Title Deed in Thailand – Chanott
The Chanott
Chanott is the Thai word for one form of a Title Deed.
There are other forms of Title Deeds as well, but the Chanott is the best one, because ownership and borders of the property are proofed and confirmed.
In Thailand there are different Title Deeds. However only the Chanott (also called Nor Sor 4 Jot) is the document which you can compare with a title deed in Western countries.
Chanott – Title Deed in Thailand
Chanott (Front Page)ll other forms of Title Deeds, i.e. the “Nor Sor Sam” have less rights or clarifications, i.e. regarding the border of the land. Sometimes it is possible, if you have all documents, to upgrade to a Chanott. Nevertheless you should be very careful buying a property which is not registered on a Chanott.
The Chanott shows clearly ownership, registered rights like mortgages or lease agreements, location and dimension of the property. The original Title Deed stays with the owner. Without this document selling or registering anything is not possible at all. If the document is lost you have to file a report with the police and apply for a new one, however this can take up to one year. So you should put the document in a very safe place, i.e. a bank safe.
On the front page of the Chanott you will find information about the location and the size of the property. Further on there is a small drawing, wich shows the borders of the property, either the border of the land or, if it is a Condo, the shape of the Condo. However the drawings are very small, so it is normally difficult to get exact dimensions out of that. Further on you can see the first owner of this property on the front page. If it is sold, so that will be registered on the back page.
Back page Title deed
Chanott (Back page)On the back page of the Chanott all property transfers, lease agreements, mortgages etc. are registered. The entries are done from the top to the bottom, newest (last) entry on the last position. On this back page of the deed you will find different columns. The first column is for the date of the transfer, the second one tells, what kind of transfer is done (i.e. Sale, Mortgage registering etc.). The third column is the name of the party, who transfers rights to someone else, so in most cases the owner of the property.
Then there are some more columns for the size of the property, one column each for Rai, Ngan and Talangwah (Thai-Measurements). The last column is for the land office. In that column the transfer is confirmed with a stamp and a signature. Normally a foreigner can be only registered as an owner on the title deed of a condominium (see our section about Condos), however a foreigner can be legally registered i.e. for mortgages or lease agreements (up to 30 years).
