Can a foreigner be a Juristic Person in Thailand

[lkn]

On 12/20/2018 at 5:05 AM, stud858 said:

I too, presented such systems to Thai management, but it conflicts with "the Thai way of doing things"

Systems that can be reconciled are not welcome in thailand. Unless there is a falang as Juristic I recommend blending in with the background. It will save your sanity

The problem is more likely that your Thai management just doesn’t know proper accounting.

 

It was the same in my building, and it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but after some meetings with our JPM, where I showed him the proper respect, I managed to get a meeting with our accounting, and while she was running our accounts using “cash in, cash out”, she was a senior accountant who did know about double-entry bookkeeping, accrued expenses, inventory tracking, etc., just that no-one had asked her to do it, and it was not her place to tell our JPM how he should run the building (the monthly documents she was provided were insufficient to do proper accounting, e.g. no copy of invoices sent out, no inventory counts, etc.).

 

I got it all changed, and I honestly don’t think our (former) JPM could tell the difference: For him, being JPM was more about prestige than actually running the building properly, and he was completely clueless when it came to numbers.

 

[KittenKong]

25 minutes ago, lkn said:

It was the same in my building, and it’s hard to teach an old dog new tricks, but after some meetings with our JPM, where I showed him the proper respect, I managed to get a meeting with our accounting, and while she was running our accounts using “cash in, cash out”, she was a senior accountant who did know about double-entry bookkeeping, accrued expenses, inventory tracking, etc., just that no-one had asked her to do it, and it was not her place to tell our JPM how he should run the building (the monthly documents she was provided were insufficient to do proper accounting, e.g. no copy of invoices sent out, no inventory counts, etc.).

Large buildings probably already do this. Mine certainly does and so do all others I have ever had anything to do with here. So will all buildings that are run by a large management company. However I find that generally the more complex the accounting system the more likely it is that no one will really understand the figures, and that may just make it easier for people to steal things or to cook the books.
The real answer to building accounts is to balance the receipts issued and the cash banked every day (this is not done in all buildings here, even those run by large management companies) and to have proper monthly breakdowns of all expenses. That way even a cursory glance will show any cash discrepancies or any unusual purchases, which is where the bulk of losses occur in my experience. The other major cause of loss here is items and services (technicians, cleaners, key-cards, wifi cards, debt-free letters, water dispensers, renovation fees, parking fines etc.) being sold/provided without receipts being issued.

[lkn]

20 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Large buildings probably already do this

There are levels of “proper accounting”.

 

I have seen buildings where only the front office was concerned about individual co-owners; they would issue the invoices, take payments, and then only report the totals (e.g. total water supply income) to accounting, this makes it easy for the front office to pocket money, and impossible for the back office to keep an accounts receivable. And if the water supply income isn’t even accrued, it can vary wildly from month to month, making it even more opaque, despite the use of double-entry accounting.

 

As for items sold without receipts: That’s why you include the value of your inventory in your accounts and do periodic inventory counts to see if you have any loss.

 

For services rendered, you should use timesheets and do billing based on these, which would also give you an idea of your staff’s downtime.

 

Minimizing the risk of fraud is actually easier with a large condominium because you can afford the extra staff to ensure proper segregation between handling cash and accounting, invest in a proper point-of-sale/billing system, etc.

[KittenKong]

1 minute ago, lkn said:

As for items sold without receipts: That’s why you include the value of your inventory in your accounts and do periodic inventory counts to see if you have any loss.

 

For services rendered, you should use timesheets and do billing based on these, which would also give you an idea of your staff’s downtime.

 

Minimizing the risk of fraud is actually easier with a large condominium because you can afford the extra staff to ensure proper segregation between handling cash and accounting, invest in a proper point-of-sale/billing system, etc.

I'm fully aware of what should be done. I was just pointing out what often isn't done, even in buildings that supposedly have good management.

 

All large buildings that I know of here use billing software. It is still quite easy to cheat with it, unless a proper daily correlation is made between the cash banked and the receipts issued (which still leaves the possibility of cheating, but only cheating the individual co-owners and not the collective). And many buildings, large and small, dont do this correlation here as I pointed out.

 

As for items sold without receipts: you can have all the inventories you want but if, for example, someone cares to buy their own RFID keycards and authorise them and collect payment for them without issuing receipts then that money is lost to the building.

Better, more recent, addressable RFID systems are operated by a central PC and this is harder to cheat with as fewer people will have the access or knowledge required, but many older systems use individual locks that are programmed directly and anyone who knows the admin code (which in Thailand is rarely changed from the default) can register any chip in seconds.

Other similar scams are staff buying wifi cards from the wifi supplier's staff directly, and selling them without receipts.
All quite hard to prevent, and many co-owners dont even understand how the scams occur let alone know how to prevent them.

 

Increasing the number of staff may not help much, especially if the manager is in on the scams and collects his envelope at the end of the month.

 

And I know you will say that committee members should be checking things, but what committee member wants to sit in a building office 8 hours a day 7 days a week watching everything that everyone does? I certainly wouldn't, and in many buildings it's hard to find a handful of co-owners who are prepared to devote even an hour a month to being on a committee. Do they get what they deserve? Of course they do, but that doesnt make it any better.

 

 

[lkn]

3 hours ago, KittenKong said:

I'm fully aware of what should be done. I was just pointing out what often isn't done, even in buildings that supposedly have good management.

Actually, you said that large buildings “probably already do this”. And I am not sure you really understand how you minimize the risk of fraud. Billing software is not the same as e.g. segregating cash and accounting.

 

And your scheme with staff selling their own inventory; this sounds a little absurd; we sell most items at cost, so there is no profit to pocket (except for bulk discounts), the primary item we sell is drinking water, it’s highly impractical for the staff to have their own secret stash of this (takes up a lot of space), and for co-owners we debit their account when water is ordered, so they pay for this together with water supply / common fee on their monthly (renters) / yearly (owners) invoice, so if staff was delivering water from their own stash, they would lose money, unless they persuade residents to pay cash on delivery.

 

Fraud is something all companies are vulnerable to, but many best practices have been invented to minimize the risk, and that is just what a condominium should adopt.

[KittenKong]

29 minutes ago, lkn said:

And your scheme with staff selling their own inventory; this sounds a little absurd; we sell most items at cost, so there is no profit to pocket (except for bulk discounts),

I refer you to my examples of keycards and wifi cards.

 

32 minutes ago, lkn said:

Actually, you said that large buildings “probably already do this”. And I am not sure you really understand how you minimize the risk of fraud. Billing software is not the same as e.g. segregating cash and accounting. 

No, I said that large buildings probably already have double-entry accounting and accrual accounting. What they often dont do is reconcile cash takings with receipts issued on a daily basis, and this alone will pin-point any cash shortages immediately. And such shortages happen quite often here.

 

In most large buildings the billing system is the basis of the accounting. More than 95% of our budget passes through the billing system (or should). Accounting just takes the data supplied by the billing system and adds other information like cheques issued, which cover all costs. And of course no accounting procedure will ever spot the commonest form of fraud here: overpriced quotes with built-in kickbacks. That task is down to committee members only.
As for separating cash and accounting, how exactly do you do that if your management company handles both and charges one monthly fee for doing so? This is standard procedure in buildings that employ management companies. What you are talking about is what could happen in very small buildings that dont have a management company, and in such cases it could indeed be effective.

[stud858]

5 hours ago, KittenKong said:

overpriced quotes with built-in kickbacks. That task is down to committee members only.

Exactly. Water control panel at my condo was completely replaced for 30000 baht.

Simple component circuit boards could have been repaired for under 1000. But my way had no kick back value. I'm an electronic hobbyist who tried helping, but my help was frowned upon. Let the fleecing go on. It's just the way it is with poor salaries and no law enforcement.

[lkn]

On 1/2/2019 at 4:48 PM, KittenKong said:

I refer you to my examples of keycards and wifi cards.

How large a profit is your building making from selling key cards to co-owners? It seems like this is not really where you would spend your effort, that said, key cards are registered centrally, so it should be trivial to see if new cards gets registered without a change in your inventory count, furthermore, if co-owners are billed for key cards together with water supply etc. instead of “cash on delivery” then it would make no sense for the front desk to try and sell their own (cheaply bought) key cards instead of the building’s, as they will not get the cash from the sale.

 

For wifi cards, “inventory” is trivially tracked because using a wifi card would be done by interacting with the building’s server, so it will have a list of cards used.

 

On 1/2/2019 at 4:48 PM, KittenKong said:

As for separating cash and accounting, how exactly do you do that if your management company handles both and charges one monthly fee for doing so?

If you outsource everything to a company, make sure that this company have proper procedures in place, like the before mentioned segregation of accounting and cash.

 

You are the customer and you are allowed to ask questions about how they run things, even control that they are following the procedures they claim to follow, and if they don’t, find a better company!

[stud858]

One cool thing that's not so bad is that the sinking fund goes so low that no more scheming can take place. No wiggle room to filter out money. If money is taken more,  the staff are out the door.

I call it the wiggle and jiggle factor.

[KittenKong]

9 hours ago, lkn said:

How large a profit is your building making from selling key cards to co-owners? It seems like this is not really where you would spend your effort, that said, key cards are registered centrally, so it should be trivial to see if new cards gets registered without a change in your inventory count, furthermore, if co-owners are billed for key cards together with water supply etc. instead of “cash on delivery” then it would make no sense for the front desk to try and sell their own (cheaply bought) key cards instead of the building’s, as they will not get the cash from the sale.

 

For wifi cards, “inventory” is trivially tracked because using a wifi card would be done by interacting with the building’s server, so it will have a list of cards used.

I was making a general comment, not describing any particular building. And I was just pointing out some of the areas where fraud is common. Also you seem to be completely ignoring the points I made.

 

RFID tags are often resold by buildings at a 1000% markup here. Possibly more. So selling fake inventory is very rewarding. As I pointed out, only newer RFID systems are centralised and many buildings have older systems on which any chip can easily be authorised by anyone, and where no control is possible at all. And even if buildings use more modern centralised addressing, it isnt hard for the person involved to authorise chips bought elsewhere. Few buildings have systems that interlink the authorisation of keycards directly with the billing software, so there is no easy way to reconcile the two.
Many types of chips can also be cloned and resold by anyone with the correct equipment, which is very cheap.

Of course scams involving billing require that a bill is not issued. This can happen quite often in large buildings, especially for one-off extras and services. And it is impossible for co-owners to check this, short of sitting in the office during all working hours and verifying every single transaction. This is neither practical nor desirable. Yes, management should be doing these checks, but management is often part of the scam and if they are it is impossible for ordinary co-owners to verify it.

 

For wifi, in large buildings the card management is usually done remotely by the supplier and not by the building itself, not least due to the general level of technical incompetence of Thai staff. Any building staff who can obtain cards from the card supplier's staff can easily sell these in the building and pocket the cash, again assuming that a receipt is not issued which is can often be the case.

 

Again, these are just examples of some of the commonest scams involving fake inventory, and many more are possible. There are also many other types of scam that work in different ways.

 

 

9 hours ago, lkn said:

If you outsource everything to a company, make sure that this company have proper procedures in place, like the before mentioned segregation of accounting and cash.

 

You are the customer and you are allowed to ask questions about how they run things, even control that they are following the procedures they claim to follow, and if they don’t, find a better company! 

You live in a dream world. There simply arent that many management companies to choose from here, especially without paying a lot more per month. And changing - or even getting information from the existing company - may not be easy if the committee is weak or disinclined to act for whatever reason, or if there is collusion between management and other parties in the building.
There are dozens of different reports of this in this sub-forum and in other similar places. It is very common here.

[lkn]

23 hours ago, KittenKong said:

Also you seem to be completely ignoring the points I made

You keep changing the points. You said that management companies already do “proper accounting” and when I define what I mean by “proper accounting”, you then claim it is impossible, when I again take your bait you go into specifics with a building that has decentralized RFID readers that sell cards with a 1,000% markup, staffers that can clone chips, and yet in another sentence you stress that you have no specific building in mind, just that my “ideas” are not implementable…

 

This entire RFID sub-topic is absurd to discuss: I really doubt that there are buildings bleeding money because staffers sell fake RFID cards, as I already said, the simple solution is to bill co-owners for the cards on their monthly bill, rather than pay staff with cash on delivery, though our system *does* have a central database, all modern system should have, otherwise the system is not safe (how do you remove lost cards?), as a co-owner I would also object to a 1,000% markup on cards, although I have never bought any cards myself, and I know our building has almost no revenue related to selling of keycards (and not because our staffers are selling fake cards and pocketing the money).

 

23 hours ago, KittenKong said:

You live in a dream world

I live in a building where we do segregate cash from accounting, do inventory counts, have hardworking loyal staff that doesn’t scam us, where monthly financial reports are easy to understand and match the budget passed on the AGM, where meeting minutes from board meetings are published on our website, etc.

 

Sure, there are many buildings that are terribly run in Thailand, in these threads I have simply shared advice and opinions, but based on actually having been involved in turning around a building that was terribly run, yet each post is met with your “that is impossible” despite me actually having done it, and when I elaborate you just move to something else that you think is impossible, and while you do seem to have plenty of experience with *bad* buildings (and management companies), you seem to have little experience with how to actually run things properly.

 

As I think I mentioned in a previous post, all small to mid-sized companies are vulnerable to fraud by their employees, but it is also a subject that has been intensely studied (because it is costing the owners money) and best practices have been invented to minimize the vulnerability.

 

These practices can be applied to buildings and management companies as well.

 

23 hours ago, KittenKong said:

There simply arent that many management companies to choose from here, especially without paying a lot more per month

I don’t know how much “a lot more per month” is, but if the cheap companies provide you with staff that is running scams, not doing their job, not having proper procedures in place (like having the same employee handle cash and accounting), not cooperating with the committee (like sharing data) then I think the saying that “you get what you pay for” is applicable here.

 

 

Edited January 5, 2019 by lkn

[KittenKong]

1 hour ago, lkn said:

You keep changing the points. You said that management companies already do “proper accounting” and when I define what I mean by “proper accounting”, you then claim it is impossible, 

I can only repeat what I repeated earlier:

" No, I said that large buildings probably already have double-entry accounting and accrual accounting. What they often dont do is reconcile cash takings with receipts issued on a daily basis, and this alone will pin-point any cash shortages immediately. "

Then I pointed out that it is both impossible and impractical for committee members to verify transactions themselves in a large building. They have to rely on management, and in a large building management generally supply and/or control the office staff and also the cash management and accounting services.

 

1 hour ago, lkn said:

This entire RFID sub-topic is absurd to discuss: I really doubt that there are buildings bleeding money because staffers sell fake RFID cards, as I already said, the simple solution is to bill co-owners for the cards on their monthly bill, rather than pay staff with cash on delivery,

This was just one example of many possible scams. None of which are likely to cause a building to run out of money, but all of which are detrimental to the bottom line. Taken as a whole they can add up to a significant sum.

In a large building with many rented units on-the-spot cash payments are common and highly desired by owners and agents and tenants for whatever reason. And if given a choice between a real card at, say, 300B or a cloned one at, say, 200B without a receipt, many would opt for the latter. Just like many people here prefer to pay bribes to police rather than get a ticket. The same applies to other services also.

 

1 hour ago, lkn said:

all modern system should have, otherwise the system is not safe (how do you remove lost cards?),

 

Many buildings do not have modern systems, as I pointed out. To remove cards on older systems one would normally deactivate all cards on each lock and then reactivate them individually. Older RFID locks can be operated by anyone who knows the admin code, as I pointed out.

 

 

1 hour ago, lkn said:

as a co-owner I would also object to a 1,000% markup on cards, although I have never bought any cards myself, and I know our building has almost no revenue related to selling of keycards (and not because our staffers are selling fake cards and pocketing the money).

That markup is very common. Large buildings often issue 10 cards a month or more. As I mentioned, your experience of small buildings is not very relevant to large buildings which operate in a completely different way. You are comparing a small corner "mom and pop" store with a big supermarket chain, and there is no real comparison.

 

1 hour ago, lkn said:

I don’t know how much “a lot more per month” is, but if the cheap companies provide you with staff that is running scams, not doing their job, not having proper procedures in place (like having the same employee handle cash and accounting), not cooperating with the committee (like sharing data) then I think the saying that “you get what you pay for” is applicable here.

A lot more might be 50% or 100% more. You often do indeed get what you pay for, but in practice it is very hard to switch to a better company or method if the majority of voters at a meeting (be they legal voters or not) dont want to pay more or, worse, dont display any interest at all. Even harder if many co-owners have unpaid debts or for some other reason are supporting a management that doesnt properly pursue these debts or apply the rules correctly. There have been many reported instances of this on here and elsewhere and it is very common. Indeed there have been examples of this made in this very thread, and they have nothing whatsoever to do with my own building.

Saying "you get what you pay for" or "you need to control things" doesnt help at all and is not a solution to any real-life problem.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[tifino]

what has all this past page, leading up to now; had to do with the OP's question of foreigner being a juristic person??

[KittenKong]

3 minutes ago, tifino said:

what has all this past page, leading up to now; had to do with the OP's question of foreigner being a juristic person??

I think it developed from the comments and questions posed by the Canadian guy who wants to operate a Juristic Person management service here. The answer to the original question is still somewhat debatable and would depend on individual circumstances.

[tifino]

1 minute ago, KittenKong said:

I think it developed from the comments and questions posed by the Canadian guy who wants to operate a Juristic Person management service here. The answer to the original question is still somewhat debatable and would depend on individual circumstances.

aka  - 'tangented' ???? 

[lkn]

8 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

Large buildings often issue 10 cards a month or more

And going by your definition of large building, that is 1-2,000 units. You honestly think the profit from 10 key cards per month in such building matters to anyone?

 

It’s also somewhat absurd you keep hammering this issue; co-owners pay a management fee to manage the building. This is stipulated in the Condo Act, even that they pay based on the ratio of their ownership of common property.

 

To think that you finance the management of a building by profiting from selling key cards (and other items) to co-owners is a bad mindset. Not that I haven’t seen it though; I have seen buildings overcharge for water supply, add dubious “invoice fees”, and basically overcharging for everything; but it’s peanuts compared to the income from the management fee, and can create wrong incentives.

 

15 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

doesnt help at all and is not a solution to any real-life problem

All your posts are basically just saying everything sucks in Thailand related to managing condos, and there is nothing you can do about it. You think *that* is helpful? Especially when we are many who live in well-run buildings, some of us took active steps to improve conditions, and we are sharing the experience we got from this.

 

You do not know how to run a building properly, that is clear from all your posts, and while you are correct that it is an uphill battle, it is clearly not impossible, because all buildings are not run like those you frequent.

 

[tifino]

this was all (the 'juristic' thing') was answered to the OP's satisfaction way way back in Sep2017 

This ongoing since Oct'17 - is all some new Topic really? that could have been split to run under it's own title ... sort of "...how to run a building?"  ???? 

Edited January 5, 2019 by tifino

[KittenKong]

2 minutes ago, lkn said:

And going by your definition of large building, that is 1-2,000 units. You honestly think the profit from 10 key cards per month in such building matters to anyone?

That wasnt the point. The point was that this was one of many possible scams that anyone operating a management company would need to look out for.

 

4 minutes ago, lkn said:

It’s also somewhat absurd you keep hammering this issue; co-owners pay a management fee to manage the building. This is stipulated in the Condo Act, even that they pay based on the ratio of their ownership of common property.

 

To think that you finance the management of a building by profiting from selling key cards (and other items) to co-owners is a bad mindset. Not that I haven’t seen it though; I have seen buildings overcharge for water supply, add dubious “invoice fees”, and basically overcharging for everything; but it’s peanuts compared to the income from the management fee, and can create wrong incentives.

Many buildings more than 10 or so years old do not charge anywhere near enough in common fees to cover day-to-day expenditure. Even some brand new buildings have unrealistic common fees. In most cases it would be impossible to permanently increase the amount of the common fee at an AGM because a suitably large majority could never be obtained. So they implement supplementary annual fees to make up the shortfall, and they also often charge more for items and services than they actually cost to provide.

This is vital to the running of the building and there is no other practical way of doing it as far as I can see. And as far as the selling at a profit part goes, it does also mean that people who are actually in the building (or who have tenants) pay the bulk of the extra costs and in proportion to how much they use the services, which seems fair to me.

[KittenKong]

8 minutes ago, tifino said:

this was all (the 'juristic' thing') was answered to the OP's satisfaction way way back in Sep2017 

This ongoing since Oct'17 - is all some new Topic really? that could have been split to run under it's own title ... sort of "...how to run a building?" 

It is indeed separate to the original topic, but I think it was the input from the Canadian guy that pushed it off track.

[KittenKong]

26 minutes ago, lkn said:

All your posts are basically just saying everything sucks in Thailand related to managing condos, and there is nothing you can do about it. You think *that* is helpful? Especially when we are many who live in well-run buildings, some of us took active steps to improve conditions, and we are sharing the experience we got from this.

 

You do not know how to run a building properly, that is clear from all your posts, and while you are correct that it is an uphill battle, it is clearly not impossible, because all buildings are not run like those you frequent.

Many buildings here are not well run. And even in the ones that are run better there are often instances of theft and fraud, on big and small scales, most of which are covered up to the point of most co-owners being entirely unaware that they have happened. This happens in buildings with both big and small management companies, and also in those with no management company at all.

 

The real reason that your building is well run is because basically farangs are doing it all, with a token layer of Thai admin interposed, as you have described in significant detail on several occasions. You are able to do this because there are people on your committee (you) who have some technical knowledge, and also because you have a very small number of staff who work for you directly, and also because other co-owners are happy to let you get on with it.

 

I have nothing against that, but to imply that it would be possible to do in other larger buildings is nonsensical as I have tried to point out. A committee could be entirely composed of people who have no practical knowledge of anything at all - and no wish to spend any time on anything - and staff could be subject to change at any time on the whim of management, and some co-owners might not want to see any changes made for whatever reason.
I have also repeatedly pointed out that it is possible to improve things here by getting better management in but above all by having a committee that is prepared to make management work properly and also to monitor everything in some detail, as anything that isnt monitored here will always go wrong in the end.
Many committee members are not prepared to do this, and this is where it all falls down. And above all I have tried to point out that if a bad or dishonest management is opposed to any change then it may be extremely hard to do anything about it, without legal help which would probably involve money being paid upfront.

[lkn]

2 hours ago, KittenKong said:

The real reason that your building is well run is because basically farangs are doing it all, with a token layer of Thai admin interposed, as you have described in significant detail on several occasions

What I have said is that I have been instrumental in getting proper procedures in place, taking an active role in hiring staff, ousting the former JPM, etc.

 

But Thais (our staff, accountant, and JPM) do the lion’s share of work in my building, and our committee is 50/50 Thai/foreigner.

 

As for it being impossible to change other buildings because co-owners and committee members are indifferent: Quite sure the people who post questions on this forum are the type of people who are ready to make an effort to affect change, but what is also clear is that many lack basic knowledge about going about things.

 

For these people, you are doing them a disservice by your statements that the JPM has ultimate control, that it is impossible to call for an EGM if the management company does not agree, that it is impossible to implement proper systems to minimize the risk of fraud etc.

 

You also keep saying that all my experience is impractical because it only works in “small buildings”; but by your definition of big building being thousands of units, I think most people live in small buildings. As previously mentioned, I am not even aware of buildings in Chiang Mai with more than a thousand units, but quite a lot of foreigners live up here.

[KittenKong]

11 minutes ago, lkn said:

What I have said is that I have been instrumental in getting proper procedures in place, taking an active role in hiring staff, ousting the former JPM, etc.

It read quite differently to me.

 

12 minutes ago, lkn said:

For these people, you are doing them a disservice by your statements that the JPM has ultimate control, that it is impossible to call for an EGM if the management company does not agree, that it is impossible to implement proper systems to minimize the risk of fraud etc. 

Still waiting for you to explain exactly how concerned co-owners in a large building can do anything about this if management wont provide them with any information, which was the exact situation described by several other people in several other topics about this.

You are also paraphrasing me and altering the meaning of what I wrote, but I'm used to that from you.

 

14 minutes ago, lkn said:

You also keep saying that all my experience is impractical because it only works in “small buildings”; but by your definition of big building being thousands of units, I think most people live in small buildings. As previously mentioned, I am not even aware of buildings in Chiang Mai with more than a thousand units, but quite a lot of foreigners live up here. 

You really do make this up as you go along.
I have never stipulated minimum sizes of large buildings, though I have mentioned some numbers as examples of how impractical it might be for co-owners to be contacted in such buildings. If you want me to, I would say that large buildings would be of perhaps 250 units upwards. There are many buildings much larger than that in Pattaya/Jomtien, including several of well over 1000 units and at least one of nearly 2000. CM is a backwater in comparison, which probably explains why you dont understand what happens elsewhere. Techniques that can be applied in buildings of 20, 50 or even 100 units simply wont work reliably in larger buildings, which is why larger buildings almost invariably employ management companies.

[stevew407]

Good evening,
I have recently married a Thai citizen and would like to explore the options of bringing my business to Thailand.
I am a Canadian, living and working in the Ontario Condominium industry where a license is required to be a Property Manager. I am a member of Association of Condominium Managers Ontario (Registered Condominium Manager) and a C.M.C.A. with the Community Association Institute (CAI Canada).
 
I bring with me the ethics of Ontario law and transparent service to our customers with a proprietary accounting/management/owner information software that provides real-time updates to Boards, owners, and investors. The software is adaptable for rental units as well, highlight is owners can see the financial position of the corporation and their own account in an easy click.
 
I guess my question for the group is, what would the reception be like for a Canadian Management Company doing business in Asia.
 
As i am making application for my wife to visit Canada and teach me the language i would appreciate any input or leads to developers or legislators that can clarify what i need to do. 
 
Thank you for your insight in advance.

Hello curious how this progressed and working out?


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[jkcjag]

We just completed our JP registration at the Land Office. The committee contains 3 non-Thais. This is possible because they have Thai spouses. i.e. to be a JP committee member you need to be Thai national or married (legallY) to a Thai national.

[topt]

38 minutes ago, jkcjag said:

We just completed our JP registration at the Land Office. The committee contains 3 non-Thais. This is possible because they have Thai spouses. i.e. to be a JP committee member you need to be Thai national or married (legallY) to a Thai national.

Forgive me but I don't really understand this.

My understanding is the Juristic is a body, could be one person or a company. However the committee to which the Juristic is responsible to can be made up of owners who need not be Thai - as long as they are owners even if in company name? 

Please correct me if I am wrong?

[smutcakes]

19 hours ago, jkcjag said:

We just completed our JP registration at the Land Office. The committee contains 3 non-Thais. This is possible because they have Thai spouses. i.e. to be a JP committee member you need to be Thai national or married (legallY) to a Thai national.

Your post is pretty much 100% wrong, unless you are talking about a housing project, in which case it may be somewhat correct. Any Condo owner is permitted to be on the Committee providing they are not prohibited due to the few reasons in the act- and being Thai is not one of them.

 

It seems you are mixing up the Juristic Person Manager and the Committee. The Committee does not need to be Thai and the JPM also does not as far as I am aware, although there is a grey area surrounding work permits etc.

[DavidFarrow]

Thank you, seems i qualify to be a manager in Thailand, my wife is citizen and when i retire from Canada, i will apply for citizenship...