Neigbours House To Boundry Wall And Over

[Expat7]

A recent land puchase, there is a moobhan at the rear and 5 of the bordering houses have extended their properties to the boundry wall with roof overlapping my land. When rain falls the water comes to over a meter on my land. Any idea of process, visit Tessabhan, ask owners, is there criteria? Cant stay the way it is and much money has been spent on their extensions. I have noticed this is common for people to do and has anyone had to eother demolish their illegal extension or have their neigbours do it?

[overherebc]

Was told when I exteded that there should be a gap of one metre between the house wall and the boundary wall.

Probably the easiest way to save any bad feelings and a lot of hassle would be to see if it's possible to run a gutter along the offending roof edge and lead the water to an outside area.

Getting officialdom involved would only lead to confrontation, frustration and a lot of bad tempers, last thing you need with neighbours anywhere.

Probably not the definitive answere you wanted

[ThaidDown]

Yes, in the first instance ask the neighbour to install guttering and route the downpipe back onto their. If their reaction is hostile either rig something up yourself to deflect the water back to them or be prepared to take it further. They are in the wrong.

Its many years ago, so memory might have failed or rules changed, but seem to recall if the house wall had no windows the minimum gap to a boundary was a half metre, and with windows was 2 metres.

[Expat7]

My initial thought was to suggest guttering and they pay for fitting, however, there isnt really anywhere for it to run, second the overlap roof means boundry trees will need to be planted further in and the price of land I should not be at a loss, thirdly, its their kitchens with immediate windows, so smells/noise are always going to be an issue. Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

[LennyW]

Bottom line is they will NOT have a building liscence for a structure less than a meter from the boundary wall, but to try and get anything done about it could lead to all sorts of problems with the neighbours, tread carefully on this one.

[Pib]

Just shows again how many Thai's have no respect for a neighbor's property.

[taotoo]

its their kitchens with immediate windows,

If all else fails, at least brick up their windows.

[LennyW]

I have seen a situation like that and they fitted guttering along the length with the downpipes disappearing back inside their houses, presumably to their kitchen drains?

[ballbreaker]

It sounds like you are the one that purchased land and adjacent property owners had already built additions that violated the law. If you saw this problem before purchase why did you buy?

Below is section that covers you particular problem. It is from the Property section of Thailand civil code.

Section1341. The owner of an immovable property must not construct roofs or other structures which cause rain water to fall upon the adjoining property.

You can try or have the local headman talk with them about the problem and the fact they violated the law by building additions.

Next option would be take the issue up with Land office but I doubt they will be of much help but who knows.

Last solution would be to take them to court and you would most likely win because they are in violation of the law. I guess it would depend how many years the violation has existed.

If it were me I would propose they build a new wall at their cost, pay you compensation for lost land and pay cost of updating chanote's at the land office. If you don't mind losing a bit property.

Regardless you will create many enemies and do not take any destructive actions or you will be the one in court.

Edited August 2, 2012 by ballbreaker

[rgs2001uk]

Thai friend of mine had the exact same problem.

He visited the local tessaban and had it confirmed it was illegal.

He then contacted a lawyer who again confirmed it was illegal.

The lawyer told him he was within his rights to raise the height of HIS wall and if it interfered with the other owners it wasnt his problem.

Friend then told the neighbours he intended raising the height of his wall, there was the usual BS being told him by the neighbours, how poor they were, couldnt afford it etc etc.

Situation came to a head when the construction crew arrived and the neighbours folded like a pack of cards.

As for not talking to the neighbours, I have one friend who hasnt spoken to his neighbour in 20 years, more common than you think.

[alfieconn]

It sounds like you are the one that purchased land and adjacent property owners had already built additions that violated the law. If you saw this problem before purchase why did you buy?

Below is section that covers you particular problem. It is from the Property section of Thailand civil code.

Section1341. The owner of an immovable property must not construct roofs or other structures which cause rain water to fall upon the adjoining property.

You can try or have the local headman talk with them about the problem and the fact they violated the law by building additions.

Next option would be take the issue up with Land office but I doubt they will be of much help but who knows.

Last solution would be to take them to court and you would most likely win because they are in violation of the law. I guess it would depend how many years the violation has existed.

If it were me I would propose they build a new wall at their cost, pay you compensation for lost land and pay cost of updating chanote's at the land office. If you don't mind losing a bit property.

Regardless you will create many enemies and do not take any destructive actions or you will be the one in court.

Great idea, sell them the land they are encroaching on and at an exorbitant price.

[BirdsandBooze]

The people next door but one to our house have recently enlarged their property to such an extent that the addition is larger than the original house. To the front they now have a full 70ft width balcony that extends 70ft to the front garden wall, and the balcony roof overhangs the footpath outside. To the rear they have an extension which goes all the way to the rear boundary wall and rain water drains onto the land of the house behind. To the side of my immediate neighbour they have built a huge extension which abuts his boundary wall. When my neighbour was out at work the builders were all over his garden even though he`d told them to stay out, because they didn`t have room to work on the land of the property they were extending. My neighbour complained about the extension to the relevant authority, which didn`t investigate until all the works were finished. It turned out that permission to carry out the work hadn`t been applied for. The authority issued a retrospective licence for the extension. The woman who had the work done is a wealthy phuu yai, so no surprises there. It`s a dog eat dog world here and you`d better have big teeth.

[crazykopite]

Believe me if it is a thai owner you will not win if it were me I would build a small underground water catcher in concrete after all water is a very valuable product then you can use it to wash the car water the plants you could on the other hand go to the land office and start a war because that is what will happen if the roof is on your land then you are entitled to put up guttering and even if you used those water buts Water in Thailand is the blackstuff in the middle east !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[crazykopite]

Another idea is stick a load of bamboo right up to there prioperty in no time it will be 10 15 20 mtrs in height depends how you let it grow as soon as it rains it will soak up the water and beleiev me they will not see out of the kitchen window

[SOTIRIOS]

..the epitome of 'ill will'.....

....didn't you see it before you purchased......

...maybe that is why the previous owners sold.......this impossible predicament.....

....if a Thai couldn't solve it......a foreigner.....would need a miracle......you are surrounded and outnumbered.....good luck....

[Trujillo]

Does anyone have an reliable link to information on how close you can build a house to the boundary line? I have heard one meter, two meters and three meters. The regulation for this must be available somewhere. Anyone know where?

[Langsuan Man]

The tesaban will have the correct citation on file. The rule is that a house wall with windows must be two meters from the perimeter wall, a house wall without windows needs only be 1 meter from the perimeter wall