Hope this all straightens out soon.
Shirley
Foreigners can no longer buy houses in Thailand via company.
Hi Shirley,Can a farang own a house and lease the land it stands on? If you have a lease can a legal clause be written in to say if you sell said property the new owner will get an automatic new 30 year lease?
Yes you can own the house on the land you lease. The 30 year lease is recorded on the back of the land paper at the land office and only that is legally binding where the land office is concerned.
I guess you could add any clause both parties agree to (or make seperate agreement), but it would only be a private agreement/contract between you and the land owner. If they still hold the land at the time you sell then it would enforcable.
I guess you could add a clause that you can extend for another 30 years after 5/10 year or something ? Again if the land owner agrees, presumably under normal circumstances they would not agree, buy a developer wishing to sell if things didn't turn out well over this latest thing, may agree to much more on lease clauses.
You'd need to check with a solicitor though.
Burger
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scorpiolady
- Amateur
- Posts: 44
- Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:56 pm
- Location: Sweden Norrtalje
Hi hogus! I phoned to my raelastete agent today and he said not to worry about this. He thinks its only a suggestion and it will take time before or if it will happen He also said that he cant understand this beacause Amerikans can buy and own land without starting a compani. And also that the thai people need the farangs because lots of work has been created for thai people to earn money. Im confused and dont know what to believe anymore.hogus wrote:Hey scorpiolady,
no reason to get panic right now.
May be you won't be affected !?
@ scorpiolady
Well, I don't know, whether your real-estate agent is a good spring for new and trustful informations?
It also doesn't matter that US-citizens seems to be permitted to buy land & houses without setting up any company.
The best way to keep yourself update is to contact official authorities (i.e your Embassy in Bangkok), as it was written in this thread often more.
Well, I don't know, whether your real-estate agent is a good spring for new and trustful informations?
It also doesn't matter that US-citizens seems to be permitted to buy land & houses without setting up any company.
The best way to keep yourself update is to contact official authorities (i.e your Embassy in Bangkok), as it was written in this thread often more.
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tuktukmike
- Guru
- Posts: 728
- Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:02 am
From Thai Visa
Heard from someone who claims to have good government connections that the problem started in Hua Hin where some high ranking persons questioned the legality of the large number of housing developments targeted exclusively at foreign buyers, since they viewed them as having harmful environmental and social side effects. They were also concerned that foreign buyers were being cheated by the developers due to misrepresentation including the claim that buying through a Thai company was safe practice. Apparently all the foreigner developments in Hua Hin went ahead and built without housing development (jatsan) licences them, simply subdividing the land and reselling. This bit seems to figure with the wording in about subdividing land in the letter to provincial governors.
The scary bit is that this guy said that the Land Department in Hua Hin has been ordered to investigate all the existing companies with foreign shareholders or directors that own land there and that they believe this applies nationwide.
If this is true, apart from the land ownership issue, it could expand into a witch hunt for any companies apparently controlled by foreigners that have Thai shareholders who can't demonstrate the source of the funds used to invest in the company came from their salaries. This would be a wonderful opportunity for investigators to demand bribes.
Heard from someone who claims to have good government connections that the problem started in Hua Hin where some high ranking persons questioned the legality of the large number of housing developments targeted exclusively at foreign buyers, since they viewed them as having harmful environmental and social side effects. They were also concerned that foreign buyers were being cheated by the developers due to misrepresentation including the claim that buying through a Thai company was safe practice. Apparently all the foreigner developments in Hua Hin went ahead and built without housing development (jatsan) licences them, simply subdividing the land and reselling. This bit seems to figure with the wording in about subdividing land in the letter to provincial governors.
The scary bit is that this guy said that the Land Department in Hua Hin has been ordered to investigate all the existing companies with foreign shareholders or directors that own land there and that they believe this applies nationwide.
If this is true, apart from the land ownership issue, it could expand into a witch hunt for any companies apparently controlled by foreigners that have Thai shareholders who can't demonstrate the source of the funds used to invest in the company came from their salaries. This would be a wonderful opportunity for investigators to demand bribes.
[quote="scorpiolady"][quote="hogus"]Hey scorpiolady,
no reason to get panic right now.
May be you won't be affected !?[/quote] Hi hogus! I phoned to my raelastete agent today and he said not to worry about this. He thinks its only a suggestion and it will take time before or if it will happen He also said that he cant understand this beacause Amerikans can buy and own land without starting a compani. And also that the thai people need the farangs because lots of work has been created for thai people to earn money. Im confused and dont know what to believe anymore.[/quote]
Your real estate agent's advice is utterly wrong. Americans cannot own land in Thailand. The Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations permits them to operate 100% companies in unrestricted sectors but these companies are classified as aliens and cannot own land. The treaty has not been renewed pending the FTA agreement with the US which is now stalled. Americans have reported difficulties registering treaty companies since the latest expiry of the treaty which has previously been automatically renewed every few years. There is actually a provision in the Land Code for aliens to own land under treaties with foreign governments but this is just there in case a government would like to negotiate a treaty like this. There are no current treaties that allow this and I don't know that there ever have been since the current prohibition on foreign ownership of land was instituted in the 50s.
This measure is real and nationwide. The people behind it don't care about Thais who will be out of work because of the crackdown. They care about protecting the exclusive rights of Thais to own land which is a hot political issue. Even the Condominium Act allowing foreigners to own condos was fiercely attacked when first proposed in the 80s and it was delayed for several years.
no reason to get panic right now.
May be you won't be affected !?[/quote] Hi hogus! I phoned to my raelastete agent today and he said not to worry about this. He thinks its only a suggestion and it will take time before or if it will happen He also said that he cant understand this beacause Amerikans can buy and own land without starting a compani. And also that the thai people need the farangs because lots of work has been created for thai people to earn money. Im confused and dont know what to believe anymore.
[/quote]Your real estate agent's advice is utterly wrong. Americans cannot own land in Thailand. The Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations permits them to operate 100% companies in unrestricted sectors but these companies are classified as aliens and cannot own land. The treaty has not been renewed pending the FTA agreement with the US which is now stalled. Americans have reported difficulties registering treaty companies since the latest expiry of the treaty which has previously been automatically renewed every few years. There is actually a provision in the Land Code for aliens to own land under treaties with foreign governments but this is just there in case a government would like to negotiate a treaty like this. There are no current treaties that allow this and I don't know that there ever have been since the current prohibition on foreign ownership of land was instituted in the 50s.
This measure is real and nationwide. The people behind it don't care about Thais who will be out of work because of the crackdown. They care about protecting the exclusive rights of Thais to own land which is a hot political issue. Even the Condominium Act allowing foreigners to own condos was fiercely attacked when first proposed in the 80s and it was delayed for several years.
cliphogus wrote:@ scorpiolady
Well, I don't know, whether your real-estate agent is a good spring for new and trustful informations?
It also doesn't matter that US-citizens seems to be permitted to buy land & houses without setting up any company.
The best way to keep yourself update is to contact official authorities (i.e your Embassy in Bangkok), as it was written in this thread often more.
It also doesn't matter that US-citizens seems to be permitted to buy land & houses without setting up any company
clip
Ihear this also and seems it will not be affeced by the new push...
I have been told, in Phuket, by a agent at a big company that the Land Office will register a chanote for me??????
Is this in response to the current problems....Seems to be that the Developers need to work this out ASAP!
It's a right headache now this mess with the companies.
Laywer said that nobody is sue what is going on yet. That's what he said.
Single home companies can't buy a single home anymore and walking in tesco looking at the new projects stands is slightly sad because what if new foreigners who don't know sign and lose their retirement money on them. If someone duped your parents out of their retirement money, how would you respond. If not nearly completed or paid for are they doomed to failure? I was aware of a clause on mine that said if the developer should go bankrupt i would have lost all the money i had paid up to that point. It's people who are in that situation now that i feel for. Hopefully it won't go that far with developers pulling the bankrupt card.
Driving the highway on the northside of hua hin I remember thinking as i passed them box prime nature shoeboxes the way they put a huge sign to cover the failure buildings from the 1997 crash. It seemed such a unpleasant way to go about business to put up that big sign to hide the failures from prime nature when eveyone knows full well them signs are not appreciated by people who like nature and what will happen latter.
Likely that huge long sign would be taking down or tacky shark or heiniken advertising would go up after the Current one when all the boxes in prime nature have been sold. Who would design houses like that and market them as prime anyway. Maybe I am hard-headed or old fashioned but they look like government housing for americans of african decent. Likely they are modern and I'm not. Maybe it's some kind of humour from the designer.
Something i don't get is why so many more appartments and shophouses are built when all them failure buildings are left idle. It's illogical as the vulcuns would say. The backs of them failures now only have the darkened view of a back of a sign so likely seemed planned to remain idle a while longer or much longer. Anyway the main point i'm making is that that sign seemed ironic and to be completley honest quiet disrespectful used like that and I just hope that prime nature and developments that stoop to odd levels like that are not part foreign owned developments or it would not surprise me for a crackdown like this.
Everyone can see it on the way into hua hin from Bangkok.
Like they say on Thaivisa it's likely just the powers that be chineseThai or whatever looking to make an easy buck at the expense of the many.
At least nobody will die and it's just money that is dumped.
Laywer said that nobody is sue what is going on yet. That's what he said.
Single home companies can't buy a single home anymore and walking in tesco looking at the new projects stands is slightly sad because what if new foreigners who don't know sign and lose their retirement money on them. If someone duped your parents out of their retirement money, how would you respond. If not nearly completed or paid for are they doomed to failure? I was aware of a clause on mine that said if the developer should go bankrupt i would have lost all the money i had paid up to that point. It's people who are in that situation now that i feel for. Hopefully it won't go that far with developers pulling the bankrupt card.
Driving the highway on the northside of hua hin I remember thinking as i passed them box prime nature shoeboxes the way they put a huge sign to cover the failure buildings from the 1997 crash. It seemed such a unpleasant way to go about business to put up that big sign to hide the failures from prime nature when eveyone knows full well them signs are not appreciated by people who like nature and what will happen latter.
Likely that huge long sign would be taking down or tacky shark or heiniken advertising would go up after the Current one when all the boxes in prime nature have been sold. Who would design houses like that and market them as prime anyway. Maybe I am hard-headed or old fashioned but they look like government housing for americans of african decent. Likely they are modern and I'm not. Maybe it's some kind of humour from the designer.
Something i don't get is why so many more appartments and shophouses are built when all them failure buildings are left idle. It's illogical as the vulcuns would say. The backs of them failures now only have the darkened view of a back of a sign so likely seemed planned to remain idle a while longer or much longer. Anyway the main point i'm making is that that sign seemed ironic and to be completley honest quiet disrespectful used like that and I just hope that prime nature and developments that stoop to odd levels like that are not part foreign owned developments or it would not surprise me for a crackdown like this.
Everyone can see it on the way into hua hin from Bangkok.
Like they say on Thaivisa it's likely just the powers that be chineseThai or whatever looking to make an easy buck at the expense of the many.
At least nobody will die and it's just money that is dumped.
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karenjuice
- Rookie
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Mon Mar 20, 2006 4:09 pm
- Location: spain
Message from my lawyer
I have received a message from the developer I was purchasing a property from and also my own lawyer. Luckily I had only paid a 100,000 baht reservation and the lawyer is holding the 1.3 million I have transferred. Very confused as to what to do as we decided to pull out then I received this message. Don´t really know what he´s talking about though, sounds a bit dodgy to me. Has anyone else heard anything about a meeting?
Message from developer:
"I have talked to several government officials and setting up the appointment with the Interior perminent secretary to clarify with him of the situation. And I also have talked with the Thailand Longstay Company which is the state owned company by Tourism Authority of Thailand, they are awared of the problems and already have a better option for foreigner who is buying property in Thailand that we can do the transfer through them. They would provide a fast tract visa, insurance and accommodation for money transfer in and out of the country. Next week they are going to set up a meeting with developers in Huahin for the proper transfering process. So It is going to be temporary issue at the moment, you need not to be worried. In addition we also have leasehold option. Therefore I suggest to hold on this matter for a week or so when I have viable solution for you to decide again.
I also received this from my lawyer:
"I have been contacted by the developer's lawyer. He has informed me that there will be a meeting held by the competent authorities regarding the purchase of property by the foreigners in Thailand. I have not heard anything yet, but he said that the meeting is held as a result of the new rules and regulations. I write to ask you if you would like to wait for a result of this meeting, which would be announced by next week."
Message from developer:
"I have talked to several government officials and setting up the appointment with the Interior perminent secretary to clarify with him of the situation. And I also have talked with the Thailand Longstay Company which is the state owned company by Tourism Authority of Thailand, they are awared of the problems and already have a better option for foreigner who is buying property in Thailand that we can do the transfer through them. They would provide a fast tract visa, insurance and accommodation for money transfer in and out of the country. Next week they are going to set up a meeting with developers in Huahin for the proper transfering process. So It is going to be temporary issue at the moment, you need not to be worried. In addition we also have leasehold option. Therefore I suggest to hold on this matter for a week or so when I have viable solution for you to decide again.
I also received this from my lawyer:
"I have been contacted by the developer's lawyer. He has informed me that there will be a meeting held by the competent authorities regarding the purchase of property by the foreigners in Thailand. I have not heard anything yet, but he said that the meeting is held as a result of the new rules and regulations. I write to ask you if you would like to wait for a result of this meeting, which would be announced by next week."
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tuktukmike
- Guru
- Posts: 728
- Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:02 am
Karenjuice.
Ask for a refund now.
If your developer is telling you he will meet with goverment officials next week then take it as Bullshit.
As for your lawyers response, he is stating to you about the new regulations that will affect your purchase.
Pull the plug and wait until the dust settles.
Mike,
Ask for a refund now.
If your developer is telling you he will meet with goverment officials next week then take it as Bullshit.
As for your lawyers response, he is stating to you about the new regulations that will affect your purchase.
Pull the plug and wait until the dust settles.
Mike,
Karenjuice,
I am sure you are confused but what your lawyer is saying is correct, wait a little while and the situation should be rectified. Do not listen to our resident pessimist, he just likes to create waves! Why waste the money you spent on your property buying trip when a solution will be found.
Anyone using the slightest bit of common sense can see what the government are trying to achieve - it is not to stop people buying homes.
I am sure you are confused but what your lawyer is saying is correct, wait a little while and the situation should be rectified. Do not listen to our resident pessimist, he just likes to create waves! Why waste the money you spent on your property buying trip when a solution will be found.
Anyone using the slightest bit of common sense can see what the government are trying to achieve - it is not to stop people buying homes.
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tuktukmike
- Guru
- Posts: 728
- Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:02 am
JW
My point would be that the money would be better back in her account than in theirs.
If any of us recirved correspondence like this at home do you really think we would sit back and just say Mai Pen Rai.
Does no one agree that it would be best to hang on to your money and wait and see, Property values will not rise in a couple of weeks.
Karenjuice,
I have given this advice so many times but once again, Contact your Embassy in Thailand for impartial advice on your situation.
I cant believe anyone out here would dissagree with this.(would they?)
Mike.
My point would be that the money would be better back in her account than in theirs.
If any of us recirved correspondence like this at home do you really think we would sit back and just say Mai Pen Rai.
Does no one agree that it would be best to hang on to your money and wait and see, Property values will not rise in a couple of weeks.
Karenjuice,
I have given this advice so many times but once again, Contact your Embassy in Thailand for impartial advice on your situation.
I cant believe anyone out here would dissagree with this.(would they?)
Mike.