Land Survey

[mandl]

The wife's mother has over 100 rai of land in Isaan. As she is getting on in years, she wants my wife (being the oldest child) to divide it up among all the siblings and transfer titles to each.

The wife has mentioned something about having the land surveyed (as near as I can figure). I suppose that this is necessary to make sure everyone has the correct paperwork and knows exactly which land is theirs once it's divided up.

Has anyone gone through this process and can you give me an idea of how much this costs (as I'll be paying for it).

Thanks.

[chownah]

Up here in the north Mom split a piece of land into two pieces and gave one piece to my wife and one piece to her step son. The land has a chanote...which is a title deed. After splitting we had two parcels each with its own chanote. If your land does not have a chanote then what I'm saying does not apply. To split the land it cost about 3,400 baht to survey the land and put in the new concrete markers (which is required) and about 200 baht for administrative fees. To transfer title, my wife had to pay 1% of the gov't set value of the land. It is rice paddy and they use a flat rate per rai for rice land. This fee is much less than a general sale because my wife is Mom's own genetic offspring so it is taxed at a much lower rate. Mom's step son, however, had to pay his fee just like a general sale since he is not her own genetic offspring. Don't know what he paid but it is just the usual fee....something like 4 or 5 per cent....I guess...don't know for sure.

That's it.

Edited May 31, 2005 by chownah

[mandl]

Chownah -

Thanks for the info. I think she has a chanote, but I'll have to verify that. If I understand you correctly, the land must be divided up before the survey so that the new markers can be set. Is that correct?

mandl

[chownah]

Chownah -

Thanks for the info. I think she has a chanote, but I'll have to verify that. If I understand you correctly, the land must be divided up before the survey so that the new markers can be set. Is that correct?

mandl

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good question. Before the surveyor can set the new markers he needs to know where to put them so he needs to know how you want the land divided. As I describe below you don't need to be a surveyor to divide up the land. If you go to the land office and describe how you want it done the surveyor there will take your description and figure out where the markers go.

First let me point out that what we did was to divide up the land legally into two pieces each with its own chanote. I'm assuming that you want to end up with many pieces of land, each with its own chanote.

I'm experienced with surveying so what I did was I went to the land office and got the survey data sheet for the original parcel...it shows the coordinates (exact mathematical location) of each of the existing survey markers (I say 'existing' here but in truth oftentimes some of the actual concrete markers are missing). I entered the coordinates into AutoCad which is a heavy duty drafting program. I then divided up the parcel of land (in AutoCad) the way I wanted it....and thus found where the new markers should be.

Few people have the expertise to do this...so...when my wife went to the land office (I did not go with her) to request the division of the land they asked her how she wanted it divided. I did not give her my results (too complicated for her) so she described to them (using a drawing of the existing parcel) where she wanted the lines to go and how many rai she wanted in each parcel. The surveyor then used her description to determine the exact location of the new markers. When the surveyor came out to do the survey we compared our results and luckily found them to be nearly identical....after checking out that my result would give the desired split (it was important to us that one of the pieces be exactly 6 rai) he gladly used my results and went ahead and set the markers.

An observation about dividing up land. In my neighborhood if you have a big block of land with a road or irrigation canal along one side and they subdivide, they alway split it up into long strips each having some frontage on the road or canal...that way everyone gets the same benefit and everyone gets access. The result can be strips of land 200 metres long and 30 metres wide....a bit strange perhaps?.... I'm not suggesting this...only pointing out that it is sometimes done this way so if your wife does it like this it is not totally wierd.....

Edited June 1, 2005 by chownah

[mandl]

Sorry I took so long to answer. Been very busy lately.

Lots of good information there. Thank you.

I thought I might be able to get some of the details arranged up front but it sounds like I need to wait until my next visit to the old homestead and take a look at what they have. I haven't seen all the land or the chanotes yet. I'll have to talk to Mom-in-law about how she wants it divided up when I get there.

Thanks again for the info.

mandl