Songkhla community faces steep rent hike from temple land

Residents of the community surrounding Wat Khuan Mit in Songkhla raised concerns as the temple, which owns the land they reside on, dramatically increased the rent by twelvefold. The escalation in rental fees has led to severe hardship for the locals, many of whom have lived there since their ancestors’ time.

Negotiations with the temple’s caretakers have not yielded any resolution, prompting the community to plan a visit to the provincial hall in Songkhla for assistance.

A community representative, Meechai, stated that originally, the temple charged a yearly rent of 3 baht per square wah (a Thai unit of area). However, the temple intends to increase this to 3 baht per square wah per month, effectively multiplying the rent by 12.

For residents with small homes, this means an annual rent of just over 200 baht would surge to 3,000 baht. Similarly, for local shops, the proposed…