Home Building Permit

[Mary Lou]

My husband and I have recently retired and are building a house in Sisaket. We know Thai law does not allow westerners to own land, but does allow westerners to own houses. The AwBawTaw in the amphur where we are says that farangs cannot own houses and refuses to issue the building permit needed as the first step to establish ownership. We already have a lease for the land. We have lived in Thailand for nearly thirty years, so we are not totally ignorant about the way things often work when dealing with government offices.

My question is this: Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, was there a ‘fee’ involved and what was the price range of that fee?