Pattaya Land Office Property Registration Laws Under Scrutiny

[Pattaya Dave]

My Thai wife and I purchased a home in Pattaya almost two years ago. We had purchased two pieces of property adjacent to each other for which to build our house. The two properties are located in a compound and had been deeded separately. As part of our contract agreement, the seller/developer had agreed to bear the expense of merging the two deeds into a single deed, but was first told by the land office to first register both deeds separately then they would address the merger of the two deeds into a single one. To date, the two deeds have yet to be merged into one.

Upon contact today with our seller/developer today, we were told that they would indeed take care of merging the two deeds into one, but at the moment they are experiencing difficulty with the registering of any properties that were purchased by Thai women who have previously changed their family name (last name) to that of their Farang husbands. Are they blowing smoke up my ass or is the new Thai government reopening this issue. It was my understanding that the previous law that prevented the ownership of land in Thailand by Thai women who had taken the last name of their Farang husbands had been rescinded or ruled unconstitutional some years ago.

Can anyone shed any light on this subject?

Pattaya Dave

Edited February 9, 2007 by Pattaya Dave

[lopburi3]

There is no such law and never was. There was an internal directive not to register land to Thai with foreign spouse; due to marriage joint property laws, because there was no way to allow joint ownership of land when such land could not be owned by a foreigner by law. So the easy way out was to prevent the question coming up was to not allow registration. This directive we rescinded years ago with a procedure that ownership would not be joint property and the Thai would declare money used to belong to them alone and the foreign spouse sign paperwork that he understood the property belongs to Thai spouse alone. Papers are signed and property is registered. Have not heard of any change.

[Mobi]

By far the best people to ask on this are Sunbelt. I'm sure you'll get a response from them

There is still some issue with Thai women who take their farang husband's name, but I thought it was connected with the source of the money to purchase the land. As you wife presumably owns the two pieces of land I can't see what the problem is, unless you are also transferring them from a company, in which you hold some shares.

In my case, my wife has my name on her ID and I wanted to transfer my house which was in a company that I held 49% shares to my wife's sole name. I had to jump through a few hoops to achieve this, which included removing myself, and my wife from the company shareholding (I used her brother as the new MD), and then the company transferred to her sole name.

Sunbelt is your best bet; they have a Pattaya office and won't charge an arm and a leg.

PS I have edited this because I have just realised that the topic is in the correct forum. I must bne getting old.

Edited February 9, 2007 by Mobi D'Ark

[Pattaya Dave]

There is no such law and never was. There was an internal directive not to register land to Thai with foreign spouse; due to marriage joint property laws, because there was no way to allow joint ownership of land when such land could not be owned by a foreigner by law. So the easy way out was to prevent the question coming up was to not allow registration. This directive we rescinded years ago with a procedure that ownership would not be joint property and the Thai would declare money used to belong to them alone and the foreign spouse sign paperwork that he understood the property belongs to Thai spouse alone. Papers are signed and property is registered. Have not heard of any change.

This was my understanding also, I just didn't take the time to go into detail, I guess I should have. My wife and I, along with the Pattaya Land Office, followed this directive to the letter at the time of purchase of our new home, however our seller/developer had told us just this morning that they have run into roadblocks at the Pattaya Land Office recently when trying to register properties of new sales and has told us that they will merge our two deeds into a single deed once this issue has been settled, providing the directive you have outlined for registering sales to Thai spouses who have changed their family name to that of their Farang husband, is restored or remains in effect.

However, hearing of these home registration problems from my seller/developer does leave me with a sense of anxiety and unanswered questions as to the validity of our home ownership. Why would this internal directive now being challenged after a number of years having already passed? Has the new Thai government rescinded or modified this directive?

Pattaya Dave

[Sunbelt Asia]

Thank you Mobi D'Ark for the kind words.

Pattaya Dave,

How was these two plots registered? Company, individual names?

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

[Pattaya Dave]

Thank you Mobi D'Ark for the kind words.

Pattaya Dave,

How was these two plots registered? Company, individual names?

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

No company, the two plots of land with house were registered in my Thai wife's name. Our seller/developer weren't turned down from merging the two plots of land, they just told us that they recommended that we wait because they were having a lot of difficulty registering new home purchases in the Thai spouses name after taking their husband's last name. My wife and I have not gone to the Land Office ourselves as yet since we were just told of this today. I just thought that I would run this by the forum members to get some feedback until I had a chance to visit the Land Office in person. Thanks sunbeltasiagroup for your interest.

Pattaya Dave

[Sunbelt Asia]

Thank you Mobi D'Ark for the kind words.

Pattaya Dave,

How was these two plots registered? Company, individual names?

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com

No company, the two plots of land with house were registered in my Thai wife's name. Our seller/developer weren't turned down from merging the two plots of land, they just told us that they recommended that we wait because they were having a lot of difficulty registering new home purchases in the Thai spouses name after taking their husband's last name. My wife and I have not gone to the Land Office ourselves as yet since we were just told of this today. I just thought that I would run this by the forum members to get some feedback until I had a chance to visit the Land Office in person. Thanks sunbeltasiagroup for your interest.

Pattaya Dave

You are welcome.

Were you married before the land was registered in your wife's name? What is the date on the marriage certificate? Did you go to the Land Dept yourselves when it was registered? Did you yourself sign anything?

APPLICATION FOR ACQUISITION OF LAND OR CONDOMINIUM UNITS BY

ALIENS AND PERSONS CONNECTED WITH ALIENS

3. Application for ownership in land by a Thai national who has an alien spouse or ex- spouse or by a Thai national who is a minor child of an alien

3.1 In the case where a Thai national who has an alien legitimate spouse applies for permission to purchase land or accept a transfer of land in a similar case during marriage or cohabitation as husband and wife with an alien, as the case may be, if after the inquiry the applicant and the alien spouse have given a joint written confirmation that the money which that Thai national will expend on the purchase of the land is wholly the separate property of that Thai national and not the community property or the jointly acquired property, the competent official will proceed with the registration of rights and juristic act.

In the case where a Thai national whose spouse is an alien intends to purchase land or condominium unit but fail to give a joint written confirmation to the competent official as the alien spouse is being abroad, in this instance, an alien spouse shall make the statement declaring in written at the Royal Thai Embassy, Royal Thai Consulate or Notary Public that the money which that Thai national will expend on the purchase of the land or condominium unit is wholly the separate property of that Thai national and not the community property or property which an alien spouse has co-ownership in it. The competent official shall declare that the alien is an actual spouse of the Thai national and then submit to the competent land official who will proceed with the registration of rights and juristic act.

In the case where a Thai national whose spouse is an alien, after marriage, has already purchased or possessed the land and informed or submitted a false document declaring the married status of a Thai national as single or had not been married to an alien to the official prior to the date the letter of Ministry of Interior, most urgent no. MOI 0710/wor 792 dated 23 March 1999 was issued, or has already purchased or possessed the condominium unit after marriage and informed or submitted a false document declaring the married status of a Thai national as single or had not been married to an alien prior to the date the letter of the Department of Lands no. MOI 0710/wor 34167 dated 6 October 2000 was issued, such alien spouse, whether legitimate or illegitimate, and a Thai national shall together give a joint written confirmation, which later to be filed in the case-list (or dealing package), to the competent official that the money which that Thai national will expend on the purchase of the land or the condominium unit is wholly the separate property of that Thai national and not the community property or jointly acquired property. If an alien spouse is being abroad and not be able to come to give a joint written confirmation to the competent official, in this instance, the application shall be considered in accordance with the case that a spouse of a Thai national who intends to purchase land or a condominium unit is being aboard, then an applicant shall consign the statement, after completion, to the competent land official for filing in the case-list.

3.2 In the case where a Thai national who has an alien spouse, whether legitimate or illegitimate, applies for permission to accept a gift of land during marriage or cohabitation as husband and wife. If the inquiry reveals that the acceptance of the gift is made with the intention that the land will become the separate property or personal property of the donee without resulting in the alien having co-ownership in the land, the competent official will proceed with the registration of rights and juristic act.

3.3 In the case where a Thai national with an alien ex-spouse who is divorced or has ceased to cohabit or a Thai national who is a minor child of an alien applies for entering into a juristic act for the purpose of acquiring land, if an inquiry reveals no circumvention of law, the competent official will proceed with the registration of rights and juristic act.

www.sunbeltasiagroup.com