SDM0712

I've seen a lot of this gambling on property prices. There are just too many variables involved, especially with the UK market which bounces up and down like a Space Hopper anyway.

In the good times I've lost count of how many people, said to me " how much higher can prices prices go, they must stop at some point". My answer is why must they stop, they will continue for as long as buyers feed them. Off topic I know but I was once looking at an old Edwardian house for a dealer client, he wanted me to just give it a quick look to make sure it wasn't falling down. I pulled up some carpets to check for dry rot, woodworm etc. At the time it was common for carpet fitters to put newspaper under the carpet. This was in the late 80's so boom time and I found the front page of one of the Dailys, Daily Mirror I think dated 1965. The headline read something like "Average UK house price now £2600 - CAN IT GO ANY HIGHER" I was so sorry I never kept the page !

SDM

Hello Davejones

Can't get my Z10 to quote you, I'll just add that to the list of things it doesn't do properly.

However to answer your question you can put whatever you like in a lease and if it's ever challenged in court,in the absence of any case law, it's just down to the Judge on the days if he supports it.

For UK lease extensions and enfranchisements the formula is quite complicated and I am happy to recommend a specialist company, but the final costs is based on a marriage value between length of lease and ground rent.

Regards

Stephen

The UK situation is very different. Under the Leasehold Reform Act a tenant/lessee has the legal right to extend a lease. If a price cannot be agreed there is a formula and a freeholder can be forced to extend a lease at a price agreed in Court or even sell the Freehold itself. So it is quite safe to buy a UK leasehold. In Thailand unless it is specified in the Lease, it is not transferable.

So the UK is very different to Thailand.

I suppose never say never, but don't hold your breath.

Regards

Stephen

Hi Tapster

I can give you an agent’s answer on most of these points, although sceptics might say that is not especially useful (or even truthful!)

1. Generally true, the only exception I have heard about (but never experienced) if you are willing to invest 1 million plus USD you will be “ kindly” permitted to own up to one Rai (1600m2) of land in your own name. The company route (51% Thai owned) is coming under a lot of scrutiny at the moment, although still being used.

2. If a condominium block is registered and certified under The Condominium Act 49% of it can be registered in a non-Thai name directly. Generally speaking developers will charge an uplifted price for this. Perhaps around 1 MB extra on say a 6/7 MB purchase. But the order is, developer registers the block and then sells them. In reality 49% are what we call Foreign Freehold titles and 51% sold on leases, normally all to non-Thais.

3. With the exception in my point 1 above, a non-Thai can never own Land in his own name. So in this case a Thai entity (Thai citizen or company) will own the land that the house/villa/townhouse is built on, and then lease the building to you.

4. I don’t completely understand, but I think you mean the price you pay for a leasehold property. The important factor is that is the property is leasehold you are not buying it at all. You are merely leasing it for the period of the lease. After that time without a further lease it reverts to the freehold/landlord/person or company that you have leased it from.

5. There is much confusion on the point, and many people talk about selling properties with 90 year leases. I have been a UK agent for the last 25 years (in fact still have a company in NW London) so the idea of leasehold is not at all alien to us Brits in the same way it would be to say Americans. To be clear under Thai Law the maximum period of a lease for these kinds of properties is 30 years. However lawyers and agents (surely not) have come up with a way to extend the duration to a level that is generally more acceptable to us foreigners. In the UK for example we would normally have 99, 125 and 999 year leases. You may be offered a 90 year lease in Thailand but what that actually is is a thirty year lease plus two further contractual promises to extend the lease by the same 30 year period in 30 years time and again in 60 years time. So technically no laws have been broken, however it is clearly and attempt to circumnavigate the Law. A case has not yet been brought where a Landlord has refused to renew, has died or disappeared, or has been challenged by the Thai authorities. Most people take the view that they will worry in 30 years time. However the issue I have is when people come to my company to try to sell on the lease of a property that they have had for say 15 years, so really I am selling on a lease for 15 years and maybe the promise of it being extended after that time.

6. Correct, but also if the terms of the lease are breached it may also be possible to terminate it in theory.

I agree with you conclusion. But personally I would view Thailand like a “luxury good”, I wouldn’t view it as an investment, just as somewhere lovely to have a fulltime or holiday home. However if you buy a Condominium with a Foreign Freehold title it will (probably) increase in value, you can have it in your name and you can leave it to your family after death.

Regards

Stephen

PS If I can help at all, send me a PM, maybe I can sell you something (sorry I am an agent after all !!!!!!)

Hi Den

It's always an interesting subject and like the others here have never heard of case being brought to Court. But when you say you had considered to " purchase a property though this route " bear in mind that in "this route" as you say, you would not be purchasing any property. All you would be purchasing would be the minority shareholding of a Thai company that happens to own as one of its assets a house, which the company would then lease to you for 30 years, and then extend after that time. The fact the your minority shareholding would have control of the company would mean that you control the assets of the company, ie the house, but never own it.

As I understand matters it is not the non-Thai that has broken the Law, it is the Thai nominee shareholders who would have lied about their own level of capital placed into the company. It is quite legal for a non-Thai to own up to 49% of a Thai company so I can't really see where the non-Thai would have broken the Law. But this is Thailand and as we say in the UK "it's down to the Judge on the day",

It is worthy of note however that this method of property possession has been used for many years and I am quite sure a case has never been brought. Perhaps the Thais like billions of other countries currency being exchanged for baht. If a case is ever brought the verdict will become case law and a bench mark for future cases and perhaps that is the exact reason why it never has been brought.

For anyone that wants to buy and wants their names listed directly as owners the only way is to buy is a Condominium certified under the Condominium Act (otherwise known as a Foreign Freehold)

Regards

Stephen

Question on company ownership: When a company is created often there are only 1/2 signatorys (?), so a foreigner (49%) and 3 thais (51% / 3) have a company but only the foreigner has the right to sign on the companies behalf. That foreigner would needed to have signed something in the land office at the original purchase, if a foreigner then buys the property and the original foreigner is removed and new inserted do they not need to prove they are the new signatory at the land office?

I may have got this all wrong/confused myself

Hi Colin

As an agent I come across this, but for the technical side would suggest you contact a lawyer (and happy to suggest one if you wish).

I think the first thing you need to differentiate is the difference between control and ownership. As an extreme example if you owned 1% of a company, but that 1% was composed of the only voting share (with 99% non-voting), you would not have majority ownership, but you would have control, and that is what is important. The 49/51 ratio is only the minimum requirement under Thai Law anyway; it could be 60/40 for example. The important point is that at least 51% must be in Thai hands.

To answer your question, in my experience, the property itself is never sold, and nor is the company. However the person with the controlling shares (who has the most voting shares rather than shares themselves) merely resigns and a new director is appointed and the shares change hands. In doing so control of the company is passed to the new director/shareholder and any asset owned by the company which in this case is the house. So in essence, the house is not sold or transferred and thus no reason for the Land Department to be involved. If required of course there is no reason why the company cannot sell the house to an individual.

As in all cases I strongly recommend that anyone considering a purchase consults an experienced lawyer before committing to any purchase to discuss legalities, taxes, transfers and the like.

Regards

Stephen

Usually the advice I give to my buyers is don't t transfer the money until you need to. I normally suggest that they set up an account prior to this for that purpose, although some still insist in sending the entire amount to my client account, I must have a trustworthy face!

Hmm. I wouldn't transfer money to a third-party account in Thailand if my life depended on it. There are just too many crooks here (and many of them work in real estate).

I also think that it could possibly cause problems down the line getting the foreign exchange certificate or if and when the time comes to re-export the money.

I would say always open a bank account in your sole name and only transfer money directly to that account. Anything else is folly.

If you are buying a resale property that has an outstanding mortgage on it ....

What proportion of farang-name condos sold in Thailand have a mortgage on them? Not one of the resale units I have ever seen in Pattaya has had a mortgage on it. I suppose it may be different in Bangkok.

I couldn't agree more and wouldn't ever transfer these kind of sums to a third party account and in fact it is a great inconvenience for me with the limited information I get from the Thai banks in creating problems with assigning international transfers to buyers when in many cases the sums come over in installments. However we have only been active in Thailand for a relatively short time although my UK arm is long and has a good international reputation we seem to be trusted to handle large sums ! I must also ask myself what kind of people transfer such massive sums so freely and if anyone would want to upset them !! But that's another story.

Condos with mortgages on - I can't speak for Pattaya as currently we only have offices in Phuket, but so far not a single one. However banks are lending on them so I am sure that I will sell one at some point. We tend to come across this with the sale of houses owned by Thais.

Stephen

Usually the advice I give to my buyers is don't t transfer the money until you need to. I normally suggest that they set up an account prior to this for that purpose, although some still insist in sending the entire amount to my client account, I must have a trustworthy face!

Hmm. I wouldn't transfer money to a third-party account in Thailand if my life depended on it. There are just too many crooks here (and many of them work in real estate).

I also think that it could possibly cause problems down the line getting the foreign exchange certificate or if and when the time comes to re-export the money.

I would say always open a bank account in your sole name and only transfer money directly to that account. Anything else is folly.

If you are buying a resale property that has an outstanding mortgage on it ....

What proportion of farang-name condos sold in Thailand have a mortgage on them? Not one of the resale units I have ever seen in Pattaya has had a mortgage on it. I suppose it may be different in Bangkok.

I couldn't agree more and wouldn't ever transfer these kind of sums to a third party account and in fact it is a great inconvenience for me with the limited information I get from the Thai banks in creating problems with assigning international transfers to buyers when in many cases the sums come over in installments. However although we have only been active in Thailand for a relatively short time although my UK arm is long established and has a good international reputation we seem to be trusted to handle large sums ! I must also ask myself what kind of people transfer such massive sums so freely and if anyone would want to upset them !! But that's another story.

Condos with mortgages on - I can't speak for Pattaya as currently we only have offices in Phuket, but so far not a single one. However banks are lending on them so I am sure that I will sell one at some point. We tend to come across this with the sale of houses owned by Thais.

Stephen

Usually the advice I give to my buyers is don't t transfer the money until you need to. I normally suggest that they set up an account prior to this for that purpose, although some still insist in sending the entire amount to my client account, I must have a trustworthy face! Generally speaking an international transfer can be done in 24 hours, although for some reason HSBC in Dubai seems to take about a week, whereas HSBC in China or the UK can do within a day.

If you are buying a resale property that has an outstanding mortgage on it I would normally suggest that you open a bank account with the same bank that the seller has his mortgage with. That way when all parties turn up at the Land Department to transfer the property you can give his bank representative a draft that will be accepted as cleared funds as it is drawn on the same bank and they will release the Chanute and the property can be transferred immediately. I don't go to the Land Department any more as it gives me a headache, better to send my Thai staff who deal with transfers all the time !! For anyone that hasn't had this joy, on the day of transfer normally attending for each transfer will be the seller, his bank representative, (if he has a mortgage), his lawyer (if he uses one), the buyer, the buyers bank representative (if he is using a mortgage), his lawyer (if he is using one) and one of my staff. Someone is best advised to turn up at about 8am and wait to get a queue ticket or you might not been seen that day.

Generally speaking I imagine most people here will be buying in company names or foreign freeholds and in that case I would advise my buyers to let their lawyer sort the numbers out and send the money to their client account just before transfer, but really unless a buyer thinks they have agreed an amazing exchange rate there is no reason to transfer the money before you need.

Regards

Stephen

This set up is what lawyers like to call an "Ownership Structure ", is extremely common and I have come across it in many of our sales. As has been referred to here quite correctly the basis of the set up is that it must be at least 51% Thai owned. However where the set up is technically illegal is that if it can be proven that the Thai shareholders are there purely to allow the set up of a Thai company that they have no control of and have no funds to satisfy the legal financial requirements, then they are what are referred to as " Nominees" and the practice of setting up a Thai company with nominee shareholders is most definitely illegal.

Having said that I have never heard of a case being prosecuted and I have many many clients that own properties in this way for hundreds of millions of baht in some cases. It also makes it very simply to change ownership by the method referred to here already and does not allow the Land Department to be creative about transfer costs!

I wouldn't be overly concerned but would recommend legal advice be taken. Happy to recommend a lawyer if it's any help.

Stephen

as far as I know if the contract is not written in Thai then it's not worth the paper it's written on. If no contract then the courts may not get involved.

It's an interesting point actually and one I have never had a satisfactory answer to. Some of my Landlords are Thai Lawyers and a couple of Judges and it would appear that even if the contract is in English that a certified translation would be admissible in Court. If all parties are English speaking I usually do an all English tenancy agreement ( which is based on a UK AST, with a few tweaks) otherwise I do a Thai contract with an English back to back transition. These hybrid contracts also carry a clause that says if there is a conflict that the Thai language version has precedence. Fortunately because I am very careful with my tenants I have never had a problem.

In reality no one takes anyone to Court, after (or not in some cases) if a tenant is in arrears a note is sent to to them telling them to pay up or get out, the locks are changed and possessions left in a bag outside, exactly has been mentioned here. In fact my contracts make it very clear that if the rent is more than seven days late the contract is considered terminated and they will be immediately evicted.

Regards

Stephen

Hi

My agencies are in London and Phuket so that restricts my area of expertise, but as far as I know the Thai condominium act extends to the whole of Thailand. If a condo is sold under this, commonly referred to as a " Foreign Freehold Title" there is no reason why you cannot buy such a property in your own name. I can't really comment on the Samui market but if you would like I can pass you the the details of an English chap working for a largish Developer building a number of projects there. PM me if you want an intro.

Regards

Stephen

PS If anyone offers you a 99 lease beware because there is no such thing in Thailand. Under Thai Law the maximum lease term that you can be given is 30 years. What many sellers do is to offer what they call a 90 years lease, but in reality it is a 30 year lease with two contractural promises to extend by another 30 years, three decades later and again after a further three decades. I am however not aware of such an arrangement being challenged in a Thai Court, for example what would happen if your freeholder decided not to renew and to break his promise in 30/60 years. You may very well be unconcerned but if a case were brought, and the lessor lost, it would undermine all values of properties sold in this way and "Case Law" would establish a precedent that this system of promising extensions is legally unsafe.

Hi

I run my thai agency to the same standards and procedures to my London agency and from an agents point of view we don't like to give possession of a property until we have cleared funds. In the UK we normally use bankers drafts or accept bank transfers, as long as the funds have cleared, and it's more convenient. Over here my tenants normally transfer me the full first month's rent plus deposit to my Client account a few days before move in. Although my stuff starts around 8000 a month it goes up to 300,000 and there is no way I will accept 900,000 in cash and just wander down to the bank.

Since few agents here operate ring fenced " Client Accounts" I would, as a tenant, be happy to bring the full move in funds on the day, as long as I had a full company receipt, business card of agent and sight of their ID. If the landlord has not already signed the contract I would probably want some evidence that he owns the property and has agreed to rent it to you. In this circumstance I would normally get written authority from an absentee landlord to sign the contract on his behalf together with proof of ownership and ID, then I would just sign the tenancy agreement in his stead.

As always if anyone wants the advice of an experienced agent, please PM me.

Regards

Stephen

I think it's fair to say that a rental investment, like any other, offers no guarantees. The best advice is to do your homework, identify the kind of tenant you are looking for, for the green would-be investors that come to me I normally make these kind of suggestions.

Are you after long term or short term rentals. The first will give you a lower return but done properly should have limited void periods and aiming at foreign professionals will get a higher rent when compared with the local equivalent. Short term or holiday rentals can bring a lot of cash in but because they must be situated in established tourist locations will cost you a lot more to buy. Also you will have void periods and they are a lot more hassle to regulate in terms of deposits, damage, etc.

Take your time because the markets are being flooded with overpriced new developments and the equivalent resales, prices are high and demand is limited. You should be able to knock a good discount off asking prices, especially if you have funds readily available.

I can only speak for a Phuket, but 1.4 here will not get you a suitable holiday type condo. It will get you an entry level condo, a cosy 35/38 m2 in an expat area. You would expect to comfortably get 10/12, 000 for a 6/12 month rent. References as we are used to in the UK are very difficult to get and of no real value, but the eviction procedure is far easier, no S21 Notice to Quits or similar !

Good luck, I can't help you out with anywhere other than Phuket, but if you change location let me know !

Regards

Stephen

In terms of rental period we do a bit of holiday rental but really find it a bit messy. The majority of our tenancies are rather year with no early break clause.

Stephen

Hi Andy

I a UK Estate Agent and still have an agency in NW London, now for around 15 years. I opened up a branch in Phuket because of boredom combined with a disbelief of how unprofessional things are here !

I can tell you that here in Phuket you can probably pick up a new DCondo type condo for around 1.4, and that should should rent out all day long for 10,000/12,000 a month, we have a few currently with tenants in at these figures. They are small but, as others have said, location is always the key. For this particular spot there is an international school locally and many of the tenants are teachers who don't mind the small accommodation, but like them because they are clean, have a gym and pool.

On those figures without figuring in service and other charges you are looking at a return of around 8.5% to around 10%.

My advise would be to do some homework, try and get a foreign freehold (which will cost more) rather than a 90 years lease (really 30 and two "promises" of further 30 year extensions, so far unchallenged and untested in Court).

Regards

Stephen

It's odd I am frequently stopped on my bike by smiling policeman, they don't seem happy that I have a licence (Thai licence), helmet, porobor etc....

I am here on a marriage visa and the requirement here is to either have 400,000 baht in a Thai bank account for at least two months prior to the application or an income to a Thai bank account of at least 40,000 a month for the last twelve months.

And I do not have to leave the country to apply for each extensions, which I do every twelve months at the local immigration department.

S

SDM0712's advice could cause you and your family major problems.

He is basically advising you to use deception in the application, and if this is discovered by the ECO then the visa will be refused.

This is untrue, what I actually said is “You should tell the truth as it stands at the time of the application,but as I understand it you are not certain that your kids will be going with you.

SDM

I think if the kids do come I'll have the hotel reservations made, and if mums so insistent again this time then so be it, it's just the hotel deposit I'll lose out on, incidentally the previous applications have all been 6 month visit visas,, this time thinking in trying for a 2 year or 5 year, may not get the 5 year but worth a crack I think,, if there's a possibility of avoiding the concerns of applying for another6 month visa next year then it'll be worth it

You should tell the truth as it stands at the time of the application, but as I understand it you are not certain that your kids will be going with you.

In terms of hotel deposit if you book via Agoda many offer a full refund if you cancel before 24 hours of stay.

As I said previously the ECO will look at various aspects of your application, such as whether your wife satisfies the conditions for the type of visa applied for and whether he believes the answers given are genuine. If they are and he is that's it !

For example, if you are applying for a visit visa the ECO will need to believe that the purpose of the trip is for that, just a visit, a holiday. He will want to know that your wife has enough money to fund the trip in terms of food and accommodation, and has a reason to return to Thailand. Ideally if your wife can show she has a job or property here then those are reasons to return. The ECO would have to be unsatisfied that the visa application is genuine to refuse, ie that your wife wishes to enter the UK for a reason other then disclosed on the application form, or has given an untruthful answer in the application. For example lets say your wife applies for a visit visa but in reality your family are going to the UK to live and your wife's plan is to enter under a Visit Visa and then plans to try to convert this to a settlement visa once she is in the UK. If this is the belief then the ECO will refuse and probably suggest you apply for a settlement visa, which is of course is many many times the cost !

To go back the ECO will need to be satisfied that your wife has access to funds and accommodation for the duration of the stay, if you want to apply for for a two or five year visa do you mean that your wife wishes to stay for for two or five years ? I am pretty sure that you have intimated it will be a short holiday of a few weeks in which case a VV will be the one to apply for. Even though they may very well stamp 6 months in your wife's passport this is for convenience only. Beware that if you say the visit is two weeks and then your wife stays for six months, that this will almost certainly prejudice further applications, even though the passport stamp does say 6 months.

I assume what you mean is to apply for a multiple entry two or five year visit visa, I am quite certain that there is no such thing as a VV that is valid for so long as the ECO would have to assess each visit at the time of the visit and cannot know influencing future factors.

Incidentally if you do tell the ECO that you are staying in a hotel you must be able to show, on request, details of your hotel booking when you arrive in the UK to Immigration. Unlike a Settlement Visa, a Visit Visa does not give your wife the right of entry to the UK, it only give the right to travel and present herself to UK Immigration at the border. By that I mean if Immigration for whatever reason wants to ask some further questions, such as if your wife stated that she had booked hotel accommodation for the duration of the stay but cannot show proof when she arrives, they may refuse entry.

Really I think you are worrying unnecessarily, this is a really straight forward application.

Stephen

If I understand correctly you and your kids are UK passport holders and your wife is not.

Personally I would just say that you will be travelling and visiting various relatives and that you will book Travel Lodges etc once the visa is granted. Or book some hotels now on Agoda, it's all refundable. If they ask about the kids just say that it is undecided but in all probability they will be in school and remaining not travelling.

All the ECOs are really concerned about is reason to return and that the type of visa matches the genuine purpose of the visit. Your wife has shown that she has honoured the terms of the previous visas and is therefore reliable.If they are satisfied that you are only going to the UK for a holiday then I am certain you will be fine.

Even if you do tell them that you will all be sharing your parents small house this is more relevant to an extended stay rather than a short holiday.

One of the questions I asked is if the teachers hit the kids. He told me that if a teacher hit a child that they would be out the same day, whether that applied to EP only I don't know. I believe that under Thai Law now it is illegal for the kids to be hit, but I could be wrong on that.

Assuming this is K Permkiat - he will say whatever you wish to hear.

I have PMd you the email details of a parent who is currently putting together a log of every time a beating occurs (to her knowledge and that of the other parents in the group). I will leave it to you do contact her and decide on its validity. I CAN however say that the two teachers that we have given evidence against in the last year are BOTH stil working at the school. One of these had video evidence - what he says in your quote is 100% untrue.

I have now heard from this parent and understand the situation. What people need to understand is that Kajonkiet is three schools and I write this to parents who have been worried, as I have about these post and accusations of child abuse. There is the English Program (usually called EP), an International Program, and an English Support Program (ESC). All EP classes have a native English speaking and qualified lead teacher with a Thai assistant teacher and the International, as far as I know, only have native qualified English speaking teaching staff. The ESC program is pure Thai and really is a Thai school with an element of teaching English as a second language. Although EP (Kindergarden) and International share the same building, ESC does not, in fact it is several kilometres away. They are three completely separate schools and this needs to be understood.

I have been so concerned by this that I have been asking many questions and have been appearing at the school (EP) at various times and observing the classes, easy to do as it is so open. I have not seen or heard of any example of a child being hit. The reason I have been so concerned is that I have heard all this before. But as happens sometimes well meaning people have just got there facts a bit wrong and in so doing caused confusion and concern.

Just before my family moved over and I was visiting the local schools, I went by mistake to ESC and lets just say that I am not surprised at what I have heard here. It is a Thai school, run by Thais to a level accepted by Thais. I can't comment on the eventual educational standards, which are supposedly good, but I would not send my son there. Having said that I wouldn't send him to any other Thai school either.

My son, as with all of his friends, are very happy at this school. He has never been hit as a punishment. He started the school as a four year old arriving fresh from the UK and not really speaking Thai. Now he speaks Thai to the same level as a Thai child, continues to speak English at the same level as a British child of the same age, and can also read and write in both languages to the same level as his contemporaries. I am very happy with the school.

Understood.

If I had followed the "advice"'I would have lost out on a stunning bike that I have had many enjoyable hours on. The 1600 km is now 8500 and I still get a buzz when're I'm out on it. Was in Kawasaki a few weeks ago getting an oil change and saw my new dream.........a Ninja ZX1400. Too big for Phuket, what do you think ??? 555555555

Regards

S

PS People on forums love to talk with no knowledge !! It should be in the rules, if you don't know, don't speculate. It serves no purpose other than to cause confusion.

Just noticed the dates......what happened ??? How did the story end.

I had a very similar situation last year. I live in Phuket and went to buy a Ninja 650 in BKK, a lovely bike with only 1600 km on it. The green book was still in the previous owners name and my chap had only had it for six months, also the bike didn't have a plate on.

Are alarm bells ringing yet ? As with here, so many people said its stolen, it's a grey I import that hasn't been taxed....yada, yada, yada. This is what I did, follow this and you will be fine.

1. The first thing you need is a letter from the registered owner in the book giving the chap you are dealing with authority to sell and re register that bike to you. It must be accompanied by his house document and his id, copies are fine.

2. You must go with the bike, the seller (chap you are dealing with), to the local Land and Vehicle Department. Make sure they check the serial number in the book against that on the bike. They must match. This department will check that the green book is genuine and then they can do the transfer to your name and issue a new number plate. This is unless the bike is registered in another province and in that case they need to get permission from the Vehicle Dept in that province to do the transfer. About a two day delay max.

3. I would use an agent to do all the monkey work, we used a guy and it was about 3,000 all in (including transfer costs, new plate and porabor) and no fuss.

4. One thing to check for you though, I needed an original proof of address, in my case a letter from my embassy. As a visitor I am not sure what you would use. Ignore the government website and check with an agent.

5. Plates, I live in Phuket and have a car with Songkla plates in and a bike with BKK plates. Never been stopped for either. Don't worry about it.

S

PS As a chap I know said to me once, " drive fast, be reckless"! I don't agree, but it made me smirk. Perhaps that's why we have so many bike related road deaths in Phuket.