Section 4 bis: Court for immovable property claims
Statutory text (Thai original)
คำฟ้องเกี่ยวด้วยอสังหาริมทรัพย์ หรือสิทธิหรือประโยชน์อันเกี่ยวด้วยอสังหาริมทรัพย์ ให้เสนอต่อศาลที่อสังหาริมทรัพย์นั้นตั้งอยู่ในเขตศาล ไม่ว่าจำเลยจะมีภูมิลำเนาอยู่ในราชอาณาจักรหรือไม่ หรือต่อศาลที่จำเลยมีภูมิลำเนาอยู่ในเขตศาล
English translation
A plaint concerning immovable property, or a right or interest concerning immovable property, shall be submitted to the court within whose territorial jurisdiction the immovable property is situated, whether or not the defendant has domicile in the Kingdom, or to the court within whose territorial jurisdiction the defendant has domicile.
This English translation is provided for reference only and has not yet been firm-verified. Always rely on the Thai original.
Firm annotation
Section 4 bis is a special venue rule that adjusts the general rule in Section 4 for disputes tied to land and other immovable property. It lets the plaintiff choose between the court where the property is situated and the court of the defendant's domicile, and it applies whether or not the defendant is domiciled in the Kingdom. The courts read claims concerning immovable property broadly, so that mortgage enforcement and mortgage redemption claims fall within it because they ultimately require action against the property itself. As a special provision it prevails over the general Section 4 rule for these claims, subject to the overriding provisions of Section 7.
Why this matters in practice
In property disputes the choice of court can be strategic: filing where the land sits keeps the property, records, and any site inspection close, while filing at the defendant's domicile may be more convenient for service. For mortgage and land cases this choice is confirmed by the courts, so weigh convenience and enforcement before you file. If your dispute involves Thai land, our court process guide explains what to expect.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 8036/2561 (2018)
Where a plaint concerning immovable property situated in the court's area has been validly received under Section 4 bis, jurisdiction is fixed at filing, and a later amendment that adds a different claim does not undo the jurisdiction the court already held.
The plaintiff first filed a claim concerning immovable property within the trial court's area, which the court properly received under Section 4 bis. A later amendment adding a tort claim, without seeking to compel transfer of the property, did not disturb the jurisdiction the court already held.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 6574/2559 (2016)
A claim to enforce a mortgage over land is a plaint concerning immovable property under Section 4 bis, because enforcement runs against the property itself, so the plaintiff may sue in the court where the land is situated.
The mortgaged land lay within the trial court's area. The court held that a claim to enforce the mortgage is one concerning immovable property, since it requires execution against the property, so the plaintiffs could properly sue where the land was situated under Section 4 bis.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 10342/2551 (2008)
Section 4 bis gives the plaintiff a choice of forum for a claim concerning immovable property: the court where the property is situated or the court where the defendant is domiciled; filing at the defendant's domicile is lawful even though it is not where the property lies.
The plaintiff mortgagee sued to have a transferee redeem the mortgage under Civil and Commercial Code Section 737. Although this concerned immovable property, the court held Section 4 bis let the plaintiff choose to sue where the defendant was domiciled rather than where the property was situated.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 7 Supreme Court decisions (1994 to 2018)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 8036/2561 (2018)
- Decision 10342/2551 (2008)
- Decision 5149/2549 (2006)
- Decision 3530/2542 (1999)
- Decision 3287/2537 (1994)
- Decision 6574/2559 (2016)
- Decision 6111/2540 (1997)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
Where do I sue over a land dispute in Thailand?
Under Section 4 bis a claim concerning immovable property may be filed either in the court where the property is located or in the court where the defendant is domiciled. The plaintiff chooses between the two.
Is a mortgage enforcement claim treated as an immovable property claim?
Yes. The courts treat a claim to enforce a mortgage over land as one concerning immovable property under Section 4 bis, because it must ultimately be enforced against the property, so it can be filed where the land sits.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Civil Procedure Code, s. 4/2 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Civil Procedure Code (Thailand), s. 4/2. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-4-2/ (accessed 11 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.วิ.พ. มาตรา 4/2 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-4-2/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-4-2/"><p>A plaint concerning immovable property, or a right or interest concerning immovable property, shall be submitted to the court within whose territorial jurisdiction the immovable property is situated, whether or not the defendant has domicile in the Kingdom, or to the court within whose territorial…</p><footer>Civil Procedure Code, s. 4/2 (Thailand) — <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-procedure-code/section-4-2/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.