Family Selling My House

[eric1000]

I have just been tipped off by a neighbour and teacher that while i have been away my family have decided to sell off my house.

There reason so they say is that my deceased Thai wife has been haunting the place and they cannot live there any more. Its more to do with the fact they want to buy a new car i suspect.

I am gutted you hear about this happeneing to farangs but i never thought i would be a victim.

what can i do ? spread it around that its haunted so that nobody else will buy it ?

to all those thinking of buying OR BUILDING a house dont do it

Thais are so unsrupulous i am in shock about the whole thing

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Erect a spirit house and get the monks in to chant away evil spirits. Ask the neighbours for input.

[Guest IT Manager]

Blow your family up. They are no good anyway.

[nitroII]

Ah, it's the old let's-sell-the-house-that-the-farang-built-in-order-to-buy-a-new-car-under-the-pretext-that-the-house-is-haunted scam. Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I've heard this one, I'd be a rich man.

On the serious side, you might get a little consolation out of the fact that you're certainly not the only one. Every farang who has ever built a house for a Thai has thought, "It (the family screwing me over) could never happen to me." Nor is this a contemporary problem. Consider this passage from The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia:

"The value of daughters was never questioned in early Southeast Asia. Bride wealth passed from male to female at marriage (the reverse of the European dowry custom), and it was normal practice for a married couple to reside with the family of the bride. Contemporary iconography as well as the earliest literary records portray the marriage ritual as involving the escort of the male, with his bride price, to the residence of the female for the marriage ceremony. Should the husband leave his wife, the bridal wealth, as well as their mutual resources (including their land), remained in her possession. From the perspective of the woman's family an absent husband created no substantial hardship, as the abandoned wife and children were quickly assimilated into the family work unit."

Note the use of the term, "bride price". In Thailand there is no "dowry" (where the woman's family pays). If you hear of a Thai woman offering a dowry, please contact me immediately. I'm marrying her.

[Supersurch]

Do you still have ownership of the property? Is your name on the deed or title? How the heck can they just sell the house without your permission? That sucks, man!

I don't have a solution, since I am pretty naive about property ownership in Thailand, but I do sympathize. Get yourself a Thai lawyer or something.

[george]

Do you want to stay there without your wife?

If yes, bring Black Label and talk to the village manager (Pujai Baan).

[eric1000]

they are looking after my kids so they need somewhere to live if they sell the house the kids will be uprooted and probably have to move school as i understand from my informant that they plan to move to another village.

the father is an ex head man and is always hard up so i suspect he is in on it too

and all this without informing me , what a choice bloody thai family !

they have always been well looked after its probably that they cant wait to get their greasy little fingers on the big win.

my informant says they are fed up waiting to win the lottery !

their actual words to her

not only do i lose my house but it looks like my children as well

[dr_Pat_Pong]

I don't have a solution, since I am pretty naive about property ownership in Thailand, but I do sympathize. Get yourself a Thai lawyer or something.

Naive ! You can say that again. Foreigners generally don't get to own land in Thailand

[eric1000]

to elaborate on these banging noises i have heard them myself and they are extremely loud ! always on the side of the house where the main bedroom is .

and they are a bit scary . i have tried to figure out what is causing them and cant be sure

since we know there are no such thing as ghosts there must be a logical explanation.

if you hit the side of the house with a 14lb sledgehammer that wouldnt be heavy enough . this is like someone is hitting the house wall with a wrecking ball slung from a crane its a massive thud. next day

i looked for marks and indentations on the wall in case some local neighbour or nut was doing this at night but nothing. i thought maybe monks are trying to drum up some trade in cleansing the house of spirits .

but there is a high wall next to the house which means you cant swing a large heavy object to cause such a loud thud .

the only plausible explanation i can think of is some underground earth shock or minor tremor which is hitting this side of the house on the odd occasion.

if it is my departed wife banging on the wall then she is doing a good and loud job.

there are neighbours pumping water up from underground roundabout so water is not very deep down

anybody have any other ideas about these strange noises ?

a neighbours wall has also had them

[kwiz117]

If I were you,

I will lease a Car for them. Keep the house as the Mortgage. So no one can sell it.

Very simple.

Problem solved.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Or tell potential buyers that the place is haunted. All Thai's are superstitious, so you'll eliminate potential buyers. Is the property in the inlaws name already ?

[kwiz117]

to elaborate on these banging noises i have heard them myself and they are extremely loud ! always on the side of the house where the main bedroom is .

and they are a bit scary . i have tried to figure out what is causing them and cant be sure

since we know there are no such thing as ghosts there must be a logical explanation.

if you hit the side of the house with a 14lb sledgehammer that wouldnt be heavy enough . this is like someone is hitting the house wall with a wrecking ball slung from a crane its a massive thud. next day

i looked for marks and indentations on the wall in case some local neighbour or nut was doing this at night but nothing. i thought maybe monks are trying to drum up some trade in cleansing the house of spirits .

but there is a high wall next to the house which means you cant swing a large heavy object to cause such a loud thud .

the only plausible explanation i can think of is some underground earth shock or minor tremor which is hitting this side of the house on the odd occasion.

if it is my departed wife banging on the wall then she is doing a good and loud job.

there are neighbours pumping water up from underground roundabout so water is not very deep down

anybody have any other ideas about these strange noises ?

a neighbours wall has also had them

I do not believe your story. Sorry..

Anyway, I have heard so many stories like this in my country and in other Asian countries. If it is an old colonial type large empty house, these sound can come due to the way the wind passes through Corners inside the house. If you are into Rock Climbing, you will hear this type of sounds when you are above the tree levels and if the Rock has many curves/caves in it.

Also it is possible that a sound happening far away to end up reflecting inside your house. No other houses will hear this, but only your house or may be the neighbors can hear, based on the location and the path the sound travels. Why the ghosts come mainly in the night and with a silent background ? , is due to the fact that you can hear it clearly only during that time.

Also if you are a believer, it will work as an Amplifier to this and make you hear the sound several times more than what you actually hear.

If you are after a Drink, this will also give you a synthesizing effect with some surround sound effects.

Once you start believing these things and go to an extreme, you will see people getting in to a stage where they go insane, shouting while rotating the head. This is a very common thing you can see in Asian Villages.

You get some guy who is capable of chasing the Ghost away from this victim in these Villages. Normally this person in the village considered to have some spiritual powers where he can see the "Type" of the ghost living in the victims body.

So the villages will arrange a ceremony and it is actually very interesting and entertaining to watch. They use various types of Masks and Fire effects, dancing and questioning the victim.

Then due to the questions and threatening the ghost will run away and the victim will get into an unconscious stage. After the victim become conscious, they will celebrate the event and everything will get back to normal.

This may look like a joke to many of you. But this is real. The same practice is happening in some African Tribes as well.

All these things happen due to the weakness the people in controlling the mind and also the extreme believes.

So I advice whoever post this to get out of these myths before becoming another victim of these extreme believes.

[pnustedt]

I am gutted you hear about this happeneing to farangs but i never thought i would be a victim.

I guess your options depend a great deal on your financial status.

Do you want to continue living with such heartless people?

Get a life and take control - take the kids and move, surely you don't want your kids being raised by them?

[Guest IT Manager]

If your name is on the certificates it is quite cut and dried, but for the record, my old house, about 100 metres from the pracha was most dfinitely visited on at least 3 occasions, and the sounds were loud bangs on 2 doors.

Call me a dick if you like, but I can assure you, 500 metres from the nearest house, everyone in bed and locals asleep for hours already, it was not humans banging.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

After a good quantity of red ned ?

[maerim]

it was not humans banging.

Always say you don't know, he could have o.d on the viagra.

[Nam Kao]

Eric, go marry an orphan and put the house in her name.

Can I ask what happened to your wife?

thanks

nam

[ThaiAdventure]

When you are married to Thai and he/she is deceased. Do the rights to the property not fall to the children as the next of (non farang) kin? If this is the case (lawyers please jump in) then can you not be the legal guardian as far as disposing of assets is concerned?

[k for kandy]

spread it around that its haunted so that nobody else will buy it ?

yes

[Khun ?]

Unless you are going to stay there with the children then what should you expect from them. Since you did not elaborate on the circuimstances I would say knowing the average price of a thai house in a small village being around 700,000 baht and for a farang everything starts at 1 mil. its not allot for the care of your children and since it is them living there then let them sell and move on unless you take responsibilty then you sell or stay and carry on. You did say your children so its yours if you take care of them or it is theirs if they take care of them.

[NedKelly]

Thai adventure sounds promising. But I think you are in a bad position with your house. Farang cannot own a house or land and these days you even sign that form saying you have no rights or claims over it. But you need to be assertive with the family. If they wish to sell, you must demand that they pay you a share.....this is fare and they have to acknowledge it is your money (assuming your purchased the place) so if they are at all fare you maybe able to get some of it back. You need to bring in the big guns.......go above everyone and appeal to the local governor or whatever. Someone may come to your aid. If all this fails and you feel that you are going to lose everything dothis : take your kids and torch the house !! You could also remind them how cheap it is to hire a hit man in Thailand to knock them all off. Or if they do buy the car.....steal it and sell it !! gees I am an evil bastard.

[Guest IT Manager]

Ask for 97% plus the kids. Is your name on their birth certificates? If you are the father it's not an issue. Have a lawyer pop round and dispose of your mother in law, since she will have started it. Then take the kids and forget the family... not that they will care.

[marquess]

It has been my understanding from having read an article in the Bangkok Post. That a foreigner could inherit a property, and thus gain full ownership of it. I know of no law prohibiting this.

[eric1000]

Ask for 97% plus the kids. Is your name on their birth certificates? If you are the father it's not an issue. Have a lawyer pop round and dispose of your mother in law, since she will have started it. Then take the kids and forget the family... not that they will care.

yes my name is their surname , all legal and documented at the Embassy ,passports etc

its not the money that really bothers me so much but the gross betrayel of trust !

i guess the amount is less than a million baht , plus all the hard work put in by me installing various features over time

some one asked how my wife died , a bizzare and unbelieveable story even by thai standards . if i told you someone would say i was making it up , so i dont want to say any more. she was a good kid of only early 30s ,never any hassle over money or gold chains .

Even at immigration i breazed through with her ashes in my holdall as she always said she wanted to be buried in the ground in my country .

no worries about visas on this trip.

[shemmy]

Alas my newbee,your f***ed. safely burn the house down,trust me you'll get back some of the self respect,,,,,,,,,,,do it!!!!!!!!!

[nitroII]

Eric,

If you try to go the "legal" route, you haven't got a chance. This is Thailand, you are farang... you don't stand a chance in a court of law. However, that doesn't mean you can't make your case before the Phu Yai Bahn (village headman/ woman). The Phu Yai Bahns can wield an incredible amount of power over the villagers' lives. Whatever decision the Phu Yai Bahn makes, your wive's family will have no option but to obey (or risk being ostracized from the community).

[ThaiAdventure]

Stay in the house for 1 month with your kids, sell it and bugger off.

[nitroII]

Sell it?

He can't sell it; that's the point. THIS IS THAILAND. C'mon people, figure it out. You're giving all this absolutely useless advice, which doesn't apply here in the Land of Smirks. The fact that the neighbors have told him (Eric) what's going on tells me that they don't like the wife's family. That works in his favor. The Phu Yai Bahn is Number One in the area, so Eric could quite possibly enlist their help in his case. Without confronting the Phu Yai Bahn, the neighbors wouldn't dare to help him.

[ThaiAdventure]

He can sell it as the legal guardian of the kids on their behalf. He will be acting as a broker in their interests. The money goes to the kids and not the family or him (I am assuming of course they are Thai nationals).

Yes this is Thailand. And anything is possible!

[Nam Kao]

Marry an orphan and have her adopt your kids