A friend told me something he had seen on Udonmap regarding a change in the law.
Apparently if you have been married (in Thailand) for 5 years you are then allowed to own land - jointly with you wife or soley in your name - I don't know.

Can any member shed any light on this statement? I have never heard anything about it myself, so am rather dubious about its truth.

Thanks.

One year and ten months ago My wife had the channote for the land where we built our house transferred into her name at the land office in Nong Han. My wife asked for clarification if they could put my name on the channote. The answer was that only a Thai citizen could own land in Thailand. They did however make an attachment to the channote that I signed that gave me the right to live there for the rest of my life. I do not know if the document that I signed means anything or not.
However I do have an FYI for those of you that are planing on doing channote transfers in the Land Office in Nong Han. Previously the channote transfer tax was based on the amount that the land was sold for. Not now. The channote transfer tax is based on how many rai of land that is listed on the channote and it is not cheap. We witnessed a lot of people leave the land office without doing the channote transfer because they could not afford the transfer taxes. My wife said that she over heard several of them say that will go back home and they will do the transaction on a handshake which includes the village leader and several other people as witnesses.

The cost to transfer the channote to my wife's name was 7000 baht for about 1.5 rai. The man was ahead of my wife in the queue left the land office without doing the channote transfer because the transfer tax was over 100,000 baht and he was he was very distraught and said that he could not afford that amount of money.

As far as I am aware, foreigners are not allowed to own land in Thailand. My wife and I purchased some land nearly 2 years ago and the Chanote is registered in her name only. I had to accompany her to the land office where the transfer and registration was done, and I had to sign a declaration that I had no rights over the land. As for a building on the land, foreigners can own the building and this can be registered at the local district office or amphoe (I have yet to do this so I'm not sure of the process).

For the average foreigner buying land is fraught, if youi however arrange a 30 year lease then no matter what the land cannot be sold ( some will say it can ) however with your name on the chanote as the leaseholder that cannot be changed unless a court orders it so. If you are 55 up a 30 year lease will be until you are 85 , sounds good to me. Mine for exambple lasts until I am 88 and I have the right for another 30 years so I am going to live past that just so I can get the woman concerned back here to resign which she must do or forfeit.

In the main a foreigner cannot own land..he can buy it for his wife /partner but its goes into her name..you can buy a condo, but of course the land doesnt come with it, or like KP states, you can lease land, or have a usufruct which allows you to live on the land..in my case the missus's family only have Tor Bor 5 land, squatters land, and in theory they cannot sell it, only give to other family memebers..in my case I am paying under the table for one of the sisters on the plot next door to give up her spot and give it to my lady, just so I dont have a house there with barking dogs and drunks..papa has given her other neighbouring land now I am paying him 3000bt every two months for his food and medicine...later I will push for changing the land to Nor Sam Sor , Charnote, in the ladies name of course..

Some time ago Issan Lawyers advised that usufructs are no longer being issued in Udon Province by the new Manager of the Land Office.

They even went to court and got a court order for one to be issued and a lot of grief and negative comments from management etc.

The bottom line with these local deals and village elders signing etc, if the land was ever to be used for bank loans, then no chanote, no loan.

KP may have forgotten to mention the other way that a lease can be broken, is compulsory acquisition by the government for a road extension etc, the recent Topic on that shows how a royal decree can override this.

I've also seen a chanote and the Usufruct, (I think it was on the back).
My g/f deals with the land office and after seeing the Usufruct she mentioned to the "Manager" a couple of months ago, who laughed and said there was no way he would issue an Usufruct while he was in charge. Maybe that was a face saving comment - I don't know.
So that seems to tie in with your comment about having to take the land office to court. Did the plaintiff get their Usufruct issued successfully in the end, do you know?
I wonder if the were any repercussions of him trying to refuse issuing it?

Upon death of your wife you can inherit the land from her . I believe you have 2 1/2 years to have it sold or transferred to a Thai. I know of one farang who inherited his wife's land 8 years ago and it's still in his name. Maybe they check up on it as often as they collect the property taxes. Which might start to happen with the new Gov't. Remember that paper you signed that it's not your funds being used to by the house? Whose funds then and income tax paid on those funds?