Globalist

I know there's good Japanese food to be found in Bangkok, but could somebody specifically recommend good Japanese hotpot restaurants in Bangkok, in any budget category?

For transfer of the title deeds to you, the land office will need to see proof that you have transferred the money from overseas.

Whether putting that comment will help or not, who knows. I would personally not bet on it.

You could ask the question in the "Ask the lawyer" section.

Interesting question!

Perhaps nobody really knows how long these "modern" condos will last, since most of them are less than 15-20 years old and a large fraction less than 10 years old due to recent building booms. My guess is that the value vs time curve generally rises for a few years after completion, and what happens after that depends on location, quality, local supply and, not least, maintainence. After a longer time the value would probably start going down though. The question is of course when this happens.. In general, the value should largely reflect the rental attractiveness at any given time (on a free market).

On the second point, I believe that the freehold owner owns a part of the land in proportion to the owned (ex-) condo. Not 100% sure about this though..

Well, here is some research at least:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10238549/Is-fruit-juice-bad-for-your-health.html

It's quite possible that the dangers pointed out by Dr Lustig may perhaps be exaggerated.

Of course it's up to each of us to consume fruits and veggies any way we like them. :-)

The British newspaper The Economist provided seemingly very good concrete advice to Thailand in an article on May 10th, worth repeating here perhaps:

"...The starting point is the devolution of Thailand’s highly centralised system of governance. At the moment only the capital has a democratically elected governor, yet all 76 provinces should also have one..."

Note that this would allow some constituencies to be "red" and some "yellow" without any obvious national conflict, just as the situation is in many other countries, like e.g. the UK and US. It would also help to solve the problems in the southern provinces, as also pointed out by The Economist.

Pretty good summary, I've indeed also noticed the first points about the paper pushers' behaviour. Every document and comma sign must be exactly correct, that is paramount. Then they're doing (and motivating) their job. The big picture is irrelevant. I suspected in the past that they acted irrationally to get "tea money", but it is likely more about job protection, as the OP stated.

The Thai bank/debit cards still mostly have no chips on them. (Not sure why this is)

In many developed countries, e.g. in North Europe, there are hardly any readers for cards without chips anymore, both at POS and ATM.

However, they may work in some places. I've noticed that ATMs and POS in the UK still accept chip-less cards.

Blending fruit and vegetables making smoothies and such risks destroying the fibre, which "protect" the liver from the bad effects of fructose.

Some claim that the content then becomes not dissimilar from coca cola, from a sugar point of view.

Far better to eat the stuff as nature intended it to be eaten! :-)

Given the strong supply of condos in BKK, especially B and B+ grade, to minimize risks, be sure to buy as close to BTS or MRT as possible, preferably max 100 metres.

If the OP is as wealthy as he says, the most pragmatic solution is extension of stay based on 10MTHB investment.

The risk can be kept smaller than any of the other options discussed.

"What your are missing is that the "extra agreement" will not be honored by the Land Office, therefore it will not be attached to the Chanote maintained in the Land Office"

Sure, the land office couldn't care less, I agree.

But that doesn't disqualify a contractual agreement between A and B regarding a mutually agreed future intention. Enforcement of such an agreement is of course an other matter.

But legally, I cannot see anything prohibiting it.

Sadly any agreement between 2 parties that is in essence illlegal holds no weight at law.

eg. If i contract with you for you to supply me with 15 tonnes of Shabu and you fail to deliver said tonnage at the agreed rate and at the agreed time and i have prepaid you I cant take litigation against you for return of monies and expect success. It will fail on the point of law that would also sink a extra 30 year land lease clause in any contract made in the kingdom. Both are illegal intentions and actions and are trying to operate outside of existing laws.

I believe you misuderstand.

It is legal in any country, including Thailand, for A and B to contractually agree to the following:

- "A and B hereby agree today on the 19th of May in the year 2014 that on the 20th of May in the year 2044, A will lease his land to B until the 19th of May in the year 2074, and B will, on the 20th of May, in the year 2044, pay A THB XXX for said lease."

This agreement has nothing to do with anything that happens before 20th of May 2044. Note that there is no payment before that date either.

Enforcement is an entirely different matter and should not be confused with legality.

With the agreement above, I don't see any obvious problems with enforcement.

I don't think it's unique to Thailand, unfortunately. Only a fraction of the 1.5 billion people in the developed world tend to know about and be interested in affairs outide their own country/state.

As noted by Ayjaydee above, even many (but of course not all) Americans are largely ignorant about the world outside their home state.

I suspect the education system in large parts of the world to be largely responsible for this, but also media of course.

Many problems in the world have their root causes in sub-standard education.

Typically though, one seldom hear e.g. Thai politicians discuss the need to improve the education system in Thailand. In my mind, it should be at the top of the agenda.

Regarding lowest average food quality, I suspect the Philippines, and - nowadays - mainland China.

Believe it or not, but the Nobel Prize winning physicist Richard Feynman had lock-picking as one of his hobbies. :-)

Well, it seems you answered your own question :-)

"What your are missing is that the "extra agreement" will not be honored by the Land Office, therefore it will not be attached to the Chanote maintained in the Land Office"

Sure, the land office couldn't care less, I agree.

But that doesn't disqualify a contractual agreement between A and B regarding a mutually agreed future intention. Enforcement of such an agreement is of course an other matter.

But legally, I cannot see anything prohibiting it.

»There is no such thing as a lease that lasts more than 30 years in Thailand.«

Very true, but you can make a legal binding agreement or document for additional lease periods, 30 or 30+30 years are acceptable, but like any business contract you may need to bring it to court, if not duly honored.

No, sorry but you've been misinformed.

That additional contract constitutes a longer-than-30 year lease. It is not defensible under Thai law, no matter what it says in the contract and no matter what your lawyer told you, because the Land Act supercedes civil law.

What your lawyer said about going to court *is* true. But what he obviously omitted is that your chances in court are exactly 0% and not a decimal place higher. You can write and agree to anything you want in a contract. It doesn't make your contract legal or legally defensible.

And if you think your lawyer knows what he's talking about, ask him for case history supporting the defense of back-to-back 30 year leases. It should only be a minute of legal research if what he's saying is true.

And ask yourself the obvious question: Why even legislate a 30 year maximum contract if you can circumvent it by simply writing a different contract? Does that even sound defensible? No, it absolutely does not.

And if you're planning on retiring in that house you should seriously do your homework because your lease likely expires when you're 80. Might the property owner honor it? Maybe. But if values have risen, then almost certainly not.

The issue comes down to contract law (Thai civil law) vs. the Land Act. Your contract says one thing. The Land Act says another. If you went to court, the judge would almost certainly side with the Land Act (your contract being an obvious attempt to circumvent it).

But your chances are even worse that that for one reason: The second 30-year contract doesn't survive change of ownership. In the event that the property changes ownership over the course of 30 years, your second lease is instantly void.

Which basically makes your second document worthless. Not only is it not defensible in court -- it doesn't ever need to go to court because it can be instantly nullified just by transferring ownership of the title.

Although 30 years is the maximum lease period in Thailand, why can't two parties contractually agree today that, at the end of a current 30 year lease, party A will grant party B a new 30 year lease. This is surely not the same as granting a 60 year lease (which indeed appears to be illegal).

Or am I missing something?

Appologies if this has been asked before, or if it's a stupid question :-) :

Can anyone recommend a trustworthy shop selling second-hand cameras, lenses etc, in Bangkok?

Anyone know when Nokia (Microsoft) Lumia 630 will hit the stores in Thailand?

I would not fight for the principle alone in Thailand. The only thing it accomplishes is to shorten your expected life span.

And as stated by many, 9,000 Baht is a couple of fancy dinners for a couple, that's all.

The talk about money and principle reminds me BTW of the brilliant Tommy Cooper (R.I.P.) scetch in the pub where he goes "t's not the principle, it's the money! :-)

"were told by the manager in charge that if we pay her privately 10,000 baht she would make sure that we get the permission to build this entrance in the next director's meeting end of January."

I think this could be the crux of the issue. In many less transparent countries, these kinds of situations are excellent opportinities for less scrupulous "opportunists" to obtain "tea money". This can be the case also, or maybe in particular, with public officals. A telltale sign is when you get a "no" without any rationale whatsoever. Some options can be to pay the tea money, to try to impact a superior officer, or to file a law suit.

You can buy a condo in Manila and london - even if you don't enter the country

... so why not here?

This is a trick question......right?

Indeed no problems whatsoever buying a condo in Thailand without entering Thailand.

As to the OP question on mortgage in Thailand, I believe it is up to each financial institution, but most likely the terms will not be very attractive for foreigners in Thailand. If full cash payment is not possible, then an option - if there is room for it - is to take out an extra mortgage another of one's owned properties elsewhere, e.g. in one's home country.

I'm paid in £'s which my bank converts to THB for me and then pays this into my Thai bank. Glad to see I am now getting roughly 15 - 20% more baht for my money compared with a couple of years ago. Long may it last! A weak baht due to political turmoil suits this capitalist.

Hope you don't own any property or vehicles of any reasonable value in Thailand - in GBP terms they just got devalued by 15-20%.

Not correct for property in general.

Condominiums in Thailand, at least the high-end ones, are internationally traded and thus have only a weak dependency on local currency vs foreign currency exchange rates.