If you are planning on building a house in Thailand or an apartment block or for that matter making changes to your house then you require building permits before you can make the changes you want. The first stop is the government offices to obtain a building permit. The building permit falls under the Building Control Act.
Building a Villa in Phuket
Under the Building Control Act you need to meet certain requirements for this to be issued. You need to take all the plans and specs with you to the government offices to get this permit. Once they have all the drawings and specs and changes you want to make they need to ensure that you building or alterations fall within the law. There are 3 laws which must be viewed.
- 1. The Building Control Act
- 2. The City Planning Act
- 3. National Environment Control Act
The government will then send out an inspector to view the property if it falls within the law. This is when the building permit is issued. If they deny your building permit then they have to state in writing as to why the building permit was denied. Phuket has many restrictions one being that in certain areas of Phuket their is a height limit. You may not build higher than a few floors in certain areas.
Building permits come with a time limit depending on the size of the project oir the size of the changes being made. Normally the building permit is valid for 1 year only depending on size. These are the time limits on Building Permits in Phuket:
- 1 year if the area if less than 10,000 SqM.
- 2 years if the area is between 10,000 SqM and 100,000 SqM
- 3 years if it is bigger than 100,000SqM
Building permits can also be revoked if someone lays a complaint and highlights an issue that was overlooked in the initial phase. A very good example was the court actions in Pattaya where the residents complained that the new building will block their view of the ocean and devalue their property. In that case the building permit was not revoked but amended to reflect that they could not build over 5 floors.
If you are planing on building on Phuket then speak to our property solicitors or lawyers in Phuket about what you building plans are and how best to make changes to your house or Villa on the island. Walk into our law offices in Phuket or call us now toll-free out of the US or the UK.
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