Wholesale Soil Excavation On Adjoining Property

[MESmith]

The land next to ours has been bought by someone who intends to dig out the soil to sell for fill. This will result in a very large & very deep hole. Legally, how close to our land can they dig?

[Crossy]

No idea legally, but bet on them going right to the marker posts

Do they intend making a lake or something?

[MESmith]

No idea legally, but bet on them going right to the marker posts

Do they intend making a lake or something?

We're out in the ricefields. I imagine it will be just abandoned & left to fill with water in the wet season, to be pumped into the rice fields during the dry season.

It's about 9 rai.

Edited November 15, 2011 by MESmith

[Pushit]

Is your house close to this excavation? if so you might want to be getting a retaining wall/sheet piling to stop your property ending up in that hole. Which will fill up with water. Maybe they are starting a fish farm

[MESmith]

Is your house close to this excavation? if so you might want to be getting a retaining wall/sheet piling to stop your property ending up in that hole. Which will fill up with water. Maybe they are starting a fish farm

House is about 70m away from that boundary, so no problems with respect to that.

[Pushit]

Is your house close to this excavation? if so you might want to be getting a retaining wall/sheet piling to stop your property ending up in that hole. Which will fill up with water. Maybe they are starting a fish farm

House is about 70m away from that boundary, so no problems with respect to that.

Even so you could lose a lot of soil into that hole!!

[MESmith]

Is your house close to this excavation? if so you might want to be getting a retaining wall/sheet piling to stop your property ending up in that hole. Which will fill up with water. Maybe they are starting a fish farm

House is about 70m away from that boundary, so no problems with respect to that.

Even so you could lose a lot of soil into that hole!!

That's why I need to know how we stand legally. Wifey will be off to govt offices in the morning to see what if any rights we have.

[Pushit]

Is your house close to this excavation? if so you might want to be getting a retaining wall/sheet piling to stop your property ending up in that hole. Which will fill up with water. Maybe they are starting a fish farm

House is about 70m away from that boundary, so no problems with respect to that.

Even so you could lose a lot of soil into that hole!!

That's why I need to know how we stand legally. Wifey will be off to govt offices in the morning to see what if any rights we have.

Best of Luck

[InterestedObserver]

That's why I need to know how we stand legally. Wifey will be off to govt offices in the morning to see what if any rights we have.

From the Civil and Commercial Code:

Section 1343. Land may not be excavated or overloaded in such manner as to endanger the stay of soil of an adjoining piece of land unless adequate measures are provided for preventing and injury.

[MESmith]

That's why I need to know how we stand legally. Wifey will be off to govt offices in the morning to see what if any rights we have.

From the Civil and Commercial Code:

Section 1343. Land may not be excavated or overloaded in such manner as to endanger the stay of soil of an adjoining piece of land unless adequate measures are provided for preventing and injury.

Thank you. So it's not a physical distance as in the building laws.

[InterestedObserver]

That's why I need to know how we stand legally. Wifey will be off to govt offices in the morning to see what if any rights we have.

From the Civil and Commercial Code:

Section 1343. Land may not be excavated or overloaded in such manner as to endanger the stay of soil of an adjoining piece of land unless adequate measures are provided for preventing and injury.

Thank you. So it's not a physical distance as in the building laws.

Safety issues aside, I'd say that if the neighbor wants to build a retaining wall, to keep your soil in place, he could excavate up to within two meters of the boundary.

[TongueThaied]

^{You saw the civil law section cited above. Now it is up to you to enforce the law. We have a saying in the west, "sit on your rights and you lose them." Here, as anywhere, regardless of what the civil law is, if the offending person will not reach agreement, you can only enforce the civil law by going to court (or, maybe with a gun).}

^{If you really want to protect your property and are willing to spend whatever it takes to do so, hire an engineer and a lawyer. The engineer needs to complete an analysis and report reflecting the closest the excavation can come to your property with out undermining it by natural sluffing off over many years. They the lawyer needs to file for an injunction permanently restraining the neighbor from excavating within the margin indicated by the engineer. I am pretty sure the court would issue an immediate temporary restraining order stopping the guy in his tracks until the issue is resolved (which could take a year or more). But you must also beware of the danger of somebody paying off the judge, which could have disasterous results.}

[jaapfries]

^{You saw the civil law section cited above. Now it is up to you to enforce the law. We have a saying in the west, "sit on your rights and you lose them." Here, as anywhere, regardless of what the civil law is, if the offending person will not reach agreement, you can only enforce the civil law by going to court (or, maybe with a gun).}

^{If you really want to protect your property and are willing to spend whatever it takes to do so, hire an engineer and a lawyer. The engineer needs to complete an analysis and report reflecting the closest the excavation can come to your property with out undermining it by natural sluffing off over many years. They the lawyer needs to file for an injunction permanently restraining the neighbor from excavating within the margin indicated by the engineer. I am pretty sure the court would issue an immediate temporary restraining order stopping the guy in his tracks until the issue is resolved (which could take a year or more). But you must also beware of the danger of somebody paying off the judge, which could have disasterous results.}

And . . . . . you must also be aware (this being Thailand) to play the "Cultural-Rules" properly. Give your neighbor ("The Excavator")an opportunity to have a discussion, before you take things to a court. Because, besides being able to bribe a judge, he may also decide to hire a gun-man and then the consequences are far more grave. Give him an opportunity to "be reasonable" first ! !

Good luck with this

[MESmith]

And . . . . . you must also be aware (this being Thailand) to play the "Cultural-Rules" properly. Give your neighbor ("The Excavator")an opportunity to have a discussion, before you take things to a court. Because, besides being able to bribe a judge, he may also decide to hire a gun-man and then the consequences are far more grave. Give him an opportunity to "be reasonable" first ! !

Good luck with this

Wise words. No plans to go in feet first, escalating a situation that may not even arise. Just need to know where we stand in case they start excavating right up to the boundary. A couple of metres or so & there shouldn't be a problem. If the previous owner had approached us first, we'd have probably paid more per rai for some of the land adjoining ours.

[seedy]

I know of a property on Pratumnak Hill, house work 50M Baht.

On lot next door they are building a condo. His pool cracked and will not hold water, boundary wall starting to sink.

Bad situation.

[hedonist44]

And . . . . . you must also be aware (this being Thailand) to play the "Cultural-Rules" properly. Give your neighbor ("The Excavator")an opportunity to have a discussion, before you take things to a court. Because, besides being able to bribe a judge, he may also decide to hire a gun-man and then the consequences are far more grave. Give him an opportunity to "be reasonable" first ! !

Good luck with this

Wise words. No plans to go in feet first, escalating a situation that may not even arise. Just need to know where we stand in case they start excavating right up to the boundary. A couple of metres or so & there shouldn't be a problem. If the previous owner had approached us first, we'd have probably paid more per rai for some of the land adjoining ours.

Well, if the guy was smart, he'd leave a buffer of at least 5 meters from the property markers to where the lake will start to slope down. This way he will have an access all the around his property and will not put any of your land in jeopardy of falling in the lake.

[MESmith]

Just back from a visit to the orbortor. They informed us that the owner would have to get permission to excavate, & the regulations are that the distance from adjacent land must be twice the depth of the hole. Sounds reasonable, as long as it's enforced.

[T_Dog]

^{You saw the civil law section cited above. Now it is up to you to enforce the law. We have a saying in the west, "sit on your rights and you lose them." Here, as anywhere, regardless of what the civil law is, if the offending person will not reach agreement, you can only enforce the civil law by going to court (or, maybe with a gun).}

^{If you really want to protect your property and are willing to spend whatever it takes to do so, hire an engineer and a lawyer. The engineer needs to complete an analysis and report reflecting the closest the excavation can come to your property with out undermining it by natural sluffing off over many years. They the lawyer needs to file for an injunction permanently restraining the neighbor from excavating within the margin indicated by the engineer. I am pretty sure the court would issue an immediate temporary restraining order stopping the guy in his tracks until the issue is resolved (which could take a year or more). But you must also beware of the danger of somebody paying off the judge, which could have disasterous results.}

And . . . . . you must also be aware (this being Thailand) to play the "Cultural-Rules" properly. Give your neighbor ("The Excavator")an opportunity to have a discussion, before you take things to a court. Because, besides being able to bribe a judge, he may also decide to hire a gun-man and then the consequences are far more grave. Give him an opportunity to "be reasonable" first ! !

Good luck with this

Good advice and train of thought here. We had a neighbor start doing some work next to our land and the wife could not get them to discuss their plans at all. We put up a fence right on our property line as fast as we could and a few days later they filled in a road right up to the fence post tops. Had we not been aggressive in protection, the road would have spilled onto our land. Give them a chance, but stand your rights.

By the way, we put in a 3 meter deep pond and provided a 3 meter setback to another neighbor with full discussion about it. No worries on that side. It pays to be open and talk with all your neighbors so you don't end up having snakes thrown over the fence!

[InterestedObserver]

Just back from a visit to the orbortor. They informed us that the owner would have to get permission to excavate, & the regulations are that the distance from adjacent land must be twice the depth of the hole. Sounds reasonable, as long as it's enforced.

That's for underground water pipes or similar installations, but if enforced you certainly could live with it.

[T_Dog]

MES.... Two weeks ago we had 45 trucks of dirt delivered and the pit owner invited me to ride along a while and drive a run. There was a house at the top of the pit and I could see that the excavation was approaching it. I asked him if the house was in any danger and he just smiled and said "Mai Pen Rai". I certainly would not want to be living up there. You are lucky if the excavations can fill up with water as that is more stable than the situation in these photos!

[MESmith]

That's why I wanted to know what our rights are in case of any funny business by the landowner. If we suspect he's digging too close, he'll soon be made aware that we have already been to see orbortor.

[T_Dog]

That's why I wanted to know what our rights are in case of any funny business by the landowner. If we suspect he's digging too close, he'll soon be made aware that we have already been to see orbortor.

Good. Also don't forget to have the Pui Yai Baan in the loop. We were told by a commission that we could not do some things that we wanted to do and the PYB interceded with a letter and took command. They are very, very influential in an arbotor regulated zone. They will look at the public good at large in their decisions which in most cases is good.