I am wondering how to protect our selves on a pending land purchase. ( Purchased land for our family home will be in my wifes name. )

Apparently there is a lean against it, we have not been to the land office to see the back of the Chanote yet so see if a financial institution has a note on it, or if the lean is with a loan shark who has the Chanote. All we know is that the daughter has morgated her mum land and house and she is trying to keep it a secret form her mum, this doesn't effect my question though.

The mother owns the land, with her little house in one corner, we were planning to buy half of the land including a 4m wide slice along the boundary that we will own for driveway access. The land is currently one Chanote dated about 15 years ago.

Problem is that they (the seller) will most likely need money from our purchase to clear the debt, be it with a financial institutional in the land office or with a loan shark.

We have 100% ruled out giving money to a loan shark (via the daughter) to free the Chanote for the sale if this is the case, but if it is with a financial institution (bank) who sends a rep to the land office we are open to a simultaneousness transaction. I mean, all parties at the table, money given to the bank, debt cleared, Chanote changed and given to us which I believe is common in Thailand.

Here is the problem, been many lies so far from the daughter, we have been told that at best it will take a week and may take up to 4 weeks to have the Chanote split up and the ground staked out.

So how can we protect our selves from these dodgy people, if for the sale, it is our money that clears the bank debt on the land office signing day, then we have to wait a month before we get the Chanote?

We were aware of a time taken when splitting up the land, and planned to place a small deposit and the rest when the Chaotes were available, we do not feel easy about paying for almost 90% of the amount when I have heard they can just cancel the deal and run with the money.

Would a legal contract of some sort, hold the land office to give us the Chanote a month down the track?

Thank you Sunbelt.

To properly execute a mortgage on a property, both the borrower and the lender (or their representative) are required to be at the land office to register the collateral status on the property. In the case of a loan shark, they may only execute an informal loan agreement and the lender would hold on to the title deed certificate (Chanote).

If the collateral status (lien) has been registered on the property the best way to secure the property is for the lender or his representative to be present at the Land Office where a 3 party transaction would take place. First the lender would release the collateral status on the property and transfer it back to its owner. then the owner (seller) would transfer the ownership of the property to you or your designated party. You would have to be certain of the exact date such transfer would take place so that the lender can calculate the incurred interest and outstanding loan amount where you can then have two checks. One for the lender and other for the seller.

If the seller has borrowed money from a private party such as a loan shark then the lender will need to be present at the Land Office in order to receive the loan repayment and hand over the title deed back to the seller.

Acquiring just a portion of the property does make things more complicated as the land segmentation may take 1-3 months depending on the availability of the Official Surveyor. It would also involved the neighboring land owner's acknowledgement and consent that the segmentation would not take up part of their land.

One option would be to have the seller list the buyer as one of the co-owners of the property (and you must indicate which part would be in their name). Once both names are on the title you could then proceed with the land segmentation and the issuance of a new title deed for the separated plot.

Sunbelt Asia suggests that a pre-purchase agreement be drawn up requiring the name and address of both seller and buyer (ID card and house registration copies, land information, payment scheme, each parties responsibility and any other special conditions that may apply.

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