669 households in the Khok Tanod community in Chalong, Phuket, face eviction lawsuits. A private party claims to own the land they live on, and the dispute has run for years. More than 3,000 people live in these households, including children, working-age adults, elderly people and vulnerable residents. Many have low incomes and no other home, according to The Thaiger and The Phuket News, which both reported the case on 22 September 2026.
This is a civil dispute about who owns the land. Nobody is accused of a crime. The private party has not been named or quoted in reporting so far.
The community asked the province for help, not a ruling
On 21 September 2026, community representatives took a petition to the Phuket Damrongdhama Centre, the province’s public complaints office. They asked officials for two things: help to protect residents’ rights while the lawsuits continue, and housing support for families who may finally have to leave.
Both outlets name Chalermpong Saengdee as the MP who met residents; The Phuket News identifies him as the MP for Phuket Constituency 2. Officials told the residents that the provincial administration and other government agencies cannot interfere with court decisions or overturn them. Residents whose cases are still before the courts can continue to present evidence there. Some of the cases have reportedly already reached the Supreme Court.
We could not locate a published official government record of the petition or the meeting.
What the state can still do
The help on offer is about housing and welfare, not about the land claim. The Phuket Provincial Office of Social Development and Human Security is registering affected households to assess them for welfare and emergency assistance.
For the longer term, officials are considering the Baan Mankong programme run by CODI, the Community Organizations Development Institute. It is a national scheme that helps lower-income communities secure land tenure and build housing through collective, community-managed arrangements.
Why this matters to anyone buying or holding land on Phuket
Khok Tanod shows the order of things once a land claim goes to court. Years of living on a plot did not stop the lawsuits. Once the cases were in court, the province said it could not step in on the land question. What the government could offer was welfare and a possible path to new housing. It could not offer a decision on who owns the land.
For a buyer, the lesson is to settle the title question before money moves, not after. Know which document the land is held under, what it proves, and whether anyone else has a claim to the same plot. Our guides to the chanote title deed and to Sor Kor 1 and other weak titles explain what each document does and does not give you. The due diligence checklist sets out the checks to make before a transfer.
For an owner or occupier who is already in a dispute, the recourse this case shows is the court itself. Evidence goes to the judge. A provincial office can hear a complaint and arrange support, but it cannot decide the case.
