clinique

Not an easy question to answer.

Using a Thai company with nominees is technically illegal, so if scrutinized, it will be undone - you lose.

If the Thai shareholders are 'nominees' it will be scrutinized and undone - you lose.

Afer 30 years and many discussions with lawyers, land department officials, and thru experience, the safest answer IMO seems to be to buy the land in your wifes (partners ) name, register a long term lease (or usufruct), build the house and have the house and other buildings owned by you. (in thailand the owner of the land and the owner of the buildings can be different).

The lease (30 + 30) or ususfruct gives you right of tenure.

An enuring power of attorney from the owner gives some security toyou over the land but not 100%.

Also if you wish to finance the property some banks will not allow 30 yearleases or usufructs...????

Hope this helps..

Not an easy question to answer.

Using a Thai company with nominees is technically illegal, so if scrutinized, it will be undone - you lose.

If the Thai shareholders are 'nominees' it will be scrutinized and undone - you lose.

Afer 30 years and many discussions with lawyers, land department officials, and thru experience, the safest answer IMO seems to be to buy the land in your wifes (partners ) name, register a long term lease (or usufruct), build the house and have the house and other buildings owned by you. (in thailand the owner of the land and the owner of the buildings can be different).

The lease (30 + 30) or ususfruct gives you right of tenure.

An enuring power of attorney from the owner gives some security toyou over the land but not 100%.

Also if you wish to finance the property some banks will not allow 30 yearleases or usufructs...????

Hope this helps..

if looking at 7-8% returns this can be ahcieved by fixed deposits / foreign currency deposits in international banks in Singapore,, why would anyone take the risk of "trading" in thai stocks to get the same results...

Oh dear - our bi-monthly 'if it wasn't for us, Thailand would fall in a heap' thread, soon to be followed by replies how dastartly the locals are with cries of 'xenophobia' and 'racism' and how the lady at the local mom and pop shop charges me more and thus we are all discriminated against and how that is the 'final nail in the coffin'.

What would happen? Not much probably.

Thailand would have lost more as a % of GDP during the Asian financial crisis. Funny with that though, very few people went hungry and life kinda went on.

Farang spending is reportedly 7% of GDP, is it not? Based on figures quoted in the "don't respect farang" article. A piffling amount. I'm sure they couldn't give a toss. Many certainly act like it. And why not? its their train set.

Tend to agree with you. Pretty sure it wouldnt matter to majority of Thais. Nomore Aliens and Guests to deal with..

With the way the worlds food shortage is growing,, maybe LOS could revert to agrarian society and reap the benefit from all our western countries which now cannot supply basic food essentials to their populations.

Agreed. it is related to tax issues, number of rooms, standards of accommodation and service, location.

Accommodation on a farm is , to me, obviously not a hotel. its an opportunity to stay on a farm and have that experience.

A homestay, surely would be something like a Guesthouse, or in the UK a Bed and Breakfast.

A Hotel operated by Hilton or Marriot etc,,, does not compare to a Homestay in someone elses house or on a farm !!!

Seems pretty simple to me..

Despite 'advice' given by some legal practitioners... using a Thai company to buy land and the Thai shareholders as nominees is strictly by the law, illegal. The Thai shareholders must own 61% (not 51%) AND prove that the money used to buy the property/fund the company was provided by them and not the foreigner. many land departments now enforce this 61/39 rule and the 'proof of origin of funds' rule as well.

The company route has long been used as away "around" the ownership restriction but it is not foolproof. It just hasnot been enforced to the letter of the law.

In addition the concept of "nominee" is not recognised in Thailand so if you give Thai shareholders 61% of your company they are by law legal owners of that 61%.

I know of several cases where the Thai nominee 'fell out' with the foreign partners and the Thai ended up being the owner of the property.

That being said there are methods where you can protect your interest but it doesnt lie solely in the Thai company route.

Great care should be exercised.

Why would any airline upgrade fare paying passengers to another class of travel at no cost !!

Airlines are a business and Business and First class is where htey make there money, generally speaking.

Over my 30 years of flying I have been upgraded one time only on international flights for gratis, and that was becasue the airline was overbooked in economy and I am a frequent flyer.

As far as i am aware and as stated earlier post there is no 'policy' for upgrading by airlines. Frequesnt flyers are upgraded if the class in which they are booked is overbooked and there are vacant seats in business - but even this does not apply on every airline or every flight.

Unless Ihave paid the fare that business travellers have paid i would not "expect" to be upgraded for free or out of the "kindness of the airlines heart".

As others have said that if airlines upgraded economy passengers all the time then their 'paying' business class travellers would not be happy.

If you went to a restuarant and ordereda hot dog , would you expect them to serve you a fillet steak !!

Seconded. I'm with you Naam.

I would like to find a website with chat room or forum where I can post ridiculous questions and/or requests for help or assistance and completely waste other peoples time.

Any suggestions of where I can find same greatly appreciated.

A very pleasant day, whats left of it.

perhaps yuo need to be more specific about your risk profile. this would help in getting relevant advice.

As Bruce says the risk and performance profiles of different sectors have changed dramaticallyover the past several years andlikely wil do so again.

If you want 'plain vanilla' no or little risk then there are very few options in Thailand that provide any respectable returns.

Perhaps Thailand is not the best place for your money.

Comes back to the risk vs reward equation.

Fill in the forms, send them along with your old passport to a family member back in the UK and get them to post it off for you. ( i use Glasgow - about 3 or 4 days )

If you were allowed to do this everybody would do so, but you cannot, or at least shouldn't.

One of the reasons the Consulate in Hong Kong allows you to send a copy of the bio page from your passport, as opposed to the passport itself, is the requirement to carry your passport with you in Thailand, or at least have it available.

Just wondring who do you get to sign the back of photos ie; to confirm it is you

the UKHong Kong website states that IF its arenewaland your likeness is substantially like you look in the oldpassport there is no need tocomplete the confirmation section.

Ian thanks for the info.

Someof the Thai banks websites have english versions.

The terms are explained thereon.

If not your wife can look at the Thai version.

From our own experience the maximum home loan term is 30 years , but Thai banks prefer 20 (as do overseas banks as the diffence in repayment amount is not huge)

Is there anyone on the forum who can explain why the transfer times of SWIFT transfers to Thai bank accounts can be so different.

Sometimes the transfer will arrive within the same business day - other timesit takes up to 7 days ??

Asking the banks there seems to be no consistent answer - mostly they say it takes 3-7 days depending on country of origin , the currnecy remitted, and the amount.

In Singapore, UK, Australia we never have these problems. Maximum transfer time is overnight (ie: 24 hours).

What it is with Thailand and SWIFT transfers.

Occassionally have used Western Union and transfer to receivign money takes about 10 minutes. More expensive than SWIFT for sure but at least timing is guaranteed.

Any insights or experiences welcome.

Any final words on this group? Anybody get hit hard?

These scare stories surface on TV from time to time as you know Gonzo. I wonder how the OP knew they were a Bangkok Squad and not the local boys dressed up in fancy uniforms. We certainly weren't visited and nor were any of our neighbouring bar owners on Loi Kroh Rd. It sounds like maybe it was Karaoke joints that were raided.

It was not a scare story. If you bothered to read my OP you would know how i knew. If you read othe rposts you would see that they were seen around CM.

Just because you were not 'visited' this time. Doesnt mean you wont be in the future.

link here manarak, many international banks in Singapore will open foreign currency deposit accounts including AUD.

see link as example.

Sorry, a bit off-topic, but,

Is it true that when you buy a land in Thailand you can declare that you buy it a lot cheaper than the real price to pay less transfer fee ?

In Krabi it seems that even when they know that the real land price is around 5 millions, lawyers declare that you buy it 500000 thb, and then you pay tax on only 500k ?

How is it possible that land office accept to be cheated that much ?

Thanks for info.

Actually it is not a matter of 'declaring' less. The land department worls their calculations from "their" assessed value NOT from the sales contract.

So u arecorrect, if you buy land for 5million but the land is assessed by the land department records (they have these on file) at less then you pay on the lower amount. The land department assessed values are several years behind market values is the reason.

Thank you for both of you.

Actually, its my BF, not me. Sorry i was not straightforward.

We had discussed about this, and i thought it must be company who do taking care for the cost.

Although i was unsure, since he is now in Germany.

Airticket must be too expensive for coming to talk just few words.

Will see, its just to my thinking ahead.

Thanks again/ cheers

If BF is in Germany, why dont he see if can do an initial telephone interview first and if it moves further maybe they will fly him in for a final interview, pretty much standard practice these days

Or Skype...

many companies do intital interviews with overseas applicants these days by video confernece. Pretty easy these days with laptop cameras etc..

if you look around apartments in chiangmai with kitchens (not full kitchen with stove, but microwave hotplates have) can be found in CM. A friend of ours stays in a 1 year old building in a 1 bedroom apartment for 12,000- /perth. the studios also with a kitchen in same building are 5,000-plus electirc.

in my 20+years in Thailand, if you are talking about bank 'branch' staff - the answer is No. Maybe at the banks head office. But there a Brokerages owned by the banks and independent who do this work. Thai banks staff generally not.

Hello to All,

I am new here in this forum and in Thailand but it looks like I am in need for a good property lawyer too but for me in the South since I got the property in Hua Hin.

Any recommendations for a Newbe?

Thank you

Me thinks yuo would be better placing this query on the Forum that covers Hua Hin,,

not likely anyone here in CM can advise you

That's correct. There may be some advantage flying Thai in Business or First, but I haven't used them since the move to Suwannaphoom. For other airlines in First or Business there is no "fast track" on departure, and upon arrival it is not always provided by the airline.

There is a fast-track at departure in Swampy, have used it several times and it is indeed fast.

thanks GS...

<deleted> !!! give up...

try Sumalee at 29 Tanin - google it..

sorry dont know whats goin..on here !!!

link deleted - doesnt work - see below

Thanks GL,

Ok sorry,,, lets try again...link deleted - doesnt work - see post below for reco.

try this link TV link here