Foreigners can no longer buy houses in Thailand via company.

[Governor]

Have these "new rules" had any impact on the re-sale value of houses or in fact the cost of new houses?

[malcolminthemiddle]

They do not request salary slips, proof of income tax payments, loan details etc etc.
Strange.

Burger

Not really because 6 months of bank statements will tell them what they want to know including regular salary deposits and any unusual large deposits.

[karenjuice]

Lev did you manage to translate document from land department?
My developer has said he will put a clause in our contract to say that if there is a problem with registering the property they will refund us the full amount.

[silverbird]

Lev did you manage to translate document from land department?
My developer has said he will put a clause in our contract to say that if there is a problem with registering the property they will refund us the full amount.

I just want to remind you that any guarantee given has to go through the legal process in Thailand if the developer later decides not to fulfil his promises. That means a long time and the day you might win the case there might be no developer to pay even for the legal costs involved.
I am also surprised so few buyers do not request any kind of guarantees that are for real before they start their down payments. Just because they buy in a foreign country does not mean they should forget about “common senseâ€

[Burger]

They do not request salary slips, proof of income tax payments, loan details etc etc.
Strange.

Burger

Not really because 6 months of bank statements will tell them what they want to know including regular salary deposits and any unusual large deposits.

That would apply if the bank statements they give is for their account where their salary is paid in etc. People have many different accounts over here, some used for salary and living etc, others with large savings amounts in on higher interest. Plus you will not see proof of income tax paid via these statements.
In any case most of the Thai shareholders used are solicitors and other proffessional people, so their salary levels are ok for a modest shareholding of 10% in a 1M Baht company. How many companies their hold shares in is another matter altogether

Burger

[James61]

It's being suggested about taksin having many dolla to spend because of selling so much of shin corp and having the guidelines changed to drop the price of property to buy up big cheap deals in the family name would be logical to the chinese and cronies. (phuket gazette about them buying up chunks there too)
When he does things like changing currency a lot of his band follow suit and of course them people would hold on to assets for 50 years if it stopped the family from losing 25 satang on the transaction. (then manipulating the baht)
For people like westerners who aren't as tight, self-serving, stickey greedy or downright mean it looks old fashioned and that feeling of starvation but that's how they are.
Anyway if i was one of them with that frame of mind it would seem logical to go that direction and do some scheme to get a lot of bang for the buck.
The luxury houses will probably go down in value if they can't be owned or even pretended to own by us.

I still can't get my head around how the chinese took over thailand and convinced the thais that being chinese was superior. Isn't it amazing!
The longer i'm here the more it amazes me.

Anyhow with these rules/guidelines changes and company investigations i'm sure there must be some money to be made by the chinese and lots of soft assets to be had for much less than otherwise.

[Lev]

Lev did you manage to translate document from land department?

Not yet, we only got it today, thanks for sending it, I've uploaded the Thai version here until we get the translation done (which may take a few days as its written in "government Thai" which the average Thai also struggles with).

http://www.huahinafterdark.com/forum/vi ... php?t=4126

[Jaime]

I still can't get my head around how the chinese took over thailand and convinced the thais that being chinese was superior.

I am going to start a new thread on this topic.

[malcolminthemiddle]

Lev did you manage to translate document from land department?
My developer has said he will put a clause in our contract to say that if there is a problem with registering the property they will refund us the full amount.

I just want to remind you that any guarantee given has to go through the legal process in Thailand if the developer later decides not to fulfil his promises. That means a long time and the day you might win the case there might be no developer to pay even for the legal costs involved.
I am also surprised so few buyers do not request any kind of guarantees that are for real before they start their down payments. Just because they buy in a foreign country does not mean they should forget about “common senseâ€

[malcolminthemiddle]

Not really because 6 months of bank statements will tell them what they want to know including regular salary deposits and any unusual large deposits.

That would apply if the bank statements they give is for their account where their salary is paid in etc. People have many different accounts over here, some used for salary and living etc, others with large savings amounts in on higher interest. Plus you will not see proof of income tax paid via these statements.
In any case most of the Thai shareholders used are solicitors and other proffessional people, so their salary levels are ok for a modest shareholding of 10% in a 1M Baht company. How many companies their hold shares in is another matter altogether

Burger

Burger,

The reason for financial evidence is to establish that the Thai share holder is genuine and not a nominee, a fixed term account would not achieve this.

[tuktukmike]

Hey i think we are all going around in circules.

Everytime we post the facts some members will tell you there is a way round the problem.

Ok enough bull on this subject.

IF THAILAND WANTED YOU TO OWN LAND THEY WOULD SIMPLY CHANGE THE CURRENT REGULATIONS AND ALLOW FARANG TO OWN LAND IN HIS/HERS OWN NAME.

This has not been the case and wont be in the near future.

I do understand the situation that our developer friend may be in, but it was a risk that many took and that is what it was. A Risk.

It is no good swimming against the tide and trying to find a way out of the reality.

Anyone considering buying would be at best naive at worst plain daft.

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[2dandan]

Something to consider.

Would it be possible for prospective purchasers who are currently waiting for Land Registration or likely to be in the forseeable future, change to lease and have Lease contracts or other legal contract drafted between purchaser and developer which stipulates that,

a) at the termination of the lease period (30 years) and in perpetuity the lease will automatically be renewed at no cost, except registration fees, to the purchaser.

b) The developer or his agent will agree to change from leasehold to freehold, again at no cost except registration fees, if at any time Thai law changes to allow Foreign ownership of land.

The contracts could include some additional clauses which takes into account absent developers, who disappear after completion to avoid the Land transfer.

c) all purchasers of houses on a freehold development, which are blocked from "buying" their plot could form a company with equal shareholdings and buy the plotted land from the developer. The shareholder/owners could then lease their particular plot from the holding company at a nominal cost. A condition of the shareholding would be that any "house" sales would include the holders shareholdings in the company, therebye effectively transferring the land to the new purchaser.

I'm thinking this out as I type it and realise that there are considerable problems with option C, because of the percentage of foreigners thing with setting up companies, however let's move forward a bit and try and come up with solutions or options instead of the tit for tat told you so bickering.

Any comments on the above or any other suggestions from the learned members of HHAD

[johnrxx99]

Tuktuk - you are so right about going round in circles. The official statement has been printed twice in this thread/board yet still people have a disconnect between eyeball and brain, or just don't understand english. The words are clear as has been the existing law.

What does surprise me is that no one has mentioned what effect this clarification of the law will have on property values. I guess there must be a lot of Thais who have invested in property as well farangs. The chance of getting 30 year leases (x2) at good prices may not be far off if one was so inclined.

[johnrxx99]

2dandan - and by the way, rent for a year then look to lease. You'll save a considerable sum as the market crashes.

[Burger]

tuktukmike wrote

Hey i think we are all going around in circles.

Is that it ? After all the posts on here telling people how they may be taken to court, kicked off their land, houses taken away due these 'nasty investigations' that are going to take place.
Now we have the new government rule in black and white and all they require, and will be checking up on, is that copies of recent bank statements to show proof of shareholders funds, something which is already kept if you have your company set up correctly.

Looks like there was a lot of unneccessary fear being bandied about.

Burger