Inquiring about property registered in a Thai Land records gov't office

[watgate]

I was wondering if, as an example, your thai wife or g/f owned property in Thailand, they had a chanote on file in the appropriate gov't Dept, could an unscrupulous person somehow manage to falsify another chanote showing the property in question was sold to another person and have it recorded in the Gov't office? In so doing, the crook could sell the property they just stole or go to a lending  institution with the forged document to obtain a loan against the property.? I would like to think that any new ownership of property would require both parties to have to appear at the appropriate gov't land records office to finalize the transaction.  If this question borders on paranoia or is outlandish, I will put my tail between my legs and crawl off into the sunset.

[Peterw42]

Yes, it does border on paranoia, lol. The land office keeps records, issues and updates chanotes, and they are the only ones who update the records and chanotes. Any sales etc are recorded at the land office and on the chanote, The seller and the buyer both need to present at the land office for a property to change hands. the seller hands in the chanote, the sale is recorded on the chanote, the new owner is then given the modified chanote. If you presented a faked chanote at the land office it wouldn't match the records.

[couchpotato]

38 minutes ago, watgate said:

I was wondering if, as an example, your thai wife or g/f owned property in Thailand, they had a chanote on file in the appropriate gov't Dept, could an unscrupulous person somehow manage to falsify another chanote showing the property in question was sold to another person and have it recorded in the Gov't office? In so doing, the crook could sell the property they just stole or go to a lending  institution with the forged document to obtain a loan against the property.? I would like to think that any new ownership of property would require both parties to have to appear at the appropriate gov't land records office to finalize the transaction.  If this question borders on paranoia or is outlandish, I will put my tail between my legs and crawl off into the sunset.

Time to crawl....

[watgate]

Peter42- Thanks for your informative reply. I thought so but just wanted to make sure because I wasn't that knowledgeable about the process to buy and sell property.

[MangoKorat]

On 3/21/2024 at 2:17 AM, watgate said:

I would like to think that any new ownership of property would require both parties to have to appear at the appropriate gov't land records office to finalize the transaction.

Unfortunately, from what I'm told they don't require the regsitered owner to be present provided the person claiming to have bought the property has the Chanotte.  Copies of ID card and Tabien Baan are normally accepted but I suspect that they will also want some form of Power of Atorney.  They want that to transfer a car without the owner present so it would a bit strange if they didn't want one for land.

 

Ultimately it is entirely possible for land to be transfered without the owner present (possibly brown envelopes involved) - as I've read of several fraudulent transfers done that way. There was a famous case where a Thai woman married to an American who's company owned a lot of property, forged her husband's signature and had it confirmed as true by a lawyer she was in league with. The pair transferred some of the American's property and sold it. Famous because Jonathan Head, the BBC's S.E. Asia correspondent reported on the story and was sued by the lawyer for defamation.  Both the lawyer and the woman had been convicted of the crime but as you probably know - Thailand has some very odd defamation laws.

 

I'm told that they sometimes want the phone number of the registered owner and call them - that wouldn't be too difficult to fake.

[IvorBiggun2]

On 3/21/2024 at 9:17 AM, watgate said:

could an unscrupulous person somehow manage to falsify another chanote

First you need to actually know what a 'Chanote' is.

 

Quote

Land Ownership Laws in Thailand: In Thailand, land is categorized into four types: government land, public land, agricultural land, and private land. Private land, which can be owned outright, is further distinguished by different land title deeds that establish ownership and usage rights.