Found a nice piece of land 15 km from CM city, 3 rai, 1.15 million baht total.

Got a copy of the Chanote title, seems to have no encumbrances listed on the back.

Measured the land with the tape measure, the markers on the ground match the chanote

and the calculated area also matches the chanote, so all looks ok physically. Its a rice field

but the land is high, will use 1m concrete slab so no need to infill (builder verified this).

Will go to TOT to make sure they can extend the telephone line, and check if can have ADSL,

the telephone wire has to be extended maybe 1km.

The electricity poles on the street are good, another westerner 1 km away says he has

2 x 15 Amp meters connected, and power is ok.

Can people suggest what are the next steps please... i am thinking of the following, have i

missed anything:

Steps:

1. get a solicitor asap to do title search.

2. transfer money for deposit from overseas to my thai account

3. once title search is ok, get solicitor to pay deposit to the owner, or do i pay deposit myself?

if there are any issues, is the deposit recoverable?

4. transfer the rest of the money to pay for the balance of the land.

4. solicitor, my wife, and the land owner, all go together to the Land Office to transfer the land.

Questions:

1. how much is the deposit? is it 10% of the property value?

1. Is the balance of the money paid to the land owner while everyone is at the Land Office, once

the title is transferred?

2. Money should go from my wife to the solicitor to the land owner, on the day of chanote transfer?

3. Bank cheque or cash? I prefer bank cheque.

4. How long until the new chanote is issued?

5. Have to pay tax for the land, i believe its 5%, or with a lower declared sale value should be

about 1.5%

Have i missed anything?? Thanks a lot....

At the land office your wife has to certify that the money came from her own funds, so you best stay out of anything to do with the fund transfers.

Check the water situation. Best to have your own water supply by a well, either dug or drilled. A dug well is unlikely to be potable water but good for non-food uses. Dug well should not be too much money; drilled plus casing and pump will go 100-200k baht depending on depth.

Sounds like nice situation. Land here in Phuket in anyplace even marginally desirable starts around 2 million baht / rai; in my area in it is going for 4-6 million; on the west coast it is 8 mn and up.

Please find my comments i red below.

Steps:

1. get a solicitor asap to do title search. If it is indeed a chanote tii din (must have a red garuda) and there are no encumbrances as you say you do not need to involve a lawyer.

2. transfer money for deposit from overseas to my thai account

3. once title search is ok, get solicitor to pay deposit to the owner, or do i pay deposit myself? Why not let your wife pay the owner directly?

4. if there are any issues, is the deposit recoverable? Probably not.

5. transfer the rest of the money to pay for the balance of the land.

6. solicitor, my wife, and the land owner, all go together to the Land Office to transfer the land.

Questions:

1. how much is the deposit? is it 10% of the property value? Negotiable, we paid everything at the land office for my wife's land.

2. Is the balance of the money paid to the land owner while everyone is at the Land Office, once the title is transferred? Normally yes.

3. Money should go from my wife to the solicitor to the land owner, on the day of chanote transfer? From you to the seller.

4. Bank cheque or cash? I prefer bank cheque. Use a Bank Draft and not a check as it will take time to clear the check and this will delay the transfer process.

5. How long until the new chanote is issued?

6. Have to pay tax for the land, i believe its 5%, or with a lower declared sale value should be about 1.5% Try to negotiate 50/50 for the transfer taxes but ensure nevertheless that any withholding tax or any special business tax, if applicable, are paid by the seller.

Make sure that the lawyer you use is familiar with "usufructs" and get one arranged and registered as soon as possible to protect your own interests.

I dont know if this can be done at the same time, as you will have to sign a form saying that you have no claim on the land, so you may have to wait until a seperate occasion to go to the land office again.

HL

Thanks for the reply everyone, we are getting a lawyer to do the due diligence:

title search = 2000 baht

transfer help at land office + all docs into english + dealing with vendor = 5000 baht

seems reasonable, so we take that course to make it safer & easier!

thanks...