jbaldwin

It has always been a legal requirement for owners of any property in Thailand to notify immigration is a foreigner is living there. This is not a new requirement. The management office of some Condos automatically notify immigration on behalf of owners.

Under the new Condo Act, which comes into force on 4 July, businesses will only be able only be able to operate in designated "commercial areas" of the condominum. It will take a vote at a general meeting to establish a commercial area or to remove that designation. I understand that no fines and set by the Act but, in common with any rule breach, a general meeting can set penalties for non-compliance, which could include fines or disconnection of water.

I have lived here since I was 37 - 5 years ago. Do did think that I will ever leave

I beleive that the OP is referring to the plan the launch a second Thai ETF, which will track the Energy sub-group of the SET50 index (ie the following 9 companies BANPU, EGCO, GLOW, IRPC, PTT, PTTAR, PTTEP, RATCH and TOP)

By international stardard this will be a highly unusual ETF because:

1) It will track an index of only nine companies

2) PTT and its subsidiaries (PTTAR, PTTEP and TOP) will represent a majority of the weighting of the index.

You should use a specialist trust company.

In Jersey the largest company was called Reeds - Now renamed EFG Offshore following a merger. Website is efgoffshore.com.

Not sure of the relative merits of Jersey over Guernsey

My advice would be not to ever consider a purchase until you have lived in Pattaya for at least six month. After this period you should develop enough information about locations and the property market to make an informed decision

The most reliable way of become wealthy is to get a job and consistently spend less than your monthly salary.

This is what I did and I saved enough capital to be able to retire at 37.

A large number of bars are owned and run by Thai ladies married to falang. Legally the husband's involvement is limited to sitting at the bar and drinking

the story started in USA last year with the subprime ! now it's the DOMINO game theory ! just wait and look

Not sure that you can blaim sub-prime for this. The company has has finanical problems for some time. Below is a summary of recent failing of the Stock Exchange of Thailand

16 Oct 2007 - Director Resigns

15 Nov 2007 - Shares suspended for failing to submit Q3 2007 accounts

15 Nov 2007 - Company issues a statement that it had "received a number of suggestions from its auditors to adjust cetain items contained within the Q3 financial statements" and that "the Company is confident this it is able to submit Q3 financial statement by 30 November 2007"

3 Dec 2007 - Company annouces further delay in submitting financial statements to 15 Dec 2007

11 Dec 2007 - Director Dies

17 Dec 2007 - Financial statements now expected by 28 Dec

25 Dec 2007 - Another director resigns

28 Dec 2007 - Fincial Statements now expected by 15 Jan

The lastest estimate is that Financial Statements will be available on 28 March

Of the seven largest stock markets in Asia:

China

Japan

Taiwan

South Korea

Malaysia

were all open on Friday - although there was a pulbic holiday in Japan on 20 March

Hong Kong and Singapore (ex British colonies) still have public holidays on Good Friday as well as Christmas Day plus major holidays from other religions.

Take a look at The Chateau opposite, that's a similar concept but has stalled due to lack of interest, i.e. no buyers signing up. Whay would Diamond Suites be any different? Unless it's considerably cheaper.

What is the price per m2 for Diamond Suites? The Chateau is 90,000 baht.

The asking price of the Chateau was 72,000 baht/sq m when I asked. I was later offered a 10% discount from this price

I do not want to be in Thailand at Songran. I was thinking about going back to the UK but the cheapest fare I can find is 37,550 baht (28,765 plus taxes) on Qatar. Does anyone know of anything cheaper

I think that it is highly unlikely that Bangkok Airways would fly from Bangkok to both Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville, given that it is only a four hours journey by road between them

I beleive that the only scheduled flights planned for Sihanoukville are on a domestic route to Seim Reap

Where I live the father of one of the owners appears to run the Committee. He is non-resident, not an owner, and is not eligible in any legal capacity e.g. Site Manager. for a few of us residents he is a pain, but the Thai residents are too Kreng Jai to oppose him.

1. Does he have the right to serve on the Committee purely as a representative of his son?

2. Does his role, if legal, remove all voting (and probably other) rights from his son?

BTW, this guy is well connected and his son is 50 years old.

Thanks...

The Condominium Act specifically does NOT allow this. We had the same problem recently with someone on the committee who was not legally allowed to be on it. It was very quickly sorted out with the threat of legal action against the entire committee for breaking the law. You will find all sorts of fun and games going on with these committees, many of whom have zero management experience, and many don't even know a Condominium Act law exists.

Only the owner or the spouse of the condo owner can be on the committee (i.e. their name on the chanoot). A proxy cannot be used by a relative. Go see a lawyer for confirmation, or get hold of a book that lists the Act in Thai and English. I saw one in the bookstore recently that was more of a rant by a pissed-off owner living in Pattaya; funny and covering law at the same time which is quite a rarity.

The only case a proxy can be used is for normal voting at AGMs and EGMs etc.

Hope this helps.

In fact, I understand that, the Condominium Act requires that a Committee Member is a co-owner, spouse or the representative of a corporate owner. If any condo is held in a company name anyone can act as a representative on the Committee

Staff will not want to give you bad news. If you ask a question you will often be told what your staff member believes that you would want to answer to be.

Of course this is discrimination and in my view entirely reasonable business practice.

I am very happy that I do not live in the sort of policially correct society that would employ army of bureaucrats to prevent private companies setting up whatever pricing policy they beleive is appropriate for their business.

This is Thailand. If you do not like their policy go somewhere else.

Last time I went back to the UK I used budget airlines:

Air Asia - Bangkok to Macau

Oasis - Hong Kong to London return

Cebu Pacific - Hong Kong to Manila to Bangkok

This was cheaper than any other option.

If you have plenty of time might be worth checking current fares

Yes, the article is not very clear what they mean. Whatever the market is...that is what the price will be regardless of any quota.

Would be curious, however, if anyone has any information of price differences for a new development once the foreign quota has been sold...do the official developer's or whisper prices generally drop after that point because the remaining units can only be sold to Thais?

What about resales in a full building? Are there price differentials for similar units? If so, how much?

As an example, the development I live in in Pattaya:

Resale of foreign owned units fetch about 55,000 baht/sqm

No thai owned (including companies) units have been resold for at least a year

The developer still has a number of unsold units (not foreign quota) on offer at 45,000 baht/sqm

Have you got a friend or relative in the UK who can paid on your behalf either in cash at the Barclays branch or with a UK cheque. You can then work out how to repay them.

Not have a UK bank account is a very bad idea. I suggest that you open one next time you go back, if you can get around address verification requirements

MARKO should not be too difficult to trade in smallish quantities.

This morning 60,500 shares have traded and the current spread is 28,100@99 to 7,[email protected] (ie you can sell up to 28,100 at 99 baht or buy up to 7,500 at 99.5 baht)

FE and TBSP are both extremely illiquid neither has traded this morning and the spreads are 1000@81 to 10,000@88 and [email protected] to 1400@88 respectively.

I use the service but with a UK credit card. UK cards companies will always meet any losses due to fraudalent use. Thai companies do not.

Your girlfriend's claim that Condo fall apart in 10-20 years is clearly untrue.

When Thai ladies make false statements in connection with financial transactions you must consider whether it is a scam. This seems the be a tale to encourage you to buy a property in her name.

In my opinion there is too much new development coming on the market for current price level to be sustained.

I have been told the The Chateau Jomtien, which was launched last year as a 317 unit development by the same developer as Chateau Dale and Thabali has been scrapped because of disappointing sales.

Cambodian banks do not make a charge for ATM withdrawals. if our bank charges fees for using the cards overseas then these will apply

Just out of curiousity - why is the Thai Gouvernment so "Anti Long Stay Tourist" ...... I know alot of guys that work in the UK / Europe for 6 months during srping / summer, save up alot of cash, then go to Thailand for the autumn / winter (6 months) and spend all that cash...... I'm talking like 10 grand...... as in half a million Baht..... surely that is a good thing for the country? I can understand why they would want to stop foriegners buying up land & houses, pushing up prices etc., but what is wrong with people hanging around spending what is locally a hel_l of alot of money..... this money is filtering back up the entire country one way or another..... the typical long stay tourist is not exaclt a burden on the state?

Just seems pointless to me........... could some one fill me in?

The simple reason is that they do not beleive that under 50's are actually retired. They beleive that a substantually number of people in this age group are working in Thailand illegally and do not see a way of distingishing between real early retired and illegal foriegn workers

I am in a fairly similar situation to the OP.

I am 42, have investments of about $1 million and retired five years ago.

I would not be happy with the level of risk associated with an 85% exposure to equities. I have about 55% in equities and therefore have a lower overall return. I assume that I can take an income of 3.5% per year and still have an income that rises in line with inflation. This gives a spending limit of around 100,000 baht per month. I have been spending 50,000-60,000 per month, which give a reasonable cushion.