Key takeaways
- The first document to read in a land dispute is not the pleading, it is the title deed. Whether the land is held on a full-ownership Chanote or a lesser possessory certificate decides your claim, your evidence, and your deadline.
- Titled land can be lost to another person's possession over ten years. If you are dispossessed of possessory land, you have only one year to sue to recover it.
- An unregistered sale of land is void, so registration is not a formality, it is what creates the right.
- Move early: the deadlines in a land dispute are hard, and they start running before most owners realise there is a problem.
Ownership or possession: know which one you hold
A Chanote (โฉนด) is full ownership. Ownership of land, and any transfer of it, is complete only when made in writing and registered at the Land Office; an unregistered sale of land is void. A Nor Sor 3 or 3 Kor, by contrast, gives only a right of possession. That single distinction changes the whole dispute: with titled land the fight is about who owns, and with possessory land it is about who possesses. Plead it as the wrong kind of right and the claim can fail before the merits are reached.
The distinction drives the clock
Titled land can be lost. If another person occupies it openly, peacefully and continuously, with the intention of owning it, for ten years, they can acquire it by adverse possession. Possessory land runs on a much shorter and harder timer: an owner who is dispossessed must sue to recover possession within one year, and the Thai courts treat that year as a firm cut-off, not an ordinary limitation period that can be stretched. Knowing which clock is running, and how much time is left on it, is often the most valuable thing a lawyer does at the first meeting.
Boundaries and encroachments have their own rule
Where a building crosses onto a neighbour's land, good faith matters. A structure built onto adjoining land in good faith generally stays with its builder, who pays for the land used and registers a servitude; an encroachment made in bad faith can be ordered removed. These disputes are won on survey evidence, so an official Land Department survey to fix the boundary is usually the first practical step.
From our practice Land disputes rarely arrive as clean legal questions. They arrive as a fence in the wrong place, a sale that was never registered, or a neighbour who has quietly occupied a strip of land for years. The work is to read the title, fix the boundary with a proper survey, and act before a deadline the client did not know was running closes the door.
What our clients say "Dej-Udom & Associates' Litigation team consistently demonstrates a solid, strategic understanding of land disputes." — Khun Bannasit Amatanun (shared with the client's consent)
What to do now
Pull the deed and confirm the title type before anything else, because it drives everything that follows. Commission an official survey to fix boundaries and prove any encroachment. Register every transfer, servitude or settlement rather than relying on a private agreement. And act promptly: a ten-year adverse-possession clock or a one-year possession claim can decide the case regardless of the merits.
How Dej-Udom & Associates can help
Our Litigation and Dispute Resolution team advises and represents clients across the full range of land and property disputes: title verification, boundary and encroachment claims, adverse-possession claims and defences, and land-related civil litigation from the first demand letter through to judgment.
Legal references: Civil and Commercial Code, Sections 456, 1299, 1312, 1367, 1375 and 1382; title-deed classes under the Land Code (ประมวลกฎหมายที่ดิน).
Disclaimer: This publication is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. The information contained herein should not be relied upon as a substitute for specific legal counsel. For advice tailored to your circumstances, please contact Dej-Udom & Associates directly.