Obtaining a yellow house book when the owner's name is not in the blue house book

[Chris4466]

Hello!

 

I've run into a road block when trying to obtain a yellow house book. I am looking to get a yellow house book so that I can apply for a non-Thai ID card.

 

I am renting in Bangkok and the "owner" of my condo is a Thai company. The director of that company is a Thai citizen and in the lease agreement there is a copy of his Thai ID as well as his blue house book (he lives in a different province).

 

Because the owner is not living in the property which I am renting, he is not listed in the blue house book (because you can only be listed in one blue house book at any one time).

 

I have the physical blue book for the property I'm renting but when visiting the Wattana registration office, they won't proceed any further because the blue house book is blank/empty!

 

I have prepared the following documents/items:

 

• My passport
• My Thai driving license
• My social security card
• The physical blue house book of the condo I am renting
• 2 copies of my passport's photo page
• 2 copies of the Non-Immigrant Visa "B" page in my passport
• 2 copies of my latest departure card and entry stamp
• 2 copies of my 90 day report
• 2 copies of a residence certificate which I obtained last month
• 2 copies of my work permit
• 2 copies of my birth certificate translated into Thai (certified translation)
• I also had my passport notarised by the British embassy, translated into Thai (certified translation) and then legalised by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs
• I also have a company-stamped letter of content from the Thai company who I am renting from (the owner), saying that I have the right to use the address with any Thai authority. This was in English but I also got it translated into Thai (certified translation).
• My 23 page lease agreement which is company-stamped on every page and as I mentioned above, this includes a copy of the director's Thai ID card & blue house book of where he is currently living.

 

I can only really find examples of foreigners obtaining a yellow house book who are married, so I presume their other half is listed in the blue book because they live there too which makes life a lot easier when obtaining the yellow house book.

 

But I am thinking that my scenario must be a common one... Many Thai people would buy other condos/houses for investment purposes and rent them out but they won't be listed in that blue house book.

 

Has anyone encountered this issue before? I am thinking this might be one for an agent if anyone has any recommendations?

Also, I am not sure whether I need to go with the owner which would be virtually impossible because I gather he is a busy person and he lives in a completely different province (I always deal with his assistants).

 

To confirm, I visited the Wattana registration office with a Thai citizen who has a Thai ID card who I was hoping could be my witness. We're both learning about the process as we go along but it's a little frustrating given the amount of documentation I have prepared and have available!

 

Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks,

Chris

[baansgr]

Whether it helps or possible, does it have to be the owner or can it be any Thai registered as the housemaster?.. for your purpose, a Thai friend could register in the blue book, obtain your yellow book and card, then when completed they register back at their normal address...

[Peterw42]

OP, it doesn't make a lot of sense wanting the owner to be in the blue book as only Thais living in the property would be in the BB, Unless you are sharing a house with the owner he wouldn't be in the book. I think you may have misunderstood, its probably more a case they want the owners permission to issue a yellow book. Maybe show the owners ID and the BB he is in, he cant be in more than one so a little hard for them to argue he should be in a BB when already in another.

I have a yellow book for a condo in Pattaya and the blue book is blank. In fact BB is not even on the list of required documents.

[patrick228]

OP: "To confirm, I visited the Wattana registration office with a Thai citizen who has a Thai ID card who I was hoping could be my witness. We're both learning about the process as we go along but it's a little frustrating given the amount of documentation I have prepared and have available!"

 

The Wattana office must have told you what has been lacking and what more documents they need, especially you went with a Thai who should have no communication problem. 

 

 

[Chris4466]

@patrick228, thanks for replying, but although I didn't understand exactly what was said in Thai, I can confirm that they were pointing out the fact that the blue book was blank and that's where the appointment stopped - they didn't even look at any of the other documents I had prepared. Since the appointment, I now understand that a Thai person can be only be registered in a blue book at any one time, so I would have countered with that argument had I known at the time. I'm just not sure why the person working didn't ask that question, so I'm trying to dig into this more as I don't want to keep having wasted trips there. I'm thinking of just going down the agent road for this anyway.

 

Thanks also @Peterw42! I reckon at a push I could get the owner's blue book but I'm not sure he'll let me have his ID! I already have a copy though so I'm hoping that would be enough...

 

@baansgr - that's not a bad idea actually! Although I guess I'd have to get the Thai person listed in my lease agreement first though? Because they would know from the lease agreement that the Thai person isn't the owner of the property?

[jackdd]

The first step in any case is that the owner has to register a housemaster (this doesn't have to be the owner himself, could as well be another person, for example you).

Call them and ask how to register a housemaster for a house which does currently not have anybody registered, I'm 99% certain that they will tell you that the owner has to show up in person and has to bring certain documents like the Chanote.

 

Then the owner would go there together with you, and would register you as housemaster and resident. They might of course tell you that this is not possible, but i guess this would be wrong and they just tell you this because they never did it before and don't know what they are supposed to do.