THAILAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Olaf Duensing, Jerrold Kippen and Weeraya Kippen, Duensing Kippen, Ltd.
acknowledgement of such denial. The local gov - ernment administration must then forward the appeal to the Appeal Consideration Committee, which must rule on the appeal within 60 days thereafter. Should the appellant disagree with the ruling, the appellant may then file an action in the Administrative Court within 30 days. Dur - ing the appeal process, both the appellant and local government administration are prohibited from doing anything to the construction except where it poses danger to persons or property. 4.6 Agreements With Local or Governmental Authorities Local government authorities are responsible for formally granting, denying and enforcing construction permission, and thus agreement with the local authorities regarding a construc - tion project is required as a matter of course in Thailand. However, it is also not uncommon for permission to be conditional on the provision of some benefit to the locality such as new or upgraded public infrastructure. All owners and possessors of real estate in Thai - land have a right to access utilities. However, where utilities do not yet connect to the project property it may be necessary to negotiate with the relevant local utility authority to have utilities extended to the project property. 4.7 Enforcement of Restrictions on Development and Designated Use In the event of there being construction, altera - tion, demolition or removal of a building in viola - tion of the BCA or regulation issued thereunder, the local government administration has the power to: • order such action be stopped; • order that no one enter any part of the build - ing or the area where the action is occurring;
• if the issue can be rectified, consider issu - ing an order to the possessor of the building to apply for permission to proceed with the action within a fixed time of not less than 30 days; • if the issue cannot be rectified, consider issu - ing an order to the possessor of the building that it be either partly or wholly demolished within a fixed time of not less than 30 days; and • if any demolition order is not complied with, file an ex parte court filing for permission to proceed with the demolition itself, after which it can then proceed with the demolition and the party that failed to demolish the building will be liable for all costs incurred by the local government administration. A party that fails to comply with a demolition order may be imprisoned for up to six months and fined up to THB100,000. Where a construction requires permission for a specific use, the local government administra - tion may order a party not to use the construction in that manner until such permission has been obtained. Any party that is using a structure with - out the requisite permission may be imprisoned for up to six months, fined up to THB60,000 and additionally fined up to THB10,000 for each day of such impermissible use. 5. Investment Vehicles 5.1 Types of Entities Available to Investors to Hold Real Estate Assets Any juristic person, such as a registered part - nership, limited partnership, private company limited or public company limited, is eligible to hold real estate assets. Of these, the preferred
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