and if required move the wall. (Checking legality of maximum height)

(1) You dont have a hope in hell going to court....

(2) Check who the Surveyor was, relation or friend of your Neighbor...You definitely wont win.

You are in the same predicament many have been in before you, and I will say it again....You wont win. Those surveyor pegs can be shifted overnight to suit the situation.....and the situation is NOT in your favour.....get the drift?

Think about this as well....they may have planned, investigated and thought out everything you could possibly counter with, BEFORE they went after you for money.

Feel sorry for you, but better to tell you up straight what you are in for....

Moving the wall isn't really an option; it would cost more than the 50K to do that.

A lawyer at first told my wife to pay the 50K.

Then, Wife went to the land office and found the original land survey; it had been ordered by the neighbors 18 years ago; (apparently) they built a barbed wire fence at that time according to the boundary established and marked by the survey. Their fence and the boundary markers were still in place when we decided to build the new wall.

We took a bunch of photos when we started work on the wall. Several photos show the neighbors removing their fence so that we can build the wall (effectively agreeing for us to build the wall). Several other photos show the workers marking the position for the new wall, with the neighbors looking on closely (to make sure the new wall is on our side of the property line). At the neighbors insistence, a couple of key cement posts were left in place while the wall was being built; this pissed off the wall builder because he had to work around those posts.

So, my wife can pretty conclusively show that the wall is built on a boundary established 18 years ago by the neighbors, and the neighbors agreed to have us build the wall there.

When my wife showed original survey, and the photos, to the lawyer, he changed his tune. Lawyer said she had a 70 to 80 % chance of winning. Of course, that's not 100%.

But it also means the neighbors, who must put up 20 to 25K baht to bring the lawsuit, would likely lose. And if they have to pay our legal expenses if they lose, they're out 40k to 60K baht. Hopefully, their lawyer is telling them to settle.

.......................................

Now, here's another thing that leaves me shaking my head.

I told my wife, go to the neighbors and show them the photos, and show them her copy of the original property survey. That should convince them they have little chance of winning, and agree to settle.

My wife's reply: 2 different lawyers had told her not to do that. Even, if questioned by the police, just flash a photo; don't let them have it or even look at it for long.

The reason: if the neighbors know what evidence we have, then it allows them to come up with a different story.

So is this just the lawyers protecting their income? (they get nothing if we settle without their help) Or is this really good legal advice?

There was one other question I forgot to ask you in my original reply. WHO asked the land office for the new survey?

I cannot believe they just came around off their own idea to re survey the land, someone must have asked them and paid them.

If your neighbour requested the survey then it would have cost him 5K or so to get the chanotes verified, hence why he won't accept your 5K offer, he is out of pocket now.

If they did come out off their own accord, let him go and dispute this with the land office, you have the original survey, they made a horses ass of it, let them sort it out, in fact, if the land office cocked up, let them pay for the new wall!

People here seem to think that you have no recourse to anything, when in fact if you stand your ground the Thai law system in many ways is very good. (Not perfect) But so many Thais and foreigners just seem to resign themselves to the situation instead of making a bit of a fuss.

I have had half a dozen instances where I was unhappy with things I bought here that were faulty and didn't work, my wife used to say that I should just accept it as there is no recourse - (They have been led to believe this for years) But if you are in the right, stand up and take them on, if they are a legitimate company or department, you do actually have rights, don't believe the crap that you cannot make a stand, you can and you will be surprised that in 90% of the cases you will get a positive outcome.

My mother in law (MIL), and her brother (Uncle), both well into their 70s, have jointly owned the property since their mother died 30 years ago. Uncle has never agreed to subdivide the property, and with Thai law, it seems very difficult to force this to happen.

Only recently, Uncle decided he wanted to subdivide the property. The land office came out to survey, and found that our fence encroached onto the neighbor's property.

Don't give into the 50K. Offer them 10K and then let them take it to court... call their bluff.

i agree i think they would then come back to you with a counter offer of say 25,000 you could the continue with your offers and in the end agree some where around 15,000 plus. and put it down to experiences and move on enjoying your life.

I'd offer to pay them 20k and if they say no then tell them they can sue. Given what that will cost them and what little money they'll 'maybe' get in the end, most likely they'll never sue.

Its about getting on with your life. Get a lawyer to act as a mediator for the amount of payment bargained for. Once both parties are happy with the amount, get the lawyer to draft and both parties sign the agreement, and rectify the Land office side of things. Expencive - yes. Piece of mind priceless.

When the wall was built you can bet your neighbor was alert to this.

In multiple meetings with these people, my wife has asked them to lower the amount they are asking. They continue to insist that they will accept no less than 50K baht.

Two weeks ago, on the agreed upon deadline date, my wife went to the ampur and told them she did not agree to the 50K. The ampur noted my wife's refusal, and informed the neighbors.

The next step was to be that the neighbors would hire a lawyer and officially sue. The lawyer would draft a letter and send it to my wife. However, a few days later, military showed up (not the police), and a little powwow was held out in front of the house. The neighbors again insisted on 50K; my asked them to lower the amount. They refused. The soldiers wrote it all down, and said goodbye.

its a hard case as they only seemed to be out by CMTS (couldnt have been moved for any gain )

Maybe the last lot of surveyors just put them near abouts as stated on Chanute & whose to say the new survey was correct as it only sounds like a recheck

May try the old im not convinced its right with land dept & get a re - survey (watch the neighbor go off )

So how did the other boundrys hold up - I would say a few of them must of been out as well ( the domino affect )

I was lucky neighbors ok when once in the village one thing i said - Dont move the markers (yeh right) so as the wall went up it was the marker

Just another thought

Call the bluff their playing the old Falang has money which obviously they dont (so let go out & pay for lawyer - im sure it might cost more than stated )

Offer double the value - Their going against wife since we are forced to sign Docs

Doubling the offer would hold great respect in court as it would be determined on land value & your wifes ability to pay

Also dont forget if you have a win you may need to think of a re survey at your expense ( Ive seen on this forum in the area of 25 000 )

Well, as I have just found, (I bet I'm not the only falang who has trouble finding the bottom of things) is that the wall was built on a property line established by a survey conducted in 1998. That survey was ordered and paid for by our neighbors, who built their fence based on their own survey; they removed the fence when we built the wall.

So we built the wall according to the boundary line established by our neighbors 18 years ago, and now they are trying to get 50,000 for encroaching on their property!.

Yes, we need to get it re-surveyed. It apparently would only cost 500 baht.

The same problem, in reverse, is playing out on the other side of our property. We built the wall well inside what turned out to be the boundary. Then, the neighbors there built a house close to the wall, such that the roof overhand is right up to the wall, which now is established as our (my wife's) property.

You could just tear it down yourself or with local help and leave it in a heap just off the property line and call that the new fence. Let them stare at it for a few years. If they want a fence let them pay. I'm just the vindictive type when it comes to these things so I'm not sure it's right for you.

There are a couple reasons why that doesn't work. In some places, the wall is more than 3 meters high, with more than a meter of fill dirt on our side to make our property level. If the wall is removed, we still need to replace the part of the wall that retains the fill dirt, or it spills on their property, then they are hauling us to the police station based on that. But what really gives them an advantage over us is they are lowlifes, and wouldn't care if there was a pile of rubbish just across their property line, but we would care about it. And the reason we want the wall in the first place is to separate us from them visually and physically.

Personally I would tear it down and move it to the new property line just to prove they were right,,I am a rich foreigner willing to spend baht 100,000 before I would be extorted for 50,000.

I'd stand there and direct the work and smile at them everyday and ask them how they like the new wall,,doesn't it look great?

I'm with you. I do wish I could afford to do that. I expect we'll let them sue.

So how much do they have to pay to sue you ? Seems like they will get a lot less if they take it to court and win !!

Offer 15k and then call their bluff...

Its only cause you is a whitey

We would agree to 15k. They could put that in their pocket. But apparently they won't accept less than 50K.

To sue us, it will cost them 10 to 20k baht, but we will likely win, which means they will be awarded 5K, for net loss of 5 to 15K. I'm not sure what is going on; they may be bluffing, and ultimately accept 15K; but they may be too stupid to realize they will lose and really believe they will walk away with 50K minus legal expense, or they are willing to suffer a 5K loss so that we have a 25K loss.

Btw, what was the reason for the recent survey ? Does the new survey match your existing chanote ? If it does, then your fault for not checking the markers before building the wall... !

We live in a village. They have been systematically going around surveying and re-establishing property boundaries.

The survey is intended to find the positions on the surface of the earth that corresponds to the markers on the plat on the chanote. The new survey does not correspond to the old survey; the new survey takes precedence.

Yes, I realize that different actions in the past would have led to a better result today. If I had a time machine, I would go for a do-over. Since I don't, I'm asking people for how I might handle the situation as it is today.

Get it re surveyed, if its correct pay up, for a few lousy Bhat, less than $AU2000 you risk starting something you wont be able to finnish, i mean you have to live next to these people, swallow your pride because its more that than getting riped off, you done the costing to move the wall and the pending legal costs you made an offer raise it if still no go pay up, you can be vindictive later if you wish but why bother?

Could you please front me just a few lousy baht, say, $AU2000?

Don't give into the 50K. Offer them 10K and then let them take it to court... call their bluff.

That seems to be the best approach.

Apparently, these people aren't interested in reason, will not consider less than 50,000.

They seem to be mainly interested in making us spend money. If we go to court, we would likely win, but we're still out 25K (20K for the lawyer, and 5K payoff to them).

But there's the chance we'd lose, then we'd be out something like 75K.

So we end up spending 25K even if we win; their losses are probably at most 5K, with a chance of a fairly big payoff.

Move the wall and leave their side of it a crappy looking as possible, I suspect you don't have a very strong negotiating position on this other than to ask the Land Office to re-survey because you think it's wrong.

Well, the other side already looks crappy, and I don't want to spend the money to build a new fence.

However, some local officials at least agree that we can't be forced to move the fence, because they agreed to the position of the wall. Our negotiating position is that if they sue, they have to pay a lawyer somewhere between 10 and 20 thousand baht, and will likely only win 5000 baht for their trouble, a net loss of 5 to 15 thousand baht for them.

Don't give into the 50K. Offer them 10K and then let them take it to court... call their bluff.

That seems to be the best approach.

Just move the wall and do a crappy rebuild 555 that will learn them.

Well, it might come to that. But we would rather keep the current wall. The goal would be to keep the current wall, without paying them so much.

It seems that, locally, this situation happens on occasion, and one person pays the other a reasonable amount, and they all go on with their lives.

Eight years ago, my Thai wife got me to build a block wall at the boundary with our neighbors. Based on the current fence line that had long been in place, and the surveyors markers, the wall was built at the property line, on our side. The neighbors were present when the wall was built, removed the old fence themselves, and watched to make sure we didn't encroach on their property.

Recently, officials came through, surveyed, and re-placed the boundary markers. Our wall has ended up across the boundary line on our neighbor's property, to the extent of 7 cm at one end, and 22 cm at the other, over a 50 meter stretch, a total of about 7 square meters.

There's a chanote, and I would have thought the 10 year rule would have given us ownership of that 7 sq meters, but that seems not to be the case.

Based on local land prices, the land we encroached on is worth at most 5500 baht which we are willing to pay. They are demanding 50,000 baht, about half of what it would cost to rebuild the fence. If my wife doesn't agree to the ransom, they say they will sue, which according to my wife would cost us 10,000 baht to defend against, and we don't know the likely outcome.

My wife goes from being confident that we only have to pay the value of the land, to despondent that we'll end up having to pay the 50,000, depending on who she talks to.

Any advice, based on experience or knowledge in this kind of situation?

Am looking for a source for kefir grains. I live upcountry so will need them shipped to me. Will gladly pay for product plus postage. thanks...

5 years is what most "experts" suggest as the useful life of the tire. That is 5 years after manufacture....

My trusted local mechanic, and the dealer where I take my car for service, say it's time to replace the tires because of age. Neither stand to profit. I've got plenty of tread left, tires only four years old, temperature rating of A (the best), car usually parked where it doesn't get direct sunlight. It seems there is a local culture that says tires don't last so long because of the heat, and perhaps that was once true. Anyone else with info that says I should be replacing tires that are only four years old? I'll be taking the family on a long drive soon...

No, too early. As was said above, tires start to deteriorate five years after date of manufacture. This is no different than a expiry date on food. But tread wear should be checked. If you've got noticeable uneven wear on the inside, or outside or in the middle, or combination, it means your tires have repeatedly run without proper inflation. It's your call but uneven wear says the tires have been abused. Also check for bulges and cracks on the sidewall, both sides. If evidence of uneven treadwear or bulges, buy new ones and good ones. The only thing between you and the road are your tires so buy the best, a nice balance between soft (high treadwear) and hard (low treadwear). The softer the tire the better the grip, the harder ones last longer but sacrifice grip and, to my mind, safety. By harder I mean treadwear not resistance to road damage.

Edit: The foregoing is probably more than you need to know. I'd buy a name brand from North America, Europe, Korea or Japan. The latter two probably have a better grasp on markets of their neighbouring countries. In short, buy an import set.

Thank you KB for your feedback. My tires are 4 years old, based on date of manufacture printed on tire (0410 -- fourth week of year 2010). To add to your suggestions: talking to a friend today, he's aware of shops selling unused tires that were several years old already. Important to check at time of purchase the date of manufacture.

As for inflation: I noticed at the shop where I was getting an oil change, they checked the air pressure and released air to bring it down to the recommended pressure. But they checked soon after I arrived, when the tires were hot, so I ended up with under inflated tires.

5 years is what most "experts" suggest as the useful life of the tire. That is 5 years after manufacture....

My trusted local mechanic, and the dealer where I take my car for service, say it's time to replace the tires because of age. Neither stand to profit. I've got plenty of tread left, tires only four years old, temperature rating of A (the best), car usually parked where it doesn't get direct sunlight. It seems there is a local culture that says tires don't last so long because of the heat, and perhaps that was once true. Anyone else with info that says I should be replacing tires that are only four years old? I'll be taking the family on a long drive soon...

Hmmm... by the looks of the bullet holes, and since the bullet holes are high on the windshield but hit the man in the upper body, the gunman must have been standing on the hood of the car, or standing at the side but reaching over to fire through the windshield.