torrenova

I've used these guys http://www.qcars-pattaya.com/ with no problems. Proper rental insurance, covered by an AA/RAC policy and negotiable rates.

When my missus told her mum that she had a farang boyfriend, her mum said it was ok as long as I wasn't a shorts and singlet backpacker. When I turned up at her village on the back of her dads bike, dressed in shorts and a t-shirt, she looked me up and down, sucked air through her teeth and turned her back on me. 7 years down the track and we still don't get along.

So why in heaven's name did you wear that outfit on the first meeting with your in-laws ?

Would you have done the same if invited to a first meeting dinner in a western family ?

You might have noticed ( on second thought, maybe not.. ) that dress-code is of value here in Asia. When I met my in-laws first time I made the effort to put on a suit. I learnt some polite phrases in Isaan and tried my best to be really really respectful. I also had a Buddha amulet around my neck and LookTung in my MP3player. 7 years down the track we get along very well and are the best of friends. If you respect your wife you have to respect her cultural roots as well, don't you think ?

That is truly sad, you putting on a suit, some corny buddha trinket and Thai crap masquerading as music on your MP3 player. And what did they wear ?

Am I the only one who also believes that male circumcision is also an outdated and frankly barbaric act against little innocent boys?

I agree, were you arguing with that odious online editor at an unmentionable news site over this? ( gawd, I can't stand that woman.. )

I wish we would stop calling this practice of female clitorectomy as " circumcision ". While I don't agree little boys should be circumcised, the vast majority don't have their ability to have an orgasm removed like the girls do.

It is mutilation.

I agree. The jews get away with it because of their political influence else it would be outlawed and these koran bashers are just truly barbaric.

You do not say how much your better flat is worth ? You could sell that one and keep the rental property ?

If you sold up then you would get rid of the commission and tax liability. However, you may be able to get rid of the tax liability even if you do not sell when you live overseas. You would benefit from income in THB and remove your FX risk but your income could not be counted for visa purposes unless you paid tax on it. If you are over 50 you could just keep 800k in an account. If you invest 10m then you qualify for an investment visa. It used to be 3m but was withdrawn at that level some years ago.

The upside to having the properties in Thailand is ease of management but just how would you rent them ? Quasi agents want 1 month as commission but an advert in the Pattaya Mail will get rid of most good and fair priced properties. Can you set up your own websites ? Self promotion through internet boards is another tool. It all depends upon you as a person.

As for returns, the rental market is soft and getting the magic 1% per month is hard to achieve. if your 4.8m bought you 3 condo then thinking about a couple of places I know, you would be looking at 15k a month and perhaps a little less to get full occupancy. If you got all 3 rented, you would be collecting around 45k a month and let's annualise that at 10 months to bring 450k. Compared to £450 a month, perhaps annualised at £5000, then it would be a significant premium. If you had to reduce to 12k then you would still pull in £7500, again a 50% increase over the London flat.

Capital appreciation is likely to be much better in London and you could well suffer FX losses if the GBP moves up against the THB. However, if you never sell either, then the value does not matter.

However, I have another idea. Why not go into the guest house business ? You would only be looking for a ROI of 5% which is laughable and even an inexperienced operator should be able to get 25%. If that idea does not suit, then using one of the condos as a short term let could give a better return. If you are working on 12k for 10 months, then you are at 120k a year. If you could get Bt1000 a night and an average of Bt800 after longer term discounts, then you need 150 nights a year plus costs. At 2 weeks each, that is 10 customers a year. How practical that is will wholly depend upon your own marketing and advertising skills. There are various Pattaya based internet boards you could join.

If you keep the property in the UK, what impact does only receiving £5k a year have ? If it makes life unbearable then you need to make more money but if it does not matter, then you have no reason to sell up. My guess is that you want to move the assets to Pattaya but are scared. I would be somewhat but not if I needed the money.

A final idea might be to leverage the property and create a buy to let investment from one or both your UK properties.

I am not sure how you are refused if you have multiple previous visas issued. Did you overstay or something ?

Your rambling on about a visa class you are not applying for is just unhelpful. You have to address the reason why your visa has been refused.

@torrenova:

Thanks for the info, but isn't the 295A for unmarried? Cause my case is we are married and are living overseas for more than 4 years.

And is it advisable to mention in the form that i know my rights, etc... like i mentioned in my first post? obviously in a polite way, i just want ECO to know he/she is not dealing with an easy person. Although i am refused twice this year, (i am being issued 6 months visa each year since 2007) what maximum harm can they give me, another refusal, ha.

I specifically gave you the unmarried partner one because you used the word "couple" and not spouse or wife etc. Nevermind.

However, the married one is right here

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyan...civil_partners/

281. The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom with a view to settlement as the spouse or civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement are that:

(i) (a) the applicant is married to or the civil partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement; or

__((i) the applicant is married to or the civil partner of a person who has a right of abode in the United Kingdom or indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom and is on the same occasion seeking admission to the United Kingdom for the purposes of settlement and the parties were married or formed a civil partnership at least 4 years ago, since which time they have been living together outside the United Kingdom; and

It is for the wrong amount so cannot be accepted. End of. This is a SCB story and their pettiness. I fear that the simple answer is just to issue a new cheque and keep the old one until you go back to Thailand. If it was drawn on a joint account then you would be ok but if drawn on your sole account then it is none of your wife's business and the bank is right on this, it isn't. The payee doesn't want it and it cannot be negotiated.

I just wonder if your wife might be able to pay it into your account ?

You could try emailing SCB and asking them and then get your wife to take that email into the bank, if they propose a solution.

Have a look at these

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/sitecont...pdf?view=Binary

http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/policyan...amesexpartners/

295A. The requirements to be met by a person seeking leave to enter the United Kingdom with a view to settlement as the unmarried or same-sex partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or being admitted on the same occasion for settlement, are that:

(i) (a) the applicant is the unmarried or same-sex partner of a person present and settled in the United Kingdom or who is on the same occasion being admitted for settlement and the parties have been living together in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership which has subsisted for two years or more; or

((i) the applicant is the unmarried or same-sex partner of a person who has a right of abode in the United Kingdom or indefinite leave to enter or remain in the United Kingdom and is on the same occasion seeking admission to the United Kingdom for the purposes of settlement and the parties have been living together outside the United Kingdom in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership which has subsisted for 4 years or more; and

((ii) the applicant has sufficient knowledge of the English language and sufficient knowledge about life in the United Kingdom, unless he is under the age of 18 or aged 65 or over at the time he makes his application; and

Don't know how come everyones is taking 2-3 months, I got mine in 1 day, plus 3 days courier service.

27 months.

I would say that it has everything to do with the quality of the application. They will get blokes sending in handwritten applications on the back of envelopes wanting to take the hooker they met last night back to Blighty etc. There are rules and if you pass those tests you get a visa. If your application is poor, then they are going to have to make an assessment and that probably gets checked. That will take time.

If you have ever recruited people for a job and asked for any form of paperwork submission from candidates, then you will know the seemingly impossible level of incompetence which people display. I suspect the same occurs to visa applications. Some fly through and others sit on a "to do" pile.

I think there is something about you having a year to dispose of the property after the death of your spouse. I would check and get advice on inheritance law in Thailand as you can be assured someone will come sniffing if they think they can get a free lunch.

You can be assured that the dealer will be selling that car for about 700k, one is always better off selling privately! I am thinking of getting Honda Civic and selling my City which has 76,0000km on the clock 2005/6 I don't know how much the dealer will give for it? But have seen some advertised for about 400k with no indication of millage, dealers usually screw you full stop!

650 is normally the resale price if it's fully loaded. If you can sell it privetly, so do it. But it's clear that if a dealer buy it, he want make some profit. Dealers don't screw all. but it's like any investment. Have to make some profit. For what reason a dealer would buy if he can't make profit? Sometimes car stay 3 or more months with the dealer until he can sale. Dealer have overheads to pay, rentals, staff, adverts, taxes, etc. Maybe they have someone for financing behind and they want some money as well. So 150'k profit is reasonable for a 500'k investment. I'ts not 150'k profit after al the expanses. If can't make a higher profit why some dealer would block a half milin with that kind of car. To gain o low profit like 20'k it's better to buy old Soluna for example and not much money is "blocked".

I'm sorry but your maths doesn't work. Expecting 150k on a 500k deal is why people rightly tell you that they are robbing you blind. As for having to keep the vehicle for 3 months, then that is purely because it is overpriced. If it was the correct price, it would walk out on its own. As for needing 150k for expenses then that argument is laughable. We are talking about the marginal cost of one vehicle, not this one vehicle paying for all operating overheads.

When my truck was a year old I took it to a garage and asked them and they came back with 400k from an original 792k and that was with about 15k on the clock. The real price would have been around 650k to 700k and I could have sold a thousand of them at 600k or below.

My salesman is in a quandary.

For living in and driving around Bangkok should he buy a Honda Civic or a Mitsubishi Triton. Both are about the same price but which is more economic. He doesn't need a truck to carry stuff only himself and his family of 3.

Why's on earth has he narrowed it down to these two? That's crazy, they are so different. If he wants a city car for a family of 3 and he really cares about fuel consumption or fuel prices, he should buy a smaller, inexpensive car Yaris, Jazz, City etc for 300k less....how many years worth of fuel is that?!

Totally agree. The Toyota Vios springs to mind. However, Thais can nearly always find a use for a pick up. If economy is the real issue and to be honest it does not appear to be, then you have to factor in insurance, depreciation etc. and the OP has not mentioned any of these other factors which affect ownership costs.

"I know it is possible to be on more than 1 house paper so why not add her to your house paper unless specifically advised not to ?"

Are you sure about that? I think that when they put their name in a house book they have to be taken off the old one.

Nope, my missus is on more than one. What do you think happens if a Thai owns more than one house ? nobody on house book ?

I just bought the land and paid for the house and gave it to my wife . So much simpler if you can restrict your spending to something you can afford to lose than all this heartache over how secure is my interest if it all goes tits up. Not possible for those on tight means I know but maybe worth reminding those with decent money that you can get too wrapped up in legalities.

Not many blokes who have spent a lifetime accumulating wealth are so eager to drop part of it on someone. Would you seriously give a woman back home an asset worth so much after knowing her so long ? Like hel_l would you. Then again, back home you ain't getting what she is giving. Big head, not small head, remember.

Say someone is selling a building with chanote, but I wish to have the building, which I can own 100% legally, in my name and the land, which I cannot own, owned by a Thai company. In simple practical terms, what is the process and what do the parties end up with ?

Does the building have to pay rent to the land owner ? How does it all work ?

Don't neglect to have a look at the monthly maintenance fees and the balance in the account. That information should be readily available. My condo at Jomtien Lalana has a fee of 10 baht per square meter per month and the fund is very healthy.

Some complexes have much higher rates and the fund is broke because of thieves managing the fund.

That was the case as VT2 and is well documented on their own forum http://www.thaicondoforum.com/view_category.php?id=1 The main problems with any condo block are the thieving Thai <deleted> who either just blatantly steal money or agree contracts well off market rates and get backhanders. Sophon cable is a great one. The next problem, again common to all condos, is Thai owners simply not paying and the management doing nothing about it. The last major issue is the sinking fund. Eventually large sums will be needed for repairs and these are too large to be collected through the annual service charge. There is nothing like a Thai looking at a large pot of money and wishing it were theirs. If they can get their thieving hands on it then the buggers will steal it. I can virtually guarantee that. In many respects, buying a second hand condo is a better deal as the issues with the management company have either been sorted out or the problems are clear to see. With new builds, you are very likely to experience problems.

You own nothing, merely the right to live in a property you bought for an ex girlfriend. There is no security for the bank. She could get a mortgage but the problem there would be the sitting tenant. If the bank wished to repossess the property under a first charge, then the issue of your lease would be relevant. I actually think the only way for her to raise money will be to have you cancel the lease. There remains the potential that a smaller advance could be obtained by her with you as a tenant.

Just to quickly address a couple of points - I'll come back with more later.

This is UK pensions, through a SIPP.

I actually want to buy a property in Thailand anyway (I've lived there for years) and would do so anyway. This is just a way to offset tax liabilities through UK pension law, to fund that purchase, in my pension fund, not a company pension fund. The alternative would have been a purchase through a Thai company anyway.

It does not have to be investment grade property, only that it must be fairly valued.

SIPP rules do allow this. Some SIPP providers do not allow some investments in their SIPPs but the law applicable to SIPPs certainly does allow this type of property to be purchased. The issue is the Thai law as it pertains to foreigners owning land in Thailand.

pkrv - there is no link. This is my pension on a personal level. It is I who am attempting to work through the Thai law on land ownership. If Thai law permitted foreigners to own land, then it would not be an issue.

I am not an engineer but I have built igloos, sheds, build walls and loads of other things and when Somchai has put in the hole, for about $100, then quite where the other million goes I will never know. I guess a few weekends on google would bring me to Master Craftsman level in Thailand. At least you would know the theory and let's face it, it is not rocket science is it ? It is a hole in the ground which operates like a giant bath jacuzzi bath.

In a very broad sense, Naklua is Germany and to a lesser degree, Scandinavia. I have business in Naklua and this is represented in the mix of people in the area. To that end, some other European and western people choose not to live in Naklua. My experience is that the populous of Naklua is rather heavily divided into a minority who have very good funds and a majority who have quite limited funds. For non residents, my 20 year experience of these nationals on holiday in Mallorca and Thailand shows that they go on longer holidays but do not have the same per head per day funds of their UK or USA compatriots. Economy is king in Naklua for many residents and visitors.

That may be important or not. It would be for the rental and secondary market of your proposed condo.

As a price, Bt35k/sqm is about what I can pick up a decent fitted out condo in View Talay 2 in Pattaya / Jomtien. I could certainly rent out the condo in VT2 for more than the condo in Naklua. That said, there are specialist agents, such as http://www.mmt-services.com/ who I have known for many years and who may offer a tailored rental solution were that your desire.

Obviously without many more details it is impossible to judge but I would expect that this condo block offers less in terms of two huge pools than VT2 and I would say that it is a less desirable area for many markets and thus, I would expect to see a price lower than that commanded for VT2 in Jomtien.

Just thinking about how a UK pension fund (SIPP) can buy a Thai commercial building. The rationale behind this is future UK tax liabilities which could be used as tax relief into a SIPP for pension planning.

I have been talking to a SIPP provider whose product will happily allow (at this stage of the negotiations) funds to be used to buy non UK commercial property and even shares in non listed non UK companies. Obviously as a non Thai, the fund could not own title to the land but it could own title to the building. Quite how that would work I have yet to ascertain as I have not yet looked at splitting a building from the land it rests on in Thailand.

Now I know a foreign entity can own 100% of a hotel management company (not sure how this could be useful though) and there are dispensations for Bt100m or Bt500m investments but these are too large for my purpose. I'm thinking that a regular Thai company which can be 49% foreign owned, could own the property ? Of course, that presents problems because whilst the pension fund would be happy to buy 49% of the shares, it would not be happy putting up 100% of the funds for only 49% of the shares and the other Thais I have in mind for shareholders could not put up funds for the remaining 51%. As a principle though, I am not sure there are any real problems with this ? (apart from it being a business and thus being required to pay tax !).

Splitting the building from the land could help I think. Just say the value of the property was 50/50 land and building. The pension fund could own 100% of the building and the Thai company could own the land. The pension fund could then own 49% of the Thai company which owned the land and thus, it would own 50+24.5=74.5% of the total cost. It might be possible for the Thai shareholders to put up the remaining 25.5% of the total costs for 51% of the Thai company. Of course, in the unlikely event that the building was 90% of the value and the land only 10%, then the Thai shareholders would only have to put up 5.1% of the total cost which would be easy. Quite what evidence the pension fund would need to agree the value breakdown would need to be determined.

So on this basis, splitting the property from the land, it seems as though the pension fund could own more than 49% of the total cost of the assets.

The end result would be that the building would be leased to a third party who would pay rent to the pension fund. As the effective ownership would be all mine, though I understand there are some "arms length" issues to consider, the rent payable to the pension fund need not really be market rent. Certainly no-one is ever going to question what rent is being paid !

Once the transaction was completed, I would like to investigate the shift from a SIPP to a QROPS and therefore after 5 years, there would be no requirement to report any paperwork to the UK government and all pension assets would form part of my estate, tax free. My guess is that after 5 years, you can basically dispense with the QROPS and deplete your pension through share transfers to me personally as a draw down from the pension fund so that I would own 100% of the building and 49% of the Thai company which owned the land. Obvious preference share voting and income rights on the shares with back to back loans to the shareholders for their equity, essentially giving me 100% ownership and control and having shifted my UK tax liabilities into tax free investments in my name.

I welcome all comments and ideas. This is just on the drawing board but it would certainly appear possible or at least near possible with some tweaks here and there. Of course, if anyone can think of a better way, then please post up. Thanks.

I know one girl who said her mother should stop work because she was too old. I asked how old she was and she said 43 or something. I told her not to be so stupid and tell her mother to get off her lazy ass and get a job.

Someone hit the nail on the head with the term that in Thailand, the OP is Bill Gates rich. At least amongst his wife's family.

You see all those guys getting robbed of 5 baht (100k) gold necklaces and they just don't know why ? well I answer like this. If you earn 5k a month post tax (ok, I know there is no tax on 5k a month but the principle remains) then you have the chance to rob a foreigner who your peers and authorities tend to look upon as a fool to be fleeced and your reward is 20 months salary and if you are caught, a 1 in 1000 chance at best, you can probably do a deal with the police and maybe still get some of your ill gotten gains from them as well as being let off, then many would do it. In the west, if you earn $5000 a month, not a high salary, and you could do the same and get $100,000 with a near zero chance of getting caught and you could also get nigh on $100,00 for it, not some 25c on the $1 pawn off, then you go think about how many people would not seriously consider doing that for $100,000 ?

Ratchet that up to a degree which you cannot imagine. If Bt5000 = $5000 then that $1m = $30,000,000 and the OP is worth about $40,000,000 in relative terms, then you go think about just what you would do for $40m back home ?

Then say you are a good guy or girl but your extended family are not all perfect. I guess if my sister married a guy who had $40m then I would think she hit the jackpot big style. Even in the west, many would hope for a handout. In Thailand, half the village would want a handout and the begging from extended family would be massive.

This is just to try and put everything in perspective. The OP is Bill Gates rich in Thailand and for sure he hab money too mutt.

Blindly stating that his wife will not divorce him because she is a christian is like walking through a minefield blindfolded. Some will get through but most will be blown away.

Roll the dice and see what comes up.

I never understand why it takes so long unless the waiting time is due to it sitting in someone's in box, waiting to be processed. If all documents are far in excess of what would be required, then surely it is a matter of hours, if not minutes to say yes.

I hope it means you have received it. Do let us know.

As a point of note, my Japanese ex wife received her settlement visa while she waited in Tokyo !

Perhaps I am missing something but the son would not need a visa so why is there an issue of whether he has or does not have a UK birth certificate ?

I know? It is still baffling me.

I am going to get my missus on the UK passport trail and start settlement and I can see them asking me that dumb question as well because I didn't bother giving them what was, at the time, quite a lot more money than now. The amounts when mine was born were around 14,000 or so and it was just ridiculous. My daughter has UK and Thai passports and they have on some scanned system somewhere her original Thai birth certificate and presumably the MFA certified copy. I could cobble together a UK style birth certificate on Photoshop and it would have as much legal validity in Thailand as their one, i.e. none.