Owning a Thai house, no land. blue and yellow books

[birdbirdbat]

I would like to legally own a house separate to the land.

For a legal sale:

1.

Can I have a blue book, with the previous name of the Thai owner removed? So a blank blue book (same as a condo)

2.

A yellow book, for where I am listed as living on the same address

3.

A bill of sale from the previous Thai owner, to my name? or company name?

4. Once I have the yellow book, I can change the electric meter to my name. Is this true?

All comments welcome

Or should I just draw up a 30+-year lease on the house building?

Spoke to the pu yai baan, and he said getting me a yellow book was no problem. i'm on a non O visa. but no Thai spouse.

thank you

[Arkady]

My understanding is that a separate deed for a house (superficies) and house book will only be issued for a newly built house and that the Land Dept will usually refuse to issue separate deeds once a single deed is already issued and the house number allocated but you can try, as there is no specific law against it.

I think you will need a 30 year lease on the land for them to issue a separate deed to you to own the house alone. Otherwise there is no basis to own the structure when you have no tenure to the land. The right to maintain the structure on that land will terminate once the lease terminates but you can remove your structure or the pieces of it.

If you are entitled to a blue book they will issue a new blue for you as the householder. Since you are not entitled to one they will not and there is no point for them to alter the previous owners' book either, I don't think.

You should be able to get a yellow book and have the electric bills put in your name with a yellow book.

If you have to do a 30 year lease on the land, a separate house deed might not add much but is probably worth doing if you have built a new house and it is not too much extra hassle.

A life time usufruct on the land as an alternative to 30 year lease, depending on what you think of your life expectancy, may be possible too depending on the land office.

[birdbirdbat]

Hello Arkady,

Thank you for the response.

If I have a blue book with no "owners" name on in and all previous occupants names removed? Can I hold on to this as proof of owner ship of the said house? Or is it best to keep it in a Thai name and make a contract? (This is just for the structures)

The other 500 houses in this village do not have land papers, everybody own the structures separate from the land, as they have been classed as temporary structures, there is no deed, nothing to do with the land dept. most houses are made from wood and could be moved. All though this village has been there for 100 or more years. So I believe the issue of the land is not relevant. Just the house.

What is the best action to hold this property?

[johnnyk]

The blue book has nothing to do with home ownership. It is a record of who is living there. Mainly to register Thais and their address, useful if they wish to vote where they are currently living as opposed to having to travel back home to vote.