Thai Land Title Deeds Explained: The Full Ladder

Chanote is full, GPS-guaranteed ownership. Below it sit weaker, still-registrable rights. Below that sit documents — Sor Por Kor, tax receipts — that are not title at all and cannot lawfully be sold. Knowing which rung a listing sits on is the most important check you can make.

The deed ladder, top to bottom

Chanote (Nor Sor 4 Jor, น.ส.4จ.) — full ownership title. Boundaries are surveyed by GPS and guaranteed by the Land Department. Freely sellable, leasable, and mortgageable, and buildable subject to zoning. There is nothing to upgrade to; this is the ceiling.

Nor Sor 3 Gor (น.ส.3ก.) — confirmed possessory right, with boundaries fixed by an aerial-photo survey at 1:5000 scale, cross-referenced to a master survey. It is registrable at the Land Office, generally treated as safe to lease, and — because its boundaries are already fixed — a transfer needs no public notice period. It can be upgraded to Chanote once the Land Department completes a precision GPS re-survey of the area.

Nor Sor 3 (น.ส.3) — the same legal basis (confirmed, registrable, mortgageable possessory right) but the boundaries are not yet precisely surveyed. A sale or transfer requires a 30-day public notice period to allow anyone to contest it, and boundary disputes are more common here than on any title above it. It can be upgraded first to Nor Sor 3 Gor, then Chanote, as the area gets surveyed — but until then, a physical boundary walk with the neighbors present is worth far more than the paper.

Nor Sor 2 (น.ส.2) — a temporary land-use consent, not a possessory or ownership title. The holder must begin using the land within 6 months and complete use within 3 years, and it cannot be sold or transferred except by inheritance. Not a marketable listing type.

Sor Kor 1 (ส.ค.1) — a pre-1972 notification of a possession claim. The Land Department stopped issuing these in 1972; some still circulate, mostly in rural provinces like Chiang Mai. It is not itself a registrable right — it is evidence that may support a later application to convert to Nor Sor 3 or Chanote, but the Land Office will not register a sale, lease, or mortgage directly against it.

Por Bor Tor 5 / 6 (ภ.บ.ท.5 / ภ.บ.ท.6) — these are local tax records issued by the Subdistrict Administrative Organization, confirming someone paid local land tax. They are not title documents of any kind: no ownership, no possessory right, nothing registrable. The Land Department will not register any transaction against a PBT5/6 number, and banks will not mortgage it. A meaningful share of PBT5 land in the north overlaps national park, forest reserve, or military zones, meaning it may be legally impossible to ever upgrade.

Sor Por Kor 4-01 (ส.ป.ก.4-01) — Agricultural Land Reform Office land, allocated under the Land Reform for Agriculture Act to qualifying landless or near-landless Thai farmers for agricultural use only. Sale on the open market, lease to foreigners, and non-agricultural use are all prohibited; transfer is restricted essentially to inheritance or an ALRO-supervised handover between qualifying farmers. A 1999 Supreme Court decision confirms that a buyer who pays for Sor Por Kor land anyway has no legal recourse to recover the money, because the underlying contract violates the law. It is nonetheless traded informally in Chiang Dao's rural market, typically witnessed by a village headman on a purely private, trust-based basis — which is exactly why it is so easy to be sold as if it were freehold. We do not list Sor Por Kor land, ever, at any price.

What the Land Office will actually register on each

This is the line that matters more than any marketing description: Chanote, Nor Sor 3 Gor, and Nor Sor 3 can all be registered at the Land Office for a sale, lease, or mortgage. Nor Sor 2 can only pass by inheritance. Sor Kor 1 and Por Bor Tor 5/6 cannot be registered for a transaction of any kind — the counter simply will not process them, no matter what a private contract says. Sor Por Kor cannot be sold on the open market at all. If a seller tells you a document type "basically works the same as Chanote for a foreigner-friendly deal," ask them to walk into the Chiang Dao Land Office and register the sale in front of you. That single request ends most bad-title pitches on its own.

The 30-day notice on Nor Sor 3 — why it exists

Because Nor Sor 3 boundaries were fixed by an older aerial survey rather than GPS, the exact line between one parcel and its neighbor can be genuinely uncertain. The 30-day public notice period before a Nor Sor 3 transfer exists precisely so a neighboring landowner can raise a dispute before the sale completes, rather than after you've paid. If a Nor Sor 3 deal is being rushed through without that window, or an agent describes it as a formality to skip, treat that as a warning sign rather than a courtesy.

Why silence about title in a listing is the signal

In Chiang Dao's own market, listings frequently state a price and a plot size without stating a title type at all. A review of the district's cheapest listings — the ones near a typical foreign buyer's budget — found that most did not state a title type on the listing at all; only the one priced right at the top of that budget band stated Chanote outright. That silence is not neutral. It most likely means the land is Nor Sor 3 Gor, an unsurveyed subdivision carved out of a larger Chanote parcel and not yet re-registered individually, or — in the worst case — land the seller knows carries a weaker document and would rather not name. Treat an unstated title type as a question to ask, not a detail to skip.

Six checks before money moves

1. Title search at the Land Office, on the actual deed — confirms the title type, the registered owner's name matches the seller, and whether any mortgage, lien, or court attachment sits against it.
2. LandsMaps boundary cross-check — the Land Department's public GIS portal overlays the surveyed parcel boundary on satellite imagery. It shows geometry, not ownership or price, so pair it with the title search rather than relying on it alone.
3. Forest and park boundary check, for anything near the Chiang Dao Wildlife Sanctuary or the biosphere reserve buffer — a valid-looking Chanote can, in disputed cases, still sit near a resurveyed protected-area line.
4. Zoning check on the Public Works viewer — the zone colour and what it permits, read by deed number off the Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning viewer, against the plan that actually governs Chiang Dao. A buildable-looking plot in the wrong zone is not buildable.
5. Seller identity match — the name on the ID or passport must match the name on the deed, or there needs to be a properly executed, Land-Department-recognized power of attorney if the owner is selling from abroad.
6. A physical site visit and boundary walk, photographed and dated, with neighboring landowners present if the title is Nor Sor 3 — the deed is not the ground, and the ground is what you're buying.

We run all six before a listing on this site is marked verified. Ask to see the evidence, not just the label.