Maybe this will ring true or not ?

When discussing the possibilty of buying some rai of farmland with my girlfriend and her family an alternative was suggested to me.

Apparently it is normal practise for a thai landowner to borrow money against their land. With this you lend he/she a sum of money and obtain their title deeds to the land by way of security.

The Thai agrees to pay you back the loan within a set period. For example 3 years.

During the loan period you can farm the land and take the profit.

When in this example the 3 year period expires the money is paid back. If not you by default become the owner of the land.

Provided you engage an English speaking Thai Lawyer to do the paperwork for you (and they do exist in Isaan) I think this looks a pretty good option to me.

Anybody done the same thing ?

Isnt that just renting???..pay a deposit & get it back after set period of use.

Trying to claim "title" to land from debts owed is a long and drawn out process & if the amount owed is not on a par with the perceived value of the land, or with a conflict of views between both parties, if will take a long time for a resolution from the court to be delivered, if one is delivered at all.

Farmland is relatively cheap to rent. Realistically, reasonable farmland should cost around 400 - 800B per Rai per year to rent & should return between 4,000 - 8,000B in return less the cost (seeds, root stock, plants, fertiliser, labour, spraying, depreciation on machinery, fuel costs) of whatever crop you are planting.

Cheers,

Soundman.