The homes, in Wang Thong Lang district, Soi Lat Phrao 80, are to be knocked down within 30 days, unless an appeal is lodged, Bangkok Metropolitan Administration staff said on Tuesday.

Wang Thong Lang district chief Narathip Patvimon said he ordered the houses demolished within 30 days.

But if residents could prove the townhouses could be made safe, they had the right to appeal against the order, he said.

"The district will get to the bottom of this problem. While we work, access to the area will be forbidden. Electricity and water supplies have already been cut," he said.

If the townhouses were shoddily built, the engineers responsible will face charges, he said.

Engineers from the BMA and the Engineering Institute of Thailand inspected the eight four-storey townhouses in Sin Thani village a second time on Tuesday.

They said the Lat Phrao case was just one of many in and around greater Bangkok - all because of soft, swampy ground or inappropriate construction.

The engineers brought in about 500 sandbags to stop the subsidence.

It worked long enough for residents to be able to safely enter the buildings and remove their possessions.

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The BMA yesterday suggested the owners of another 99 townhouses within the village have their buildings checked.

Thanet Veerasiri, from the Engineering Institute, said an initial inspection suggested the subsidence might have been caused by a pillar being unsteadily plunged into soft ground, or the pillars slipping off their foundations, he said.

"Since I've been working voluntarily for the BMA I've seen buildings in swampy areas of Bangkok and Samut Prakan falling apart almost every month, particularly during the rainy season," he said.

Buildings should be inspected every two years, he said.

The owners of the crumbling townhouses yesterday filed a complaint to the Consumer Protection Board, asking it to investigate.

One owner, Chitlada Saengthongsuk, 37, said the eight townhouse owners would also hire engineers to investigate, in preparation for suing the real estate developer. She said the developer had not admitted any responsibility for the incident.

"We are in trouble now, we have to live with relatives and our houses are going to be demolished and most of them are still owned by the banks," she said.

Another owner said a row of nearby townhouses had also cracked and sunk, and the owners successfully sued the real estate developer five years ago.

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