Author: THB

Types of land

Property ownership and Leasehold

What do you mean…types of land? Land is land, right? Wrong!In the same way land in the West is classified for differing uses, in Thailand is not essentially classified for use but it is controlled by different types of land ownership

Here are some of the land ownership types

Sor Kor Nung

This is the lowest form of land ownership classification and should be avoided if problems down the line are to be prevented. The SK1 is a simple notice of possession and comes with few rights. It mainly allows the SK1 holder to be on the land – to use and ‘occupy’ it. The document classification is quite loose and informal. For instance, simply passing the SK1 to another person ‘transfers’ the entitlement. No rights can be registered, no lease can be applied and no mortgage held against them. Generally this type of land is for farming only. The Sor Kor 1 cannot be held by a foreigner. It is worth noting that no new SK1 titles have been issued since the early 70’s and while upgrade of the lands status is possible, it can only take place with approval from the court.

Nor Sor Song

The NS2 takes the form of a letter of consent to occupy and use the land but for a temporary, and defined period. The letter is issued by the land department. The letter holder needs to start the land occupation within 6 months, and complete & vacate the land within 3 years of the receipt of the letter of consent. No transfer or sale of this land is possible except by inheritance.

Nor Sor Saam

This type of deed recognises who has the legal possession and rights over the land. However, the land has not been measured accurately and surveyed, like land under the Chanote deed, and has no unique marker posts to define it. This can lead to boundary disputes. Usually, land sold under this type of lease is subject to a 30-day notice period where anyone believing the boundary to be inaccurate or who contests the ownership itself, can come forward

Nor Sor Saam (3) Gor

This type of title confirms that the land has been upgraded and surveyed accurately using aerial survey, and setting out the boundaries of the land has taken place. It can be sub-divided

Nor Sor Saam (3) Khor

The NS3K has no restrictions on its use, and it can be sub-divided. It is also surveyed but no tied-in markers are placed. The NS3K is issued by the local land office.

Nor Sor Si (4) Jor

This is the big one, the strongest of the land title deeds, often referred to simply as the Chanote.

  • Chanote Front
  • Chanote Rear

The NS4J is the one you want over your land. It is a certificate of true ownership on that land, and is the only one carrying true title deed status. Land covered by the NS4J have been accurately located by survey and the co-ordinates logged in a central database. The land is given a unique reference number, and the boundary corners are marked out by government officials from the land registry department with fixed marker posts, often referred to as Chanote markers.

Locating the Chanote marker

Land under the Chanote can be sub-divided. It is on this Chanote that the leasehold details are recorded by the land office.

Design

Pre-start Documentation

The design is our own, but of course there are influences. It had to suit the climate. It had to be, or appear to be older and traditional, i.e. not a modern box. It had to make use of up to date technologies and building practices. Those requirements led to investigating history AND looking at local building techniques.

Materials research, traditional layouts, historical features – all were thoroughly checked out and incorporated into the design. That design was then sketched out and transferred into a format that could be used to generate plans.

Initially we used HomeByMe by Dassault Systems to draw the floor plan.

It’s free for practise, with some low-cost add-ons for 3D, etc. and it’s fairly easy to use. It was a toss-up between this and our second trial – HomeStyler from AutoCAD. Again, easy to use, free to trial and with good, clear outputs.

Features for the design

As you know from my earlier posts, we wanted a traditional-looking construction, but with modern building practises employed.

  • Therefore, the construction will be RC frame, and block and cement, with plank and slab flooring, rendered and painted walls on the ground floor, clad on the upper floor

Heat Reduction

  • To help in heat reduction we will use Q-Con from SCG (Siam Cement Group) or Superblock by the Superblock Public Company Limited (or similar) block wall construction
  • Similarly, heat reflection under the roof tiles
  • Air flow-through in the roof void to remove the hot air
  • Large roof overhangs to keep the sunlight out of the windows
  • Not excessively large windows – in keeping with tradition and higher up on the wall.
  • Some cathedral-style roofs on the upper floor. All ceiling height is already 3m but I hope to add 1-1.5m of additional clearance upstairs by raising those upper floor ceilings, thus lifting any warm air even higher from the living space
  • Matched A/C throughout based on room volumes and hopefully cooler starting point.
  • Investigating options with heat-reflective glass for the windows and folding patio doors
  • Use of rainwater harvesting to reduce reliance on other sources, and cut some long term running costs
  • Use of grey water for irrigation along with any rain harvesting excess

General Layout considerations

  • Master bedroom suite ‘wing’ with dressing room and full sized en-suite. Apparently we spend a third of our lives in bed so…might as well have all the comforts to hand
  • Large indoor kitchen with breakfast bar, island – kitchen the heart of the house, right?
  • Separate dining room for more formal dinners, etc.
  • External kitchen BBQ area for the obligatory incinerations
  • Large lower level shaded external sitting area – my design plans one 10m x 8m
  • Minimum 4 bedrooms – family plus guests needs it
  • Indoors living area, but by having a folding door arrangement, this ‘extends’ out to outdoor living space on the 1st floor verandah
  • Separate office. I am planning ahead that this could become a downstairs bedroom if the stairs become too difficult.
  • Well…it’s that or install a lift
  • Area to add gym and TV room in the future (under building 3)
    By having the large external area at ground level, and with access from the kitchen, and with a WC provision under building 3, visitors never need to go ‘upstairs’ keeping that as our private living area.(so I can slob around in peace, with no witnesses)

Electrics

  • once completed, I see three buildings x 2 floors so… 6 electrical zones x lighting and power point circuits, plus cooker circuit and external lighting circuit, so 14 breakers (the electricians out there can correct me if this is overkill)
  • Sufficient power points in each room! 
  • low-energy lighting where possible
  • a properly (to western standards) earthed system
  • External security system, CCTV, etc.
  • House intruder alarm system

Plumbing

  • Separate systems for black and grey water
  • All black water furniture to be against or very close to external walls
  • Three smaller septic tank arrangements, passing the fluid element to a single tank adj to the drain field
  • Water holding tanks to regulate the supply to the house

External

  • Provision for swimming pool later
  • Privacy with perimeter wall, after house is constructed
  • Japanese-style ornamental fish pond (no…not a fishing lake, darling) near to dining room

Special requirements

  • Buddha room
  • Privacy

… check and…check!

Background

Background

They say anyone can build a house… and anyone can…in theory.

However, you need steely resolve, tenacity, single-mindedness and of course funds if you are to end up with what you want. We were not rich so that ruled out a lot of locations. Time was not on our side so we could not wait for the 2-3 years’ worth of deliberations and rejection that is so prevalent in planning offices in the west. And the design itself would probably fall at the first in those locations too!

In fact, attempts were made through the years to get plans through the system, but all to no avail. Seems it’s more a case of who you know than what you know!

We never gave up though, just looked at other ways to make the idea come to fruition. That’s how we ended up building our dream home in Thailand

The Idea

Background

Like many, we had dreams of building our own place. The satisfaction of taking an idea, even a design,  a dream… and watching as that dream became a reality. A lot of people have ‘build a house’ on their bucket-list. Most of them remain an unfulfilled wish. But for us, after a lot of work, determination, negotiation, selection and of course time (!) we have managed to tick off that bucket list entry.

That idea was more than just a ‘build a house’ – this was to be the house we would settle down in, a long term place in a rural setting away from pollution, noise and crowds! See below for how we planned, selected and built the dream…

What are we doing…?

Background

Did you ever want to build your own house? The idea that from your design, a house emerged. I had such a notion, over 30 years ago.

For all the usual reasons, My desire was thwarted by lack of salary, bonus too low, land prices running ahead of my buying power. In fact, I put the idea on the ‘back burner’ and for those intervening 30 years, concentrated on conventional ‘modern box’ living. The idea for an individual home came again when, through a change in circumstances, I found myself living in SE Asia.

Everything that previously prevented my build plan was now eliminated. My salary had not really jumped crazily but it had jumped enough to make a house-build a viable option. Land was cheap… I mean…really cheap compared to Europe, and so were build materials and labour.

It looked like my build dream might become a reality…