Land Purchase Contract For Future Land Ownership?

[SoCalChris]

My Thai wife's mother is going to give my wife a piece of land to build a house on in a small rural village just north of Sisaket. This gift property is landlocked. So the mother asked an adjacent property owner to sell her a small section of their land to add to the gift property for creating a driveway. This was done by drafting up a land purchase contract in exchange for the payment. I questioned the transaction method, but was told this is how it is commonly done.

However, I find out after the purchase that the bank actually owns the adjacent property, not the seller. He is poor, and I have no idea when he will pay off his property either so that my wife can finally own it. I personally think my Thai wife's mom should have made the contract with both the bank and the property seller. If he defaults on his mortgage payments, it sounds like my wife will not have any legal basis for a claim on the driveway section of land. I don't want to build a house on the gift property if someday we can't drive onto it.

Is there anything I can do now to better this situation or strengthen the legal rights to the purchased driveway land? Thanks for your reply!

[Khun Jean]

First things first.

Which land title has the gifted land?

[SoCalChris]

Hi Khun Jean,

Thanks for your inquiry. I'm sorry as I know it is confusing. My Thai wife's mother owns the the landlocked gift property and she has the chanote for it as well. There's no problem with that other than transferring ownership to my Thai wife.

The poor guy owns the driveway section of land that my Thai wife's mom bought recently. After the transaction, we find out a bank actually owns the property as the poor guy used it as collateral to take out a loan. It's my belief the poor guy hide this bit of information from everyone until he had the money. I instructed my mother in law to not pay any baht until she knew the status of the land title, but that unfortunately fell on deaf ears.

Lastly, the poor guy now won't disclose the amount he still owes on the loan or when the loan will be paid off.

[ludditeman]

Rule 1

Never hand anyone else money to buy something for you.

Rule 2

Never hand over more money for land or building after breaking Rule 1.

Rule 3

Never anticipate a Thai repaying a loan to a bank.

It appears to me the building plot is worthless to anyone without access.

Please don't be daft enough to hand anyone money to build on this land.

PS

You didn't tell us how much you handed over for the 'bogus' access agreement.

Edited February 20, 2012 by ludditeman

[SoCalChris]

Lol, I agree wholeheartedly with all of rules you've stated. None of my money has left my pocket as of yet, and it sounds like it'll just stay there instead of going for the proposed house. Really, this was simply to be a kind-hearted mother to daughter gift. Only the mom paid her money to the guy. BUT, I've been just made aware of the true nature of this situation, and I'm trying to get to the bottom of it.

The 40k baht the mom probably lost is no big deal for me, but it is for her. The family ignored my "farang ba" advice, and I won't mitigate it. Although, I do feel bad about it all and hopefully it will be a lesson learned.

BTW, the mom is good friends with the village pui yai who managed the agreement. I don't know if that could be of any help.

Rule 1

Never hand anyone else money to buy something for you.

Rule 2

Never hand over more money for land or building after breaking Rule 1.

Rule 3

Never anticipate a Thai repaying a loan to a bank.

It appears to me the building plot is worthless to anyone without access.

Please don't be daft enough to hand anyone money to build on this land.

PS

You didn't tell us how much you handed over for the 'bogus' access agreement.

[Khun Jean]

If it is a chanote, ask the landoffice how the land can be reached from a government road. A chanote should have access.

Probably there is a plan somewhere which show a 'future' road. When chanotes are issued it is common to have access. If land is split it can get landlocked but the owner of such a plot always has rights to use surrounding land to have access to a road.

Civil code:

Section 1349. If a piece of land is so surrounded by other pieces of land that it has no access to the public ways, the owner may pass over the surrounding land to reach a public way.

The same applies, if passage can only be had over a pond, marsh, or sea, or if there is a steep slope with a considerable difference of level between the land and the public way.

The place and the manner of the passage must be chosen as to meet the needs of the person entitled to passage and at the same time to cause as little damage as possible to the surrounding land. The person entitled to passage may, if necessary, construct a road for passage.

The person entitled to passage must pay compensation for any damage suffered by the land owner on account of the passage being established. Such compensation, except for damages arising from the construction of a road, may be made by annual payments

Section 1350. Where land has been so partitioned or partially transferred that a plot is left without access to a public way, the owner of such plot may claim right of way under the forgoing section only over the land which has been so partitioned or partially transferred.

In such case no compensation need to be paid

Reading this, it would not be necessary to buy 'access' although that is still the best option for the long term.

Edited February 20, 2012 by Khun Jean

[SoCalChris]

It sounds like there might be some good news after all, thanks again! I guess we'll take the landlocked property chanote to the land office and try to document an official access road on it somehow. The 40K baht purchase contract for the driveway from the poor guy should be sufficient for it, which includes compensation to move his rice silo. Too bad that this could have cost much less, but oh well. A final trip to the bank to update them on the matter will hopefully be the end of it.

I wonder what would happen if there would be a different access road already on the land office records. Would the purchased driveway from the poor guy be the best option or just keep the records as-is? Hmmmm....

If it is a chanote, ask the landoffice how the land can be reached from a government road. A chanote should have access.

Probably there is a plan somewhere which show a 'future' road. When chanotes are issued it is common to have access. If land is split it can get landlocked but the owner of such a plot always has rights to use surrounding land to have access to a road.

Civil code:

Section 1349. If a piece of land is so surrounded by other pieces of land that it has no access to the public ways, the owner may pass over the surrounding land to reach a public way.

The same applies, if passage can only be had over a pond, marsh, or sea, or if there is a steep slope with a considerable difference of level between the land and the public way.

The place and the manner of the passage must be chosen as to meet the needs of the person entitled to passage and at the same time to cause as little damage as possible to the surrounding land. The person entitled to passage may, if necessary, construct a road for passage.

The person entitled to passage must pay compensation for any damage suffered by the land owner on account of the passage being established. Such compensation, except for damages arising from the construction of a road, may be made by annual payments

Section 1350. Where land has been so partitioned or partially transferred that a plot is left without access to a public way, the owner of such plot may claim right of way under the forgoing section only over the land which has been so partitioned or partially transferred.

In such case no compensation need to be paid

Reading this, it would not be necessary to buy 'access' although that is still the best option for the long term.