Buying A Condo With A Sea View (above 80 M)

[bellachg]

In yesterday's Phuket Gazette's "Questions and Answers" there is an item where a prospective buyer of a condominium on 50 Pi Road was advised by "an officer from the Patong Municipality Office" as follows: "The law prohibits building construction anywhere 80 meters or above mean sea level. This includes making alterations that would result in a structure exceeding the 80-meter limit. The Patong Municipality has already ordered that any building which exceeds 80 m must be reduced in size. The only exception would be for people who owned the land and property before the law came into effect, provided the land is not used for business purposes."

I am not sure where this exception originates. I have copies of the Phuket Environmental Protection regulations, passed in 1997, both in the English translation and in the original Thai text. Zone 7 covers all land in Phuket above 80 m above Mean Sea Level. For Zone 7 the Regulations prescribe "Zone No. 7 is not allowed to build or modify any building". Nowhere in these regulations can I see any exceptions. Perhaps the Patong Municipality official can explain from where this exception originates. If there is such an amendment, or even a local interpretation, it would be nice to be able to read up on it, to see how exactly it is worded. I must admit, that I have heard about this so-called exception before, and that it was meant to allow Thai owners of these parcels who use them for agricultural purposes, including rubber cultivation, to construct a simple residence so they could live on these parcels while they work them. But I have never been able to find a written confirmation of this. It seems reasonable, to allow such people to live at these higher elevations for the above reasons. However, is certainly does not excuse the construction of foreigners' villas, restaurants, hotels and condominiums.

Leaves the question, will this order alluded to by the Patong official be followed or enforced, in other words will almost all of the buildings above 80 m on 50 Pi Road have to be dismantled? Many of the buildings on this road are well above 80 m, most of the them are used by farangs, and some fo them are as high as even 160 m. The Thai Planning Act certainly gives the municipality the right to enforce dismantlement. I very much doubt this will happen though, order or no order. To my knowledge almost all of the builders who have violated the 80 m law have done so knowingly, and have obtained building permits to do so. One wonders about the competence, dilligence and honesty of building officials, whichever applies, who allowed this to happen.

Patong is by no means unique in this laxity of enforcing the 80 m limitation. I know of several examples in Kamala and one in Chalong.

If a land or house owner is interested in determining whether his construction satisfies the 80 m restriction, here is an easy way to do so, at least approximately. On the accompanying photo the top of the roof of the Andaman Beach Condo has an elevation of 80 m. Standing at your site draw a horizontal line from the sea's horizon. If it passes ABOVE the roof of the Andaman Beach Condo you are standing at a spot above 80 m of elevation.

Many people own hand-held GPS units these days. Most of these will display elevations to an accuracy of around 5-10 m. But one should be very careful using these GPS units. Firstly you should have unobstructed visibility to several well distributed satellites, not obstructed by buildings or even foliage. Then also the GPS measures elevations above the geoid, which is the mathematically perfect shape of the earth, which, due to gravitational anomalities in the earth's crust, differs from the actual sea surface at most localities. In Phuket this difference amounts to about 20 m. In other words, from the GPS elevation in Phuket one should subtract 20 m to obtain a Mean Sea Level elevation.

[fiddlehead]

My GPS (Garmin 60 CSX) has a built in barometric altimeter which can be set easily at sea level to zero and then go check the heights of these buildings within 5 meters.

There are hundreds of buildings above 80 meters on Phuket and probably more than a thousand.

I imagine it's who you know to get these permits. (or who you pay)

[katabeachbum]

My GPS (Garmin 60 CSX) has a built in barometric altimeter which can be set easily at sea level to zero and then go check the heights of these buildings within 5 meters.

There are hundreds of buildings above 80 meters on Phuket and probably more than a thousand.

I imagine it's who you know to get these permits. (or who you pay)

Most building permits close to 80 meters, aplicant is asked to inform Tessabaan in application about the buildingheight. That way Tessabaans back is clear when they come from BKK to check. Buildingpermit is based on aplicants information/plans.

Tessabaan does not (or at least didnt have) a GPS to measure height. They where amazed when they saw mine 6 years ago. One of the employees offered me some land, and I wanted to show why I was not interested. We went to the beach first to calibrate, and then up to 110 meters buildings.

[bellachg]

My GPS (Garmin 60 CSX) has a built in barometric altimeter which can be set easily at sea level to zero and then go check the heights of these buildings within 5 meters.

There are hundreds of buildings above 80 meters on Phuket and probably more than a thousand.

I imagine it's who you know to get these permits. (or who you pay)

The barometric method actually is more reliable. However, you have to make allowance for changes in barometric pressure due to air temperature and weather changes. In tropical countries there is a diurnal change in pressure. Best to take an observation at the sea then move quickly to where you want to measure and then return to the sea for another measurement, to determine how much pressure has changed in the meantime.

I am not sure whether there are that many buildings over 80 m high as you say. I should think less than 100, but then I have not driven along that road for a while. A very few of those buildings would comply, having been built before 1998.

[bellachg]

My GPS (Garmin 60 CSX) has a built in barometric altimeter which can be set easily at sea level to zero and then go check the heights of these buildings within 5 meters.

There are hundreds of buildings above 80 meters on Phuket and probably more than a thousand.

I imagine it's who you know to get these permits. (or who you pay)

Most building permits close to 80 meters, aplicant is asked to inform Tessabaan in application about the buildingheight. That way Tessabaans back is clear when they come from BKK to check. Buildingpermit is based on aplicants information/plans.

Tessabaan does not (or at least didnt have) a GPS to measure height. They where amazed when they saw mine 6 years ago. One of the employees offered me some land, and I wanted to show why I was not interested. We went to the beach first to calibrate, and then up to 110 meters buildings.

What the tessaban's had for a long time is a large-scale topographical map of their entire municipal area showing 5 m contours. If they were able to plot the lot where a building permit was applied for in the proper location on that plan, they could determine whether it was above 80 m or not. However, for every building permit an architect's drawing must be supplied, signed by the architect to be correct, and it has to show contour lines. The latter would be the document mostly relied on by the approving officer.

Four years ago the Provincial Government commissioned the establishment of some 200 official benchmarks all around Phuket's coast lines, precisely for the purpose of surveyors and architects referring the elevations shown on plans submitted for building approval to Mean Sea Level. A prudent municipal official will insist that elevations shown on plans submitted are certified to be correct by a surveyor or architect and referred to this new bench mark system.