Change Name On Land Title

[srs]

Hi all.

I hope you guys can help me out here although there is no "Farang" involved.

Person A (Thai) has an original land title document (chanot, nor sor 4) in his possession.

The owner's name on the document though is the name of the A's aunt B (Thai).

This is due to teh fact that the land sale was only possible on one certain day and A has not been in the city at that time. So A payed the money and called B to buy the land (yes I know it is not clever).

Now A and B went to the local "land department" together in order to change the name on the land deed back to A.

The officials said that is not possible within the next ten years.

Is that correct? Is there really no way?

That means you cannot sell your own land to somebody else within the first ten years.

I was under the impression that one has to pay some taxes on that deal (as it would be handled as some kind of speculative transaction).

But is it really impossible?

Thanks a lot

[donx]

If this is the case, then the reason for this must be based upon the type of land title.

[InterestedObserver]

If this is the case, then the reason for this must be based upon the type of land title.

Was the land title recently upgraded? There have been reported cases of recently upgraded title documents being frozen to prevent land speculators from profiteering.

[srs]

Ok. I have some more information that might help. We are talking here about a small area in Issan.

I was told that in the past it was normal that people just owned the area that they lived and worked on.

Often they did not have a legal document whatsoever.

Recently the government is pushing people to "legally" own their land and makes them "buy" their land and have proper land deed documents.

So, for the area we are talking about this is the first time that a Chanot has been issued.

I don't know if that helps.

[donx]

In that case then I agree with InterestedObserver's comment.

[quiksilva]

It would help if you could give us the Thai name of the deed

[srs]

This is what I was told:

โฉนดที่ดิน นศ.4

[quiksilva]

A Chanode Teedin (or Nor Sor 4) is equivalent to a freehold interest in land (a fee simple absolute in possession). InterestedObserver may have a point if it was say a Nor Sor 3 Gor, but a Chanode gives you full rights over the title. I have not heard of restrictions on the transfer of Chanodes before, but if it does have such an encumbrance it will be stated on the back page of the title. Does yours mention anything about this?

The name on the title can be changed as often as you like, but be warned the transfer costs will have to paid each time and if transferred within 3 years you may be subject to SBT (which thankfully is reduced at the moment from 3.3% to 0.11% until the end of March) instead of Stamp Duty, even if there was no sales price, the DOL will apply their government's appraised value as the basis for the tax.

[srs]

Thank you for your answers.

There really is a note stated on the backside of the title. It says that a change of name is not allowed within the first 10 years.

I still don't understand that. So the land can be sold but the name on the title cannot be changed.

I wouldn't buy land under that restriction.

[Gary A]

That happens. My wife bought a piece of land that had been upgraded to a chanote. It too was noted on the back that it could not be sold for a certain period of time. In that case, there was only a year left to wait. She went to the local land office and had here name put on the back as holding a mortgage for the full purchase price. There is some risk that the person named on the document could pay the money back and have the mortgage removed. I wouldn't spend too much money on the land until the time is up and the chanote transferred.