Thailand Probes 50,000 Nominees in Tourist Hubs

I think if you "own " a house using a nominee company to own the land you need to get very worried and sell the company asap to a trusted Thai friend if possible.

This move I am sure is the thin end of the wedge - and the land will no doubt be taken by the state into state ownership and sold off at auctions in due course

Why did they allow this situation to persist for so many years? I wonder without the involvement of lawyers and government agencies, is it possible for foreigners to manage and establish companies here?

16 minutes ago, Legal Lifeline said:

I think if you "own " a house using a nominee company to own the land you need to get very worried and sell the company asap to a trusted Thai friend if possible.

Some friend..!.............No ones gonna buy now anyway..................

17 minutes ago, Legal Lifeline said:

and the land will no doubt be taken by the state into state ownership and sold off at auctions in due course

Worst way, fines and restructuring of company or forced sale to more legal entity......The government will consider balancing its clampdown campaign against investment in the country, together with the fact, I would imagine most companies were set up by Thai representatives/firms/lawyers on behalf of the foreign investors...

33 minutes ago, Legal Lifeline said:

I think if you "own " a house using a nominee company to own the land you need to get very worried and sell the company asap to a trusted Thai friend if possible.

This move I am sure is the thin end of the wedge - and the land will no doubt be taken by the state into state ownership and sold off at auctions in due course

Most legal companies recommend for Foreign ownership to be 39% over 10 years ago, this same clampdown was going on then..on a side note, many Thai bar girls are paid 300 baht to use their details.

Given the numbers... 50,000 Thais, 12,000 "businesses" it would be a fair guess that most of these "businesses" are in the business of holding land. If true, seems like a whole lot of foreigners are about to lose their luxury dream home in the tropics.

ONE WAY ticket out of Thailand and blacklist. Then let them try to recover the they funds invested when out of Thailand and in another Country.

In 2005 I started working for a Thai law firm having spent 40 years working in the legal profession in England.

My job entailed explaining to foreign clients the then accepted procedure for owning land in Thailand by way of registering it in a company name which the foreigner controlled.

At that time such companies had to have 9 Thai shareholders controlling 51percent of the shares leaving the foreigner with 49 percent.

The client would choose an “on the shelf “ company that had already been set up using nominee shareholders who were the law firms staff from secretaries down to the cleaner.

The foreigner controlled the company by virtue of the fact that their 49 percent shares were preferential shares with a voting power of 10 votes per share and the Thai nominees had ordinary shares with one vote per share.

The nominee shareholders had pre signed a share transfer form so that if they suddenly left the law firm for whatever reason their share could be transferred to another nominee.

This was the accepted practice and the land office would register the company as the land owner without question.

The good part about that was that if the foreigner decided to sell the land all they had to do was transfer their 49 percent shares to the buyer and as the land was already registered in the company name there would be no transfer fees or taxes to pay at the land office.

This procedure had been accepted for many years but it came to a halt overnight when the government decided to take former prime minister Thaksin to task over his non payment of tax when he sold his telecommunications company Shin Corp in which he had used nominee shareholders.

All land offices nationwide were instructed not to register land in company names unless it could be proved that the Thai shareholders had genuinely invested money in the company.

It caused huge problems for clients who were halfway through buying land when I had to tell them that they had to find their own shareholders to replace the office staff shareholders that were used to set up their company.

I left the law firm shortly after the government crackdown so I’m not really sure how they changed the procedure for foreigners to acquire land but given this latest directive by the government I would suggest that any foreigner that currently owns land in a company name using nominee shareholders should make sure that they have the correct company set up

26 minutes ago, Zimar said:

ONE WAY ticket out of Thailand and blacklist. Then let them try to recover the they funds invested when out of Thailand and in another Country.

I think the headline is about nominees,those are Thai residents,where do you want to send them?

1 hour ago, The Alien said:

Why did they allow this situation to persist for so many years? I wonder without the involvement of lawyers and government agencies, is it possible for foreigners to manage and establish companies here?

Yes of course legit companies are and always have been allowed,there are many of those!

1 hour ago, The Alien said:

Why did they allow this situation to persist for so many years? I wonder without the involvement of lawyers and government agencies, is it possible for foreigners to manage and establish companies here?

Shifting sands of politics. It was an open secret for many years, and toldrated by officialdom, but also a convenient way to sell property.

In Thai politics, there's always wheels within wheels, intrigue and subterfuge, and it must suit someone's political agenda to clamp down on foreign business ownership.

Again an action of the xenophobic government. They complain that the economy is declining, but for a company it is very difficult to start a business here. The outdated laws and rules are keeping progress away and the constantly changing rules makes investments uncertain. This is just an example again

I don't understand why so many foreigners want to buy property in Thailand. To rent is so much easier and safer.

Sell, yes. Now is not a good time either way, unless you are a buyer and knows about the tight situation you’re in.

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I own 3 properties in Thailand all in my Thai wifes name. Prior to purchasing those properties I was more interested in a one or 2 bedroom condo in the Naklua Road area. At least 5 properties I inspected were exactly what I wanted. When it came down to the itty gritty and and a 3rd party was mentioned I told my wife to tell them no thanks. I explained the implications to her later. This has been going on for at least 25 years that I know of, so the Government must've know about this when the documents were presented prior to the sale.

Will you walk into my parlour?" said a spider to a fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour is up a winding stair,
And I have many pretty things to shew when you are there."
"Oh no, no!" said the little fly, "to ask me is in vain,
For who goes up your winding stair can ne'er come down again."

3 hours ago, Legal Lifeline said:

I think if you "own " a house using a nominee company to own the land you need to get very worried and sell the company asap to a trusted Thai friend if possible.

This move I am sure is the thin end of the wedge - and the land will no doubt be taken by the state into state ownership and sold off at auctions in due course

Take a look on Marketplace right now; there's a lot for sale "with company". I've been actively looking for a new rental for the last few months, and there's been an increase of sales with foreign accounts posting them.

56 minutes ago, JJ-Thailand said:

I don't understand why so many foreigners want to buy property in Thailand. To rent is so much easier and safer.

I don't own, but I've been interested in leasing land and building something small which I'm not bothered about walking away from in the future for the same I spend in rent for 10 years. Mostly because I have dogs and want more land space, but I would never do the nominee thing, especially at the prices of some of these villas on the islands.

I can understand the mindset of doing it if you have crazy wealth outside the nation but people who sell up back home and invest it all over here are insane.

Many members here seem to have lived in Thailand for a long time. So how many times have you seen this recurring news story?

When all is said and done, real estate developers want to sell houses, and foreigners start companies to own these houses.

This has been going on for about 50 years.

Westerners who just want to retire here with rights to a house is a threat to nobody in Thailand. But any new government needs to be told this. Someone, tell Anutin!

47 minutes ago, Rams86 said:

I own 3 properties in Thailand all in my Thai wifes name. Prior to purchasing those properties I was more interested in a one or 2 bedroom condo in the Naklua Road area. At least 5 properties I inspected were exactly what I wanted. When it came down to the itty gritty and and a 3rd party was mentioned I told my wife to tell them no thanks. I explained the implications to her later. This has been going on for at least 25 years that I know of, so the Government must've know about this when the documents were presented prior to the sale.

To be accurate, you do not own any properties in Thailand, they are owned by your wife.

I don’t know anything about Condos in the Nablus Road area, but you can legally own the freehold of a condo in Thailand as long as it is purchased from the 49% foreign owned allocation.

So, I don’t know what nitty gritty could possibly compromise that with regards to a condo ?

2 hours ago, Issanraider said:

In 2005 I started working for a Thai law firm having spent 40 years working in the legal profession in England.

My job entailed explaining to foreign clients the then accepted procedure for owning land in Thailand by way of registering it in a company name which the foreigner controlled.

At that time such companies had to have 9 Thai shareholders controlling 51percent of the shares leaving the foreigner with 49 percent.

The client would choose an “on the shelf “ company that had already been set up using nominee shareholders who were the law firms staff from secretaries down to the cleaner.

The foreigner controlled the company by virtue of the fact that their 49 percent shares were preferential shares with a voting power of 10 votes per share and the Thai nominees had ordinary shares with one vote per share.

The nominee shareholders had pre signed a share transfer form so that if they suddenly left the law firm for whatever reason their share could be transferred to another nominee.

This was the accepted practice and the land office would register the company as the land owner without question.

The good part about that was that if the foreigner decided to sell the land all they had to do was transfer their 49 percent shares to the buyer and as the land was already registered in the company name there would be no transfer fees or taxes to pay at the land office.

This procedure had been accepted for many years but it came to a halt overnight when the government decided to take former prime minister Thaksin to task over his non payment of tax when he sold his telecommunications company Shin Corp in which he had used nominee shareholders.

All land offices nationwide were instructed not to register land in company names unless it could be proved that the Thai shareholders had genuinely invested money in the company.

It caused huge problems for clients who were halfway through buying land when I had to tell them that they had to find their own shareholders to replace the office staff shareholders that were used to set up their company.

I left the law firm shortly after the government crackdown so I’m not really sure how they changed the procedure for foreigners to acquire land but given this latest directive by the government I would suggest that any foreigner that currently owns land in a company name using nominee shareholders should make sure that they have the correct company set up

Refreshing to hear from someone who knows what they're talking about, as opposed to the 99.9999999% of commenters here who don't. The one most common piece of advice I give to foreigners who have questions about life here is "consult with a Thai law firm". One consult is often free, and invaluable in the long run. Cheers.

8 hours ago, Georgealbert said:

nominee business arrangements in major tourist destinations has revealed that more than 50,000 Thais are allegedly acting on behalf of foreign investors, with investigations and legal proceedings continuing nationwide.

I see a nationwide shortage of brown envelopes coming on ...

The snatch back begins, foreign owned condos will be next. Then the big share out of assets amongst themselves, and we all know who will be top of the pile.

4 minutes ago, Toby1947 said:

The snatch back begins, foreign owned condos will be next. Then the big share out of assets amongst themselves, and we all know who will be top of the pile.

The bit about condos is just BS.

Good news. This will enable a decent turnover for all the thai restaurants and "massage" parlours all over Europe.

The only way to Stop the racket is to quickly pass a law enabling any foreigner to own one piece of land for his own home. The current rules of only allowing leasehold for houses is a xenophobic rule against foreigners. Foreigners whose money is nevertheless welcome. Not surprising why most foreigners are going to other countries in Asia or India to invest.

I wonder how many nominee's just around my area alone, we used to have a cleaner who was a shareholder in about 4 different companies, It was said they would do it because they could get Social Security, and Healthcare,

5 hours ago, JJ-Thailand said:

I don't understand why so many foreigners want to buy property in Thailand. To rent is so much easier and safer.

True, except if the property is a condo. Condos are protected by special laws, anything else is always a gamble. Once a farang always a farang, there's no way to change that in the Kingdom.

2 hours ago, SingAPorn said:

The only way to Stop the racket is to quickly pass a law enabling any foreigner to own one piece of land for his own home. The current rules of only allowing leasehold for houses is a xenophobic rule against foreigners. Foreigners whose money is nevertheless welcome. Not surprising why most foreigners are going to other countries in Asia or India to invest.

Have you tried buying property in Philippines. Cambodia or Vietnam, the rules are very similar or worse. Nobody is leaving or not coming because they can't own a house.

6 hours ago, rick44 said:

Many members here seem to have lived in Thailand for a long time. So how many times have you seen this recurring news story?

 

 

 

When all is said and done, real estate developers want to sell houses, and foreigners start companies to own these houses.

 

 

 

This has been going on for about 50 years.

 

 

 

Westerners who just want to retire here with rights to a house is a threat to nobody in Thailand. But any new government needs to be told this. Someone, tell Anutin!

Yes sabre rattling every once in a while..and come on, we are talking 12-13,000 companies...that wouldn't even cover the amount of foreign owned houses on Samui by company. They are not after your villa on 100 square talang wah, it's the bigger fish they want. I must say there is a lot of angst on here against people that own property this way