in what case a 'permit to build' is necessary?

[thing31 1]

Hello all,

 

I and my Thai wife bought a land last year and it is time to build !

We live in a remote village and we heard from several people including the village chief that the old system of "can build whatever you want in the countryside without permit" doesn't longer work, or doing so is risky because the owner could be fined.

As we will build small buildings and the main house, here are my questions:

1. Do we need a permit to build for only a house or even something like a outdoor kitchen, sala, workshop etc

2. Is there a minimum size for which a permit to build is not required (for example a 15 square meters building)

3. If I hire workers to build the main room of my house (planning to build extra rooms in the future, i.e. an 'extension'), and assuming I will need a permit to build it, will we need a permit for building the extension too?

 

Thanks for your help

[Dagfinnur Traustason 1,408]

As know, you will not need a permit for a normal house to live in. Still what I heard, everything over 2 story needs a permit.

[Pilotman 19,359]

excellent questions. I can't answer you directly, but I did recently find out that the Land Office allocate a colour code to all land within their jurisdiction, indicating where building is allowed and where it is prohibited.  I have seen such a map for around our district.  I suggest that your first of call is the local Land Office to obtain such  a map for your area. 

[Crossy 27,793]

Talk to your village head, he's your man.

 

Generally you get a permit for the main house but "small" add-ons like outdoor kitchen sheds etc. are allowed without a permit.

 

Sort the permit for the final version of the house, there's no need to build it all at once.

 

Oh, and check what the permit actually says, ours read "1 floor wooden house" despite the 3 bedroom steel and concrete mansion drawings being attached.

 

[jvs 5,904]

I would try to find out how to get a permit!The reason is this,even if you do not need one it

may be good to have one.

I bought a property in France long ago,there was a house on it but it was built with

permission of the local puy yai ban(forgot the the name in French)he had died and it was a major pita to get it all in my name ,a lot of changes and it took a long time.

What i am saying is ,be prepared for future law changes and get a permit.

My permit 10 years ago costed 35 baht.

They told me any other small buildings do not need a permit.

[thing31 1]

Thank you all,

 

Pilotman, yes we already asked the village chief, and he said we are allowed to build on that land. 

Crossy, thanks for the answer. We already asked the village chief and he said the process will start at the district office, but I prefer to gather information before going there. I don't really understand the purpose of getting a permit. Is it only for buildings where people live and stay (such as a house) or is it related to the size. Because if we build a small separate room for friends who visit us (such as a bungalow), will we need a permit ?

 

[DrJack54 7,407]

OP, not wishing to sidetrack your thread.

Just thought readers might get giggle out of this pic taken just now from my condo 7th level.

Below red line is 3 level buildings and a group of folk have been building the Shantiytown above them. To the right is relatively new condo. The shantytown construction has been thrown together with salvage materials clearly built without any approvals. 

This is CENTRAL BANGKOK!!

[Crossy 27,793]

So much depends upon your local district office.

 

I'd go there with the land layout and a sketch of approximately what you want to do including your possible future bungalow. They should tell you what they need (like immigration, all offices are different of course).

 

We already had architect plans for the house so it was a relatively painless job (apart from the wooden house description). That said we did have "contacts", Madam's eldest son is married to puyai-baan's daughter

[Susco 5,769]

No building permit = no house number or blue book.

 

The color of the Garuda on the title deed tells you if can build or not.

 

For building permit you will need plans signed by an official architect.

 

Everything can be "arranged" in Thailand

[thing31 1]

All right, thanks to all of you for your help. When I will get information from the district office, I will write them in this topic.

Cheers

[Sydebolle 3,933]

Just went through this subject. You need a building permit, issued by the municipality's office, whatever they say. Even if all your neighbours have none, go for it - it will eliminate future discussions, fines and eventual official orders to tear down the place. Over time they will have to get this part of their administration in order as well; too many houses are life-threatening. Best is to contact that office and get it from the horse's mouth. 

 

You have a basic idea of how you want what; the municipality architect will put this together onto something like 25 - 30 pages (A 3) giving the details of post, foundation etc. etc. and will charge you something like THB 50-75 per square metre of the house. If not, then an outsider can do that (they use CAD and it's done within an hour or two) but the municipality architect will have to sign and approve! 

 

The construction permit application can be done by your wife herself at the office, the approval costs you something like +/- THB 2'000. The application requires five sets of 1:1 copies of the original drawings by the architect which must include a 1:1 copy of the land title deed. 

Most likely the same office issues house numbers and the blue house registration book, which is also just a form completed by the wife. 

They might "suggest" an all-in price of anything starting as of THB 30'000 upwards; do it yourself and be a little patient. 

With builders, get them to quote the work only; you get the building material yourself and you save a fortune in "mark-ups".

 

Good luck! 

Edited January 18 by Sydebolle

[Crossy 27,793]

To add to the above, your ampur office should have books of "pre-approved" house designs, find a likely looking home, get copies of the plans and apply for your permit against those.

 

So long as you don't change the overall dimensions or structure you can make any cosmetic changes later. We actually changed our roof line by sketching on the drawing copies with barely an eye blinked.

 

It was back in 2011 but I think our permit cost 35 Baht   

 

You can see the sort of thing that's available here 

https://web.archive.org/web/20160522095154/http://www.crossy.co.uk/Thai_House_Plans/index.html

we built a meld of 27 and 30 with a revised "curvy" Ayutthaya style roof.

 

[GreasyFingers 1,555]

We had to do the same process & approval as @Sydebollehas stated. It is a fairly new development by our Tessaban but they started demolishing recently built unapproved houses. Go and talk to them, unless you intend building without a permit anyway.

[seajae 16,506]

we have just built on our land, I desiged the house(more of a weekender, 1 bedroom, kitchen, living area & bathroom with a big veranda and carport attached), the builder had a architect do up a blue print and he got the necessary documents/permits etc, he then built a large 12 mtr x 6 mtr cactus/hot house with no permit needed as well so the house was the only one that neded permits. The land is 1 rai and is out of town(dirt roads), had no problems getting a house number(gave us a choice of what number we wanted) and eletricity  put on 

 

Edited January 18 by seajae

[Stevemercer 1,525]

Yes, you should get a permit for the main house. If you intend to use a builder he can arrange this for you, based on a very preliminary design.

 

They just need to know the rough dimensions, whether single/double storey, how many bedrooms and how many bathrooms. They are also interested in the placement of septic systems. This is the only thing they checked during our build.