Part of the beach in front of Dusit Thani Laguna is privately owned – Land Office

Phuket Land Office, Thalang District Branch, revealed today (January 8), that the land between the sea and Dusit Thani Laguna is Crown Land (Nor Sor Lor). However, the area where the tourist was asked to move away on Sunday is still covered in the resort’s private property, according to the title.

The Land Officer, Yongyuth Kanjananurak, commented on the live video of a tourist being asked to move from the sandy beach area in front of Dusit Thani Laguna Phuket, saying that the office has to wait to for Cherngtalay OrBorTor and Thalang District Office to file a case for the Land Office to check the boundaries of the privately owned land of the resort.

“After Sunday’s incident, I have ordered the measuring officers to inspect the area. It appears that the location in the live video is in the area of the resort but in between the private land of the resort and the sea, there is a crown land. That means that area is public beach,” he said.

“We have checked the process of the issuance of an authentic land deed and found that it is legal. Right after the boundary mentioned in the land deed is definitely Nor Sor Lor number ภก.0015 horizontally covering 17 rai along the beach.”

He noted that the reason why the resort owns property that covers the sandy beach area can possibly be because of changes in water currents and erosion since the title was originally issued.

“We found that the resort put the boundary post to identify their private boundary and there have been many inspections by local officials on the area before last weekend’s incident.”

“To answer whether that beach land should be public area or not, we have to look into when the land deed was issued and how was the condition of the land before it became privately owned. We found that the land has been a private property for a long time and after years of beach erosion, the conditions appear to have changed to what they are now,” he explained.

The land deed was initially issued as a Sor Kor 1 then registered as Nor Sor 3 Kor in 1978 and finally became a title deed in 2009.

“The crown land was there to protect any encroachment and it is still there marked clearly. People can freely use the area of crown land as it is public beach.”