Thailand Property: What is a Por Tor Bor Ha?
November 19 2012 Categories: Property General Issues, Thailand Real Estate No comments yet
You cannot have followed Thai news for the past 3 weeks and not have read about the problem faced by General Surayud (former Thai Prime Minister and Member of the Royal Privy Council) in relation to his Khao Yai land.
A lot of the articles published in the national press contained mistakes and inexactitude especially in relation to the rights General Surayud wife had on the controversial land. In many articles the journalists have used words such as “Own”,” Owner”, “deed” which are incorrect in this context. According the Bangkok Post of this morning General Surayud wife only applied and obtained a Por. Tor. Bor. 5 on this land.
Now a Por. Tor. Bor. 5, is nothing more than a document providing no actual evidence for a claim to land, but merely serving to establish that a person occupying a piece of land has been issued a tax number and has paid taxes for utilizing the land.
The issuance of Por. Tor. Bor. 5 is done without any survey by the authorities and grants no claim to the occupant. The document can be used as evidence towards proving possession against other private individuals, but not against the State. The tax number may be transferred to another person along with the physical possession of the land, but this transfer grants no rights to the transferee on the land against the State.
Another issue which has not been yet been discussed is that as far as I understand no official permission to build a house may be granted on Por.Tor.Bor.5 land. While its common practice for Thai people to build homes on Por. Tor. Bor. 5, those houses are built without any official permission.
About the Author:
The author Rene-Philippe DUBOUT is a lawyer since 1990 when he was admitted to Geneva bar (Switzerland). He practiced as a litigator there for 10 years until he moved to Thailand in 1999. In 2002 he founded with a group of Thai lawyers Rene Philippe & Partners Ltd a local law firm that specialized in Cross Borders Investments and Real Estate. He has been lecturing in several Thai Universities and a speaker to numerous conferences and seminars. He is the author of a must read book:”How to Purchase Real Estate Offshore Safely: The Case of Thailand”.
http//:www.renephilippe.com
© Copyrights 2009 – Rene Philippe Dubout – This article may be reprinted if information about the author, the websites, and the URLs remain intact.
Originally posted 2010-01-21 09:35:01.
