Thailand Law Library

by Thailand Lawyer

Chapter 4: Issuance of Documents Showing Rights in Land

Subject to Section 56/1, forms, rules, and procedures for issuance of the Pre-emption Certificate, the Utilization Certificate, the Land Examination Certificate, or the Title Deed, including the substitutions thereof shall be in accordance with the Ministerial Regulations.

In issuing the Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate for the land with its partial area adjoining and overlapping or encroaching upon the public domain of State with the existence of aerial photo map or aerial photograph, the competent officials may proceed only when it is examined and verified with the earliest aerial photo map or aerial photograph, as may be available through governmental service, that the land is eligible for issuance of the Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate. The other methods of examination and verification may be carried out in accordance with the rules prescribed by the Director-General.

In the Title Deed and the Utilization Certificate, there shall be the information as follows: name, last name, address of the land rights holder, location of land, area of land, map specifying boundaries in four directions. The provincial land officer, the provincial branch land officer, or the land officer assigned by the Director-General shall sign and affix the seal of office therein with an index of registration.

Each of the Title Deed and the Utilization Certificate shall be made in duplicate whereby one copy is given to the land rights holder and the other is maintained at the Land Office. For the purpose of record keeping, the copy at the Land Office may be reproduced into a photography images or other forms through the information and communication technology and shall be deemed as original.

If the Minister considers appropriate to issue the Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate in any particular province and in any particular year, it shall be published by the Minister in the Government Gazette specifying the province and the year in which the cadastral survey or the examination and verification for purpose of land use is to be conducted. The permanent forest domain which is classified by the government authority shall not be included in the provincial boundaries published therein by the Minister.

Upon the publication under paragraph one, the provincial Governor shall designate the locality and the commencement date of field survey and shall put up a notice at the Land Office, the District Office, the District Branch Office, the Sub-District Headman Office, and the Village Headman Office in the relevant locality not less than thirty days prior to the commencement date of survey.

Upon the notification of the provincial Governor under paragraph two, the person under paragraph two of Section 58 bis or his/her representative shall accompany the competent officials or the person authorized thereby to conduct the cadastral survey or the examination and verification of land use carried out in his/her land on the date and time as arranged by the competent officials.

In conducting the field survey to examine and verify the land use for purpose of issuance of the Utilization Certificate, the land officer shall have power to appoint a person who has been trained to conduct the land use examination and verification to do these tasks to be the official in lieu thereof.

In performing duties under paragraph four, the official shall be deemed as the public officer under the Penal Code.

Upon the completion of the cadastral survey or the examination and verification of land use under Section 58, the competent officials shall issue the Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate, as the case may be, to the persons under paragraph two if it appears that the land under the possession thereof is eligible for the Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate to be issued under this Code.

The persons to whom the competent officials may issue Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate under paragraph one includes:

1. persons with evidence showing their claims for the possession of land, the Pre- emption Certificate, the Squatter’s Certificate, the Utilization Certificate, the Certificate of Ownership in Lieu of Title Deed, and the Pre-occupation Certificate stamped “Already Put to Use”, or any person with rights under the law on land allocation for living;
2. persons who comply with Section 27 ter;
3. persons who possess and make use of land after the enforcement date of this Code without the Pre-emption Certificate, the Squatter’s Certificate, or any evidence showing the right under the law on land allocation for living. For the purpose of this Section, persons with evidence showing their claims for land possession under paragraph two (1) shall include those who possess and make use of land in continuation of the aforesaid persons.

The Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate, as the case may be, shall be issued to persons under paragraph two (2) and (3) for not more than fifty rais of land. In case of more than fifty rais, the approval of the provincial Governor shall be obtained on a case by case basis in accordance with the rules prescribed by the Committee.

Within ten years from the receipt of the Title Deed or the Utilization Certificate under paragraph one, persons with land rights under paragraph two (3) are forbidden to transfer the land to other persons except through the devolution by succession or the transfer to public bodies, governmental organizations under the law on establishment of the governmental organizations, State Enterprise established by the Act, or the co-operatives for purpose of performance of obligations with approval of the registrars of the co-operatives. Within the forbidden period as prescribed in paragraph five, such land shall not be subject to the compulsory execution.

If the Minister considers appropriate to issue the Title Deed in any particular province to the land for which the Utilization Certificate with the aerial photo map of the land has been issued, the locality and the commencement date of the issuance thereof shall be published in the Government Gazette by the Minister at least thirty days in advance.

In preparing a map for purpose of the Title Deed issuance under paragraph one, the evidence in the aerial photo map form used with the Utilization Certificate shall be adjusted with respect to the theoretical basis of the aerial photo map and used without conducting the cadastral survey except in case of necessity.

After a decision on the commencement date of the Title Deed issuance as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulations under paragraph one, any registration of the rights and juristic acts in connection with the land that requires a cadastral survey to be conducted by using aerial photo map shall be ceased except in case of necessity whereas the permission by the competent officials may be given on a case by case basis in accordance with the rules as prescribed by the Committee.

Under this Section, the Title Deed shall be issued to the person named in the Utilization Certificate as the rights holder.

Upon completing the preparation of the Title Deeds to be conferred to the right holders, the land officers shall announce the date of conferring the Title Deeds thereto and the Utilization Certificate for the relevant parcels of land shall be deemed annulled on and from the day announced to be the date of conferring the Title Deeds and such annulled Utilization Certificates shall be returned to the land officers except in case of loss.