Buying process and due diligence: chanote versus lesser titles, encumbrance checks, transfer costs

Not all Thai 'title deeds' are equal. Only the chanote (Nor Sor 4) is a full ownership title with a surveyed boundary. A Nor Sor 3 or Nor Sor 3 Gor is a certificate of utilisation — a confirmed possessory right that can usually be upgraded to chanote but with weaker survey accuracy and extra procedural steps on transfer. Below that sit documents that cannot be freely bought at all: reservation papers (bai chong) and agrarian-reform allocations (Sor Por Kor), plus land that can never be titled, such as public domain, waterways and protected forest — the Department of Lands publishes which land is even eligible for a title. A seller waving anything other than a chanote or Nor Sor 3 Gor deserves professional scrutiny.

Due diligence is done against the original deed at the local Land Office, not the seller's photocopy: check the owner's name matches, and read the registration ledger on the back page, where every registered mortgage, lease, usufruct, superficies and servitude is endorsed. Common scams follow from skipping this: buying encumbered or mortgaged land, buying Sor Por Kor or forest-overlap plots, paying deposits against forged deeds, and nominee company structures that are themselves illegal. All transfers happen in person (or by registered power of attorney) at the Land Office holding the parcel's records, with fees computed on the official assessed value under the Land Code: a 2 percent transfer fee, plus either specific business tax of 3.3 percent or stamp duty of 0.5 percent, and withholding income tax (1 percent for corporate sellers; a progressive computation for individuals). Whoever pays what is negotiable — write it into the contract.