Usufruct In Kuchinarai - First Time Ever

[ThaiLawOnline]

I was in Kuchinarai for a client yesterday and to my surprise, we registered the FIRST usufruct agreement EVER in this land department! The Thai officers were laughing, were very nice, checked everything and it went very well.

What does it mean? I don't know! My client was just happy, and I believe people are taking more and more legal protection when investing in a house or a property.

I was glad that even if they never did it in Kuchinarai, we didn't have a problem with the officers and did everyting in about an hour at the land department.

[soidog2]

Do you mean; transferred the land or land use to the farang’s name in perpetuity ?

Why the big excitement ?

[chevykanteve]

I was in Kuchinarai for a client yesterday and to my surprise, we registered the FIRST usufruct agreement EVER in this land department! The Thai officers were laughing, were very nice, checked everything and it went very well.

What does it mean? I don't know! My client was just happy, and I believe people are taking more and more legal protection when investing in a house or a property.

I was glad that even if they never did it in Kuchinarai, we didn't have a problem with the officers and did everyting in about an hour at the land department.

I've just looked up usufruct in the dictionary and a few other sources. I then re-read your post. What you say sounds very tantalizing, but, WHAT EXACTLY DOES IT MEAN IN THIS (Thai) LEGAL CONTEXT?? You've got me curious.

[kalasin]

I - no my wife - own land in Kuchinarai. So I am interested. Usufruct is noy a word you learn i danish schools, so I had to look it up too.

But I still have no idea, what the first post means? And what is the difference from before?

An explanation for those who haven't studied law please.

[jazzbo]

The simpler American legal term, for explanation, is Easement.

This from Wikipedia:

The right is often described as the right to use the land of another for a special purpose. Unlike a lease, an easement does not give the holder a right of "possession" of the property, only a right of use. It is distinguished from a licence that only gives one a personal privilege to do something on the land of another. An example of a licence is the right to park a car in a parking lot with the consent of the parking lot owner. Licences in general can be terminated by the property owner much more easily than easements. This is similar to but not the same as a wayleave. Easements also differ from licences in that they are attached to the land, not to a person.

This means that a property that enjoys an easement over another will continue to enjoy the easement even if the property gets transferred to a different owner.

Usually the 'easement' allows a utility to access a property for powerlines, sewer lines, etc., but can also be for a property that can only be accessed by crossing a property owned by another. I encountered the term in regards to access for drilling oil and gas wells.

How this affects someone who builds a house in Thailand on someone else's property by way of a 'usufruct' is for someone else to answer.

[ThaiLawOnline]

A usufruct is a real right, attached to the land, to someone (foreigner or not). For example, if your wife or girlfriend owns land in Thailand (foreigners can't- only few exceptions), she gives you the right to stay there for a period of time or the rest of your life, for an amount or money or for free. If she dies, for example, you can stay in the house/land, no problem, even if in reality, the land will go to her heirs, and this, for the rest of your life if this contract mentionned it.

We do this contract quite often. The big excitement is just that more and more foreigners are protecting their investment and do lease, loan or usufruct contract. We all heard stories about foreigners losing the house they paid... It's nothing much, but it's was completely new in Kuchinarai and I was afraid that we might have problems. Sometimes, officers don't know or don't want to do these contracts. But it went very well.

The land can NEVER be transferred to a foreigner (unless you invest 40 m baht and/or have some authorization (very rare). But yes, the name of the foreigner is ON the title deed and the foreigner can stay there until he dies... (unless he doesn't have a visa to stay in Thailand!)

[kalasin]

Thank you for a very good explanation. That's really worth considering.