Farang Buying a Shop House?

[JamesWest]

I know buying a shop house is not legal for a Farang to do in Thailand, but how do you do it?

i saw a three story shop house that was brand new for about half the cost of a condo with three times the space.

[SydneyGuy]

Hmmmm

i am pretty sure you can buy a shop house, as long as you get a leasehold on the land, but you cant operate a business unless you setup a company/get work permit/tax ID status/get the right visa. Maybe you can live in 1 or 2 rooms and sub lease the ground floor to Thai people for business:)

The other option is if you trust your Thai partner implicitly then that's the easiest way to do it:.

[Takiap]

The same law applies to buy a shop house as it does to buying a regular house.


I don't really get the whole 30 lease idea if you are married. Even if your marriage ends on the rocks after a number of years, why would you want some complete stranger to have ownership when you eventually die or leave, rather than allowing your wife or ex wife to have ownership. After all, there would have been a number of years where you loved each other and were happy together, and if you are concerned about her booting you out, you can take precautions against that by the two of you signing a usefract (spelling?) agreement, giving you full rights until you die. And btw, you can do this, even in Hua-Hin.

[HHTel]

You are correct Takiap. When you're married, the property can belong to your wife who can then lease it to you for 30 years. This gives some protection if the marriage finishes on the rocks. A 'usufruct' is by far the best option but it's not automatic and is at the discretion of the land office. The intention to form a usufruct is publicly displayed (for 30 days I believe) to allow any objections. If a usufruct fails then a lease is the easy alternative.

[buksida]

This is entirely upto the land office (and differs from area to area) - our local one for example would not sign off on a lease between husband and wife.

[JamesWest]

the developers of these shophouses must have some experience dealing with farang leases. I would think they would like that and lease the land to me themselves.

i wonder if there is some sort of owners association with the shop houses? they have a common roof and common walls.

and what happens if the roof leaks over your neighbors unit and the water damages your place?
there must be something in place for that sort of thing. just insurance? what if your roof leaks? i guess you just fix it?

i am too paranoid to get a Thai women in the land ownership mix. i would rather just lease to a stranger than give a Thai woman a reason for wanting me dead.

and speaking of reasons for wanting me dead,
i was thinking of making the ground floor into a super cool motorcycle workshop and garage. sort of like a very small scale Tony Stark and Ironman's workshop. You know everything brand new and impossibly clean. looks cool but who knows what all this stuff is for.

a kitchen would be in there somewhere with some stainless appliances. i am more of a Ducati person, so one beautiful Ducati bike on a stand. Sort of key off the red with the bikes, tool boxes, floor stands... and those floor tiles that look like diamond plate. white walls. This could also double as a photography studio. i don't drink, but the kitchen could have a bar like feeling to it so my visitors feel like they are still at work.

the entire second floor would be a theatre with a huge flatscreen television, sound system. This is only for my personal use, no business involved. some sound deadening material on the walls. the maid could sleep here on the sofa if she wanted to, like if it was raining or something. there would be a lot of dusting and cleaning with the bikes coming and going and parked in the living room.

and the third floor would be the bedroom with a big bed and a Jacuzzi tub and rain shower seperated my some green glass. like a suite at the Amari, only smaller. and maybe a fire pole back down to the second floor... not sure. i wonder if i can cut a opening between the floors or if that is not allowed? tub too big to retrofit and make it up the stairs?

a motorized remote controlled heavy duty roll up door, 15 security cameras, server farm, UPS, fiber internet and a satellite TV antenna farm on the roof. tint the ground floor windows so you can't see in. i would keep the front ouside just as dirty and tacky with all the crap pile up as the other shophouses so when you walked in you would be really shocked.

excluding the empty shophouse and bikes, how much do you think all this would cost? forget the server farm, that is not going to happen.