Land Office scams (don't tell Chao Na)

Land office scamming foreigners.

This past week my girlfriend and I went to the Land Office in Hua Hin to complete the purchase of a house there. We were informed that we had to pay a tax of 26,000 baht plus 300 baht to complete the purchase of the house. We were a bit upset at this unexpectedly high tax. My girlfriend called a friend who is the manager of the Land Office in Korat who told her that the tax should only be 8,000 baht. My girlfriend corrected the Hua Hin land office person telling her the correct rate for calculating the tax and instantly the amount of tax was reduced to 8,000 baht. We were also given only one of the two receipts required for the tax paid. Our real estate person spotted this quickly and went back into the office and obtained the second receipt. My girlfriend's friend managing the Land Office in Korat said that employees in the land offices run these scams frequently on farangs and just pocket the difference. http://www.stickmanweekly.com/StickMark ... ltAsia.htm (http://www.stickmanweekly.com/StickMarkII/GregLangeSunbeltAsia.htm)

Yup. Lots of things go very quickly indeed when the "civil servants" :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: don't see a farang involved.

The worst example I know of -- years ago -- was a Briton who had (excuse me) a sh*t boyfriend. I now think that this Briton did not want to divorce the sh*t bf because the bf had numerous cute younger brothers. However that may be, the Brit paid this guy 10,000 baht a month even though he knew quite well that the boy was a drunk living with his girlfriend.

Happy domesticity!! :-0

So one day the sh*t bf got sh*tfaced and killed another person while driving drunk. Somehow, maybe because the car was in the Brit's name, the cops understood that a falang was involved.

Initial asking price: 500,000 baht. :-0

The Brit was a stingy guy, and probably spent a long time haggling. But, at the end of the day, as he finally confessed to me, "the monk and my manager at IBM and my Thai friends and my farang friends all agree: I should have given them a bigger bribe."

And he left his murdering bf, who stalked him for 2-3 years, and then he left Thailand.

There are a million tales in the Naked City!!! :-) Some of them are BS, but this one is not.

ttfn,

Henri

Regarding a vehicle, in a farangs' name, but usually driven by someone else: This is pretty tricky!!

Once my bf took my motorbike and didn't come back. I went to the tourist police to report it stolen and they could tell me, that the chance of getting it back was rather nil, but that it was a good thing to report the bike 'missing' or not being in my possession any more.
The bike was in my name, but now driven by someone else. In case of accidents or damages to 3rd parties, the owner of the bike is responsible, even if he wasn't riding the bike.

So, if you buy a vehicle for bf/gf in your name, get some kind of statement, signed by bf/gf, that YOU will not be held responsible for damages caused with this vehicle.

If they're your boyfriend, register it in their name. If they're a short-term companion, don't let them use the bike unless you're sitting on it - preferably in front. If it's a trick, you should both be in bed.