New Company for purchasing a House / Land

[sitta]

Anyone recently setup a company for the purpose of buying an existing house?

If  so total cost incurred and the Lawyer who prepared the documentation?

 

Just thinking doing the same!

 

Thanks

[Swiss1960]

Location? Important for lawyer recommendation

Sent from my CPH1821 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[happylarry]

I did the same for the first house that I had built.

The thing that annoyed me so much was that each year I had to pay out between twenty and thirty thousand baht for the lawyers to draw up false tax returns and pay the false tax etc. Also be aware that it costs more to close the company than it does to start it, so consider that as well. And of course with it being illegal you never know exactly when the government are going to live up to their word and investigate all of these dormant companies.

I was just so pleased to get shot of my company and do without the headaches.

HL

[baansgr]

Pattaya lawyers charge about 25k for what that call a 1million baht company.  Yearly fees about 15k.  As above closing company  gets expensive but if selling to a Foreigner normally they take over.  Keep in mind,  you need 3 Thais. The whole process  is riddled with falsities, however hundreds  of thousands  of Foreigners have bought  and sold properties that way without problems for many years. Also in Pattaya recently there has been posts about an extra land tax payable to City Hall each year. 

[sitta]

18 hours ago, Swiss1960 said:

Location? Important for lawyer recommendation

Hua Hin, after reading all the details, may it is NOT advisable to proceed with this..

[henry15]

Its illegal to set up a company to buy a house

[dotpoom]

7 hours ago, sitta said:

Hua Hin, after reading all the details, may it is NOT advisable to proceed with this..

 I have paid between 15,000 and 25,000 Bt. to make a company (15,000 was for 1MB ltd. Co.) Pay lawyer or Accountant 12,000 Bt. a year to do the books ( includes small taxes due). Never had any problems.

[aussieinphuket]

remember you can own the house on the land but not the land.

 

the land would need to be put into a thai company, now this becomes the issues.

 

3 shareholders in a thai company

you must have 2 thai shareholders in a thai company and you being the 3..

one can hold 50 pct the other 1 pct and you 49 pct..

 

so you need 2 people you can trust are you sure ..... no girlfriends or family of stuff like that....

 

so they do not just look like nominees there must be a complete legal paper trail and money exchanging

hands for shares etc. they need to buy into the company for their shares and get a yearly return .....

generally about 7 pct per year..... 

 

yes you can doctor the company documents and issues certain non-voting shares rights and sale

etc.

 

but you will have yearly ongoing fees and every thai company must pay tax even thou your company is not trading

and making any money.... so tax, an audit and accounting fee, likely a share holder yearly fee...

 

so some this is ok for others its not cost effective.

 

i am sure i have left something else out and i am sure others will correct me but i am also pleased to learn..

 

good luck..

 

[jimn]

23 hours ago, happylarry said:

I did the same for the first house that I had built.

The thing that annoyed me so much was that each year I had to pay out between twenty and thirty thousand baht for the lawyers to draw up false tax returns and pay the false tax etc. Also be aware that it costs more to close the company than it does to start it, so consider that as well. And of course with it being illegal you never know exactly when the government are going to live up to their word and investigate all of these dormant companies.

I was just so pleased to get shot of my company and do without the headaches.

HL

Completely agree. I had the same exerience. I set up a company to buy a house as I was early in my relationship with my wife. I thought once she had proved herself I would transfer to her name. She has done that many times over so no worries on that so far. But as happylarry has said its expensive to set up and maintain the false accounts every year. Getting letters in the post every year as well asking me to prove it was a real operating company as well was a pain. I decided to close the company and transfer the house/ land to my wife. Again expensive. And guess what. I had to pay 180,000 at the land office to transfer the land to my wifes name from the company name. Before anyone says it. No it was not a scam. I went there with a representative and had to pay. Official receipt from the payment desk as well. So if your ok with the issues of doing it. Go ahead if not dont bother.

[khunPer]

9 hours ago, baansgr said:

Keep in mind,  you need 3 Thais.

Not really, you need minimum three shareholders in a Thai company limited, but 51% of the registered capital shall be owned by a Thai (or more), so you need minimum one Thai shareholder. Today they may need proof of funds; i.e. that the Thai shareholder(s) has the money to buy their shares, and are not proxy shareholders.

?

Edited June 25, 2018 by khunPer

[YorkshireTyke]

Sitta,

 

I formed a company in Hua Hin to buy a house/land about 5 years ago and used Khun Tae. Also done updates with her since.

 

I recommended her to Michaelaway on this forum and here's Michael's copied post after he had used her services....

 

If you want her contact details let me know. (Although Michaelaway calls her a Notary, she is not a Notary)

 

Many thanks to YorkshireTyke and 2 others who recommended Khun Tae the Notary, here in Hua Hin.

In the end, we hired Khun Tae to represent us and see us through the process of buying our house as well as drawing up, translating and filing 2 other legal documents at the Land Office. She is a Notary, not a lawyer, but has quite a lot of experience helping clients through many (most?) legal processes. This was evidenced by the fact that both times we went to the Land Office with Khun Tae, she was fully prepared and effective. All the staff there know her and handled themselves with smiles, polite talk and respect for her and us, too. The seller of the house was actually quite difficult throughout most of the process, even frustrating her own selling agent and the L.O. staff, but after a while Khun Tae smiled, took the lady aside and talked things over with her politely, yet firmly. Soon, everything was signed, sealed & delivered.

Her charges were 15,000 baht- she did everything we needed her to do properly & efficiently and always took the time to explain anything either of us needed to know. Her English is excellent and we were completely satisfied with her professionalism and effectiveness; a rare, rare accolade around these parts. Khun Tae, highly recommended-

[catman20]

3 hours ago, henry15 said:

Its illegal to set up a company to buy a house

so is prostitution 

[Tapster]

From personal experience, I would recommend not doing it.

 

Firstly, it is illegal and, unlike prostitution, there is a government department which deals with policing it: the Department of Business Development.

 

I was investigated by this department last year.

 

The first thing my accountant did was to stop answering my calls, emails and she essentially disappeared. This was presumably because of the falsified accounts that she had had to provide every year.

 

I engaged a lawyer who found the accountant and I now have signed share transfer certificates that I can assign to a more trustworthy Thai.

 

The lawyer also dealt with the aforementioned govt. department and I'm keeping my fingers crossed. There has been no response for six months. They won't tell you if all is well, only if they want to go further with the investigation. No news, is good news.

 

I wish I'd rented! We're thinking of selling soon and may have to wait a long time to get a decent price.

 

I feel that buying property here is a nightmare (except maybe a good condo), unless you have a lot of spare cash to pay for unforeseen problems.

 

Don't do it unless you can afford to lose!

[travelerjim]

11 hours ago, sitta said:

Hua Hin, after reading all the details, may it is NOT advisable to proceed with this..

Wise man...better to lease existing homes and condos. Renters paradise in Thailand. Keeps your $$$ in your pocket and bank. Allows for flexibility in your future decisions. Good Luck.

[duanebigsby]

2 hours ago, catman20 said:

so is prostitution 

Which also cannot be discussed on this forum.

[ross163103]

On 6/24/2018 at 11:38 AM, happylarry said:

I did the same for the first house that I had built.

The thing that annoyed me so much was that each year I had to pay out between twenty and thirty thousand baht for the lawyers to draw up false tax returns and pay the false tax etc. Also be aware that it costs more to close the company than it does to start it, so consider that as well. And of course with it being illegal you never know exactly when the government are going to live up to their word and investigate all of these dormant companies.

I was just so pleased to get shot of my company and do without the headaches.

HL

Agree with this totally! I did the same for around 20+ years and over time got tired of the fee for the fake company, plus the threat of the Thai government cracking down on this. I also didn't realize the cost incurred in closing  the company.

[catman20]

9 hours ago, duanebigsby said:

Which also cannot be discussed on this forum.

both subjects have been discussed at length on this forum in the past, what are you talking about !

Edited June 25, 2018 by catman20

[catman20]

13 hours ago, jimn said:

Completely agree. I had the same exerience. I set up a company to buy a house as I was early in my relationship with my wife. I thought once she had proved herself I would transfer to her name. She has done that many times over so no worries on that so far. But as happylarry has said its expensive to set up and maintain the false accounts every year. Getting letters in the post every year as well asking me to prove it was a real operating company as well was a pain. I decided to close the company and transfer the house/ land to my wife. Again expensive. And guess what. I had to pay 180,000 at the land office to transfer the land to my wifes name from the company name. Before anyone says it. No it was not a scam. I went there with a representative and had to pay. Official receipt from the payment desk as well. So if your ok with the issues of doing it. Go ahead if not dont bother.

the whole thing here in Thailand is geared up against the farangs the whole company thing is a scam, but theirs not much we can do about it if we choose to live here and want to own a house. the company could be risky and expensive putting the house in a Thai ladies name could be the same.

Edited June 25, 2018 by catman20

[sitta]

On 6/25/2018 at 10:55 PM, travelerjim said:

Wise man...better to lease existing homes and condos. Renters paradise in Thailand. Keeps your $$$ in your pocket and bank. Allows for flexibility in your future decisions. Good Luck.

Thanks Guys, for all the feedback and advises, decided NOT to go ahead with buying the House, will try to rent first year and test the water!!!

[Delight]

 Another point to bear in mind is the repatriation of funds.

It is impossible to repatriate funds back to your original country

The banks require evidence of the source of the money

Given that you will not get an official Bill Of Sale relating to the house sale-then the money must stay in Thailand.

Of couse your  new buyer can always pay money direct into a bank account located in  your country of origin.

 

In my opinion this is why the Thai authorities are relaxed about the creation  of Thai companies for the sole purpose of property purchase.

It's Hotel California time -i.e you can check your money in anytime -but it can never leave.

 

 

For many Farangs this is mostly not a problem. The wife gets it all!

 

 

[duanebigsby]

On 6/26/2018 at 6:16 AM, catman20 said:

both subjects have been discussed at length on this forum in the past, what are you talking about !

If it's not illegal, it's certainly on the line.

Posters talking about fake companies with fake accounting, sounds unscrupulous to me.

I thought these things were against forum rules as other illegal activities are.

[catman20]

2 hours ago, duanebigsby said:

If it's not illegal, it's certainly on the line.

Posters talking about fake companies with fake accounting, sounds unscrupulous to me.

I thought these things were against forum rules as other illegal activities are.

its a given

[hackjam]

I set up a company a few years  to buy a condo. Now I want to sell condo, have a Thai who wants to buy. So what's the procedure with closing the company and what is cost?

[ross163103]

On 7/3/2018 at 6:00 AM, hackjam said:

I set up a company a few years  to buy a condo. Now I want to sell condo, have a Thai who wants to buy. So what's the procedure with closing the company and what is cost?

Maybe I got ripped off but cost me 100,000 baht to finish the company I had for this same purpose.