Delight

Given that no Thai money actually moves using DEE MONEY-then could this system be used?

Thanks for your reply. You know that there is no risk to the company-however it is likely that the company cannot be persuaded. My suggestion to him is that he tries to persuade the company to make him self employed i.e. they give him a contract. Then he can work anywhere he pleases.

The employer of this Farang insists that all is visibly legal

You mis -read the post. His employer has to be satisfied that all is legal. Fully legal

My Farang friend wishes to work from home. He has a job in the UK . His employer is of International status. The job is online only. He is aged sub -50 years The complication is that he wants his 'Home' to be in Thailand. Q. Is there any type of legal visa that will satisfy both his UK employer and the Thai authorities?

My only fear with respect to a pool inside a High Rise condo -is the possibility with building sway then the pool can leak. I know of only one building where that applies. The solution in that particular building was to empty the pool. Q Are my fears unfounded?

You just state 'Villa Purchase' This could mean that you need to set up a company to facilitate the purchase. Alternative -the villa is already in a company -in which you wish to change the name of the MD Either way you do not need a lawyer. You need an accountant

Suspect that you are better off with a Usufruct. This legal device will be granted from your GF to you. if organised properly the it expires on your death. of course you have to want to stay there for the rest of your life. you could -as an alternative -buy it thru a company. That is what I would do-subject to local land office approval. I attach a document giving more detail relating to this process property via company - no third parties.docx

The Land development Act (LDA) and The Condo Act have different priorities . The main aim of the Condo Act is to look after the best interest of the co -owners. I do not see that the LDA has the same priority -hence your problem. I attach a copy of the LDA Maybe i have missed something. LAND DEVELOPMENT ACT.pdf

There is no equivalent of the Condominium Act pertaining to private gated communities. There is condo act-only because the IMF insisted The maintenance is typically managed by a private contractor. In your case this contractor was the developer-maybe he still is if the site is still under development. The owners of the properties simply pay . usually monthly. If you know different -then please explain.

There are 2 stages when selling an apartment . Stage1 money is given to the official at the land office this is the input of this stage. Output of this stage will be that the buyers name will be on the Condominium Title Deed. .-note a Chanote is the title deed for land only Stage 2 the buyer hands over a certified cheque. Others documents from both buyer and sell are required. Who pays what in stage 1 has to be agreed earlier. You will need to give POA to a lawyer . A lawyer that you can trust. Do not trust local lawyers. Where to find a trustworthy lawyer -Bangkok. Bangkok lawyers have a reputation to protect. Local lawyers do not. Bangkok lawyers are not cheap.

Clearly the house is in her name. Unless you have some separate legal agreement -then you own nothing and have no rights. The best solution is to transfer the land/house to a Thai company that you control. This can only happen if A) Your local land office accepts this arrangement. B) Your Ex agrees and is willing to sign the transfer. The cost will be the cost of setting up the company and transfer fees. The land /house will be easier to sell if it is owned by a company. This assumes that the future sale is to a foreigner . Very low transaction costs when selling a property which is owned by a company

It is important that you are both beneficiary and administrator in your fathers will. When your father passes you will need a lawyer to organize probate. At the end of that process your father's estate will be in your name as administrator. Suggest you keep it that way. Do not transfer to your name as beneficiary. If you do you will have to bring in monies equivalent to the appraised value of the apartment. A bank will issue a FET to confirm that such funds have been imported in Thailand. Should you wish to sell at some point in the future then you as administrator can legally organise the process. The new buyer will need the FET

Now that I know the cost of transfer i.e 0.5 % of the appraised value and given that the transfer fee was 3000 Baht-then i can work it backwards to establish the appraised value. it works out to be 600,000 Baht

Would you still advise that approach?

It s not very efficient to transfer foreign currency to Thailand.. I would use Wise or equivalent to buy the Thai Baht. If you use SWIFT then it is known to the bank that the monies were imported. Even less cost is not to use SWIFT but use the dropdown on the Wise website (when they ask to detail the reason for the transfer) and specify 'Long term stay in Thailand. This will specify that the transfer has the code FTT. This stands for ' Foreign Telegraph Transfer' With that in place -and at the appropriate time the bank will issue the FET . The typical stages are : 1) Transfer the Thai Baht to the developer. Make sure that the building is not just a building-but a Condominium Juristic Person . The contract between the developer and you will specify terms of payment. Nothing will happen until the developer has been paid. At that stage you will also have to pay one years common fee. With this complete you should be able to move in. 2) To do the transfer of the condominium title deed to your name-you will require the services of the Condominium Juristic Manager (JPM). He/she will calculate the transfer fees-typically you have to pay- and you will have to provide the FET -obtained from your bank. The developer cannot issue a FET. Only a bank can do this. You will then receive your Condominium Title Deed with your name on the back-this will be written using Thai script. You will also get a 2nd piece of paper detailing the appraised value of the condo. typically it is lower than the market price. The transfer fees are based on this lower price-about 6% of this lower price

Probate is required Assuming that the widow is both the beneficiary and the administrator then post probate his estate is under her control. She is then free to transfer the title deed of the apartment to her name. However this is not a good idea. Apartments in a Thai name are difficult to sell -suggest that she does not do this transfer. Wait until she gets a foreign buyer. Then the widow as the administrator can do the transfer. She will have the authority to transfer. Slight problem . You state Buddhist wedding. If there was no legally recognized marriage then she will get zero. If the child is legally his then this child will inherit. The widow will not. In such circumstances the apartment will just sit there for years -nobody paying the fees-assuming no other legal claimants to his estate. can be found. His offspring in his home can in theory make a claim -the cost will be enormous . 2 courts to go thru. Cost of probate -best guess -50,000 baht. If the foreigner has assets and a will in his home country-then a death certificate with an official transfer is required-not difficult -very cheap. Sharing the Thai assets (given that there are some) with his prior offspring is entirely a decision for the Thai beneficiary. No Thai court can rule in the favour of foreign base offspring.

Thailand only recognizes leases of 30 years Max. If this is in your wife's name then she can legally occupy the land for that period. Thailand have land offices -not house offices. The house sits on the land -the house is part of the same deal. You will need to organize a usufruct so that you can live in the house until you die. Official price for usufruct is 100 Baht. After 30 years the landlord takes his/her land back. The lease will appear on the reverse side of the Chanote (i.e. land title deed).. Be careful when dealing with Thai landowners Technically you do need a lawyer -just a visit to the local land office of the landowner. If you decide to employ the services of a lawyer then the only safe bet is a large business based in Bangkok. expensive -but safe

Used this figure to establish worse case scenario in relation to transfer fees

Your post is incorrect. The statement that you quoted in 'English language style script' is in fact the Indonesian language. Suspect that you are quoting Indonesian law. However your post prompted me to seek information from a Thai law website. their response is as follows: Per you inquiry, yes, there are few exemptions or discounts if the ownership transfer are from family members; the transfer fee may be reduced to 0.5% of the appraisal value (originally 2%), the withholding income tax may be exempted, calculated on only parts over 20M THB or deducted by 50%. This I think answers my original question Thanks

That makes sense. Can you point to a we page that confirms your statement. All I could find is that land -which is transferred thru inheritance -attracts no fee if the land is valued at less than 100M Baht Also my wife is her niece -not her daughter. My wife just showed her id card. I had to sign copies of my passport and sign a document that I did not understand. Also my wife had to confirm that it was her money-not mine. Strange since it was a free transfer. The only money was the 3000Baht transfer fee. I could tell that the land office female could not care less-about anything relating to the transaction. Maybe i was just lucky. I felt lucky!

Not really. The fees are based on the appraised value or the sales price -which ever is the highest. Looking on the web for small parcels of land-the sales price should be around 1.5 M Baht Typical transfer charges are about 5% of the higher value. On that basis the land is valued about 75000 Baht. Sounds a bit cheap. 1.5M Baht is not expensive when -in my opinion-2 good size houses could be built on it. The appraised is reviewed every 4 years-well that's the theory Thanks for your input.

Typically when a management company is changed -then the JPM also changes. To change a JPM a vote of at least 25% of the total vote is necessary. This can only occur at legally convened general meeting. If the current JPM will not arrange this meeting then a co -owner meeting can be arranged where at least 20% of the total vote is in attendance. All 20% must sign. There official apartment numbers plus there names (in their own language) must be featured The minutes of this meeting must be written in Thai language and sent to the current JPM. The minutes will request that a general meeting be convened. The current JPM cannot refuse Copy of minutes sent to land office. The minutes can be translated into say English language for convenience. The English language is not legal in Thailand. If the current JPM stays then only a simple majority vote at a general meeting is required. Management companies typically required just 30 days to quit. Make sure that the committee/co owners are not jumping out of the frying an into the fire! Beware of hiring a new company will a low price. Should they get the contract then most likely the price will rise over time.

To answer some of your points. Company to Company. I suspect that you mean acquiring a property that is already in company. This is a very low cost transaction. The current foreign controller of the existing company can only sell that which he/she owns-the share allocation and 100% of the voting rights. These will be sold for the price of the house/land. After the money is in the sellers bank account ,the he /she has to sign may papers. All these events will take place in a lawyers/accountants. The last thing to do is pay the lawyer /accountant. In my view an accountant is better and cheaper. cost about 10,000 Baht. The land office is not involved with this style of transaction. Transferring ownership from Thai to another Thai will involve the land office and fairly high fees will be involved. Remember a foreigner cannot own the land which the house is sitting on-hence the use of the company work around. Witch ever way you proceed an Chanote -land title deed -will be involved. Typically this deed can be retained by the bank as security. The decision to lend by the bank will be a consequence of the bank's view that you can service and pay back the loan-or not. If the company route is used and you default a court will probably rule that the bank takes the company. I not not a lawyer . If the bank cannot do this then maybe they will not lend. Easier for the bank if the property is in a Thai name. However this can be complicated if the land office realizes that you are paying for everything You really need to speak to a bank manager.

Recently my wife's Aunt transferred her land to her niece(i.e. my wife) Technical. Land size 863m .About 30 kilometers west of Korat. Area is farming and up market housing. The Aunt got the transfer free from her grandmother who in turn got it free from her grandmother. The land originally was simply acquired before the days of land offices etc. At some point in the past a Chanote was issued. I agreed to pay the transfer charges. The family guessed that the charges would be about 20,000 Baht. I thought the charges would be closer to 80,000 Baht. My calculation was derived from info which appears on the net. In the event for the transfer plus a Usufruct was just shy of 3000 Baht. My question: Why were these charges so low?