Ask here about the pleasures and pitfalls of buying, selling or renting property and real estate in Hua Hin. Building, design and construction topics welcome. Commercial or promotional posts for real estate companies or private properties are forbidden.
Burger wrote: if you want to save some Baht and go to the local shopping mall lawyers then you should know what you're letting yourself in for.
hmmm...nice to read statements like this.
Thought, competion makes business more interesting, huh?
I just can say, that the local shopping-mall lawyer adviced me well enough, so that I don't need to have sleepless nights in view of my company yet.
...and you can be sure, that they'll investigate Mr. & Mrs. Smith to see the legality of their bungalow funds, and if it's even just a 1M Baht-house or random checks.
In my area 2 cases are well-known already.
But may be these guys were involved in Shin Corp, too... ???
Isn't the whole debate about whether or not 'Mr & Mrs Smith in the 3m baht bungalow' will be targeted by clampdowns a bit of a red herring?
Surely it is not whether they are likely to be targeted but whether the legal mechanism exists for them to be targeted that is the most relevant question? If so, then it is all down to acceptance and evaluation of risk - providing you have been advised that the risk exists.
This debate on whether they are likely to be targeted or not seems to confirm to me that everyone agrees that the legal mechanism does exist for them to be the subject of a clampdown. Once people understand that then they can make their own decision about how likely it will be.
Have to agree with the above two here. Seems they're closing loopholes on ALL part foreign owned companies regardless of whether they have been used to purchase property or not, this includes legitimately trading companies.
Now if someone could please provide some solid evidence such as this magic letter from the local or national authorities (and not a bunch of local real estate websites that it is against the policy of the board to link to in the first place) to prove otherwise we would be able to have some direction on this thread.
The Shin Corp deal may have been the catalyst for this as Singapore are in fact foreign, contrary to the belief of the fearless PM who once again seems to have royally screwed us along with his own country.
Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed? - Hunter S Thompson
To be honest i dont think some members on here will ever smell the coffee.
As we all know the F word has been used in history down the years by the likes of Einstein and Churchill.
One of the most famous uses of the F word came from the Mayor of Hiroshima.
On a bright sunny day the mayor was addressing the people and telling them that Japan was winning the war and that all was wonderfull in the land of the rising sun.
I have received an email from my developer and he has attached the letter from the land department but unfortunately is in Thai. Can anyone translate it, if you want the copy I will email it to you. I am also sending to my lawyer.
Excellent customer care....to send supposedly official letters in Thai, without any translations...seems to be a very competent and serious developer, huh?
Normally your lawyer should be able to help you with a translation.
Just hope, that this lawyer hasn’t been recommend by your developer.
karenjuice wrote:I have received an email from my developer and he has attached the letter from the land department but unfortunately is in Thai. Can anyone translate it, if you want the copy I will email it to you. I am also sending to my lawyer.
We have asked several property agents in town for this letter but none have provided it for us which is strange as it really helps them in the long run.
Apologies for posting the links Buksi, won't happen again, but thought it important for people to understand about the 39% set-up, as it's very relevant to the government statement about companies with 40% or more.
Hopefully someone will be able to produce a copy of the government directive to the land offices asap.
I went and done a transfer with my wife this week, the only difference seemed to be a new form you have to fill in. You have to enter the usual details plus the company 'objective' and the size of the land. There was a section at the bottom for shareholders info, but this only has to be given if your company objective is 'property business' or the land size is over 1 Rai.
Orajit Singkalavanich, the director-general of the ministry's Business Development Department, said the rule would also apply to new companies that are controlled by foreign entities, even if their direct shareholdings are less than 40%.
I have no doubt that they will still allow registrations at present but no one can complain now if they have problems in the future.
It is well known that insurance companys will take on almost any risk from a Mini to an Oil Tanker, so can the developers or real estate agents not give some kind of Indemnity insurance with every property they sell as this would put everyones mind at rest.
Or perhaps the agents/developers could give a written document stating that should there be a problem with your house purchase they would buy back at the selling price.
I would say a 'foreign entity' is a non-Thai juristic company who may set up a headquarters in Thailand and buy shares in a Thai juristic company.
We all read a while back in the Hua Hin Today that the authorities were going to take a closer look at businesses with foreign sharehloders.
They have confirmed that this week but have also confirmed it will not apply to companies set-up correctly, ie with 39% shareholding, who wish to purchase land for their company office.
It also says these comapnies can continue to be formed with the Ministry of Commerce without the need to prove shareholders funds.
I'm sure this will be a relief to some of the buyers sitting back in Europe who had the fear of God put into them with reckless comments about the possibility of their companies being shut down and their land taken away.
Burger wrote:I would say a 'foreign entity' is a non-Thai juristic company who may set up a headquarters in Thailand and buy shares in a Thai juristic company.
We all read a while back in the Hua Hin Today that the authorities were going to take a closer look at businesses with foreign sharehloders.
They have confirmed that this week but have also confirmed it will not apply to companies set-up correctly, ie with 39% shareholding, who wish to purchase land for their company office.
It also says these comapnies can continue to be formed with the Ministry of Commerce without the need to prove shareholders funds.
I'm sure this will be a relief to some of the buyers sitting back in Europe who had the fear of God put into them with reckless comments about the possibility of their companies being shut down and their land taken away.
Burger
My suggestion to those back in Europe who today owns property through a company is:
Do not overreact. Only if you think you have a bad “set upâ€
The Registrar General hereby stipulates the rules and regulations for the registration of the partnership and company limited which has the foreigner(s) holds the shares of the partnership or company at the proportion begins from 40% but less than 50% of the registered investment capital, or the foreigner holds the shares less than 40% of the registered capital and the foreigner is authorized to act on behalf of the said partnership or the company limited. For the aforementioned case, all Thai national shareholders are subjected to submit the evidences showing the source of the investment together with the application form of the business registration. The said evidence shall contain the detail of the amount of money which matches to the amount of the investment that each Thai shareholder has invested in the Company or the partnership. The required evidence shall be one of the following documents:
1. Copy of the bank statement of the most recent record of the last 6 months or;
2. any document which issued by the Bank to certify the financial status of the shareholder or;
3. Copy of the evidence that shows the source of the investment that the Thai shareholder invested in the partnership or company limited.
This gives more detailed information regarding the Bangkok Post article that Dr. Dave posted under news.
This reads to me that it refers to all companies with foreign shareholder, even if under 40%.
However the only shareholder documentation that they ask to see is 1 of the above 3, ie: recent bank statements at time of company formation.
Copies of shareholder bank statements are already taken by solicitors who set our companies up and filed.
They do not request salary slips, proof of income tax payments, loan details etc etc.
Strange.
A property shop set up a company for me to buy a house but i never used that company because of the change and it has nothing.
The company address is my house which i'm leasing now.
Can i just forget about that company or should i really close it down to avoid any further agro from them muppets? Thai letters come to my house about it which i don't know anything or care anything about.
Last edited by James61 on Thu Aug 03, 2006 9:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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