Buying house for Thai child?

[Clive]

I was just wondering if it might be possible to buy/build a house for my Thai/English child please as she has dual nationality or would I need to wait until she's 18?

Thank you

[jphasia]

My son has dual nationality (French / Thai) and he is the owner of the house since he was 14 years old. "owner" by means that the land registration (Chanote) is under his name and he is the master on the house registration (tabien baan). I purchased the land and house through a Thai limited company originally, then transfer the "ownership" to him as he is Thai. As per my lawyer during that time, as my son is thai, has Thai birth certificate and Thai ID card, the fact that he is French also (French birth certificate, French passport...) is not related. My son is now 19 years old and still hold both passports. 

[davidst01]

15 hours ago, jphasia said:

My son has dual nationality (French / Thai) and he is the owner of the house since he was 14 years old. "owner" by means that the land registration (Chanote) is under his name and he is the master on the house registration (tabien baan). I purchased the land and house through a Thai limited company originally, then transfer the "ownership" to him as he is Thai. As per my lawyer during that time, as my son is thai, has Thai birth certificate and Thai ID card, the fact that he is French also (French birth certificate, French passport...) is not related. My son is now 19 years old and still hold both passports. 

whats the minimum age that one can transfer to a child?

[jphasia]

I am not sure about minimum age. For me, it happened when my son was 14 years old just because that time I was not feeling comfortable to have my house throught a company. I asked my lawyer and he told me only that as my son has a Thai nationality, there was no issue for him to own the house.

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[Chicken George]

I thought it had still to be in an adults/parents over 20 care not in a childs name till 20?

 

[jphasia]

I thought it had still to be in an adults/parents over 20 care not in a childs name till 20?
 

I thought that too but the fact is that my son became home / land owner at 14. When I had to register my address in Thailand (notification of stay), they asked me to come to immigration with owner of the house which my 14 years old son

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[gmac]

From other posts I have read on here it seems that the reference to age 20 is the age which the child must attain before the property could be sold or transferred again.

[Chicken George]

33 minutes ago, jphasia said:

I thought that too but the fact is that my son became home / land owner at 14. When I had to register my address in Thailand (notification of stay), they asked me to come to immigration with owner of the house which my 14 years old son

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Thats interesting... Thanks

[Brunolem]

1 hour ago, jphasia said:

I thought that too but the fact is that my son became home / land owner at 14. When I had to register my address in Thailand (notification of stay), they asked me to come to immigration with owner of the house which my 14 years old son

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Since your son was still a minor, did you keep control after he became owner? 

 

What I mean were you still able to sell the house (with your son's approval), for example, or was everything locked until he reached majority? 

[jackdd]

I remember to have read somewhere here on Thaivisa that a child (probably any age, but not sure) can own land, but you need to name a "manager" (no idea if this has to be a parent or can be any adult) for this land.

But as long as the person owning the land is under 20 years old you / they have to go through court to transfer the land, so in case you plan to sell the land anytime soon putting it in your children's name might not be a sensible choice

[jphasia]

6 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

Since your son was still a minor, did you keep control after he became owner? 

 

What I mean were you still able to sell the house (with your son's approval), for example, or was everything locked until he reached majority? 

Good point. And no. I was made aware about this risk that as soon as my son will become the owner, I am totally losing control of the property. But if I remember correctly (from my lawyer), my son is not allow to sell the house before he reach 20.

But my point was that if something ever happen to me, at least the property will go to my son ( as I was worried that while the house ownership was under a Thai limited company, I don't know what will happen to the house once I pass away, my son will probably not get it...) and giving the total ownership was a risk for me as my son can decide anytime to sell the house, or kick me out anytime if we become in bad relation. That's might sound naive but my answer always been "if such things ever happen and my son kick me out one day, my last concern will be the house." 

[BritManToo]

37 minutes ago, jackdd said:

but you need to name a "manager" (no idea if this has to be a parent or can be any adult) for this land.

It can be any adult, foreign or Thai, BUT both parents (if living) have to agree on the manager at the land office.

Once appointed, they manage until the kid is 20, or they die (no changing).

[BritManToo]

2 hours ago, jphasia said:

I thought that too but the fact is that my son became home / land owner at 14. When I had to register my address in Thailand (notification of stay), they asked me to come to immigration with owner of the house which my 14 years old son
 

4

They were wrong, it was the manager of the property that immigration should have asked for.

[jphasia]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

They were wrong, it was the manager of the property that immigration should have asked for.

Maybe. I don't know about that. As a discipline foreigner, they told me that to register my address (notification of stay) for the 1st time, I need to come to the immigration with the owner of the house. I told them that my son was the owner of the house. I came back with my son, the tabien baan, his ID card... and the registration was done.

[Hanuman2547]

The way things go on in Thailand the "rules" and "regulations" seem to change at a whim, vary at every office, and each office is left up to their own interpretation of the law.  

 

When my Thai wife passed away our two luk krung sons were 19 & 17.  Both are Thai citizens as well as USA citizens and native fluency in both languages.  We were told by the local administrative office that to transfer the properties that were in her name we could do so when the oldest son turned 20 years old.  This is what we did and all three offices that we visited seemed to be on the same page with this.  Mind you, this was 13.5 years ago and things change but at the time this was the procedure.  

[Hans Rayong]

7 hours ago, davidst01 said:

whats the minimum age that one can transfer to a child?

No minimum age. 

 

My two sons own the house we live in (name in chanute). They are registered in the blue book and I am registered in the yellow book as master because I am the guardian of my sons. The children's mother is not registered in this blue book. Immigration Chonburi has accepted that I am a master and thus the one who reports that I live in the house.

[MyFriend You]

On 12/20/2018 at 4:51 PM, jphasia said:

My son has dual nationality (French / Thai) and he is the owner of the house since he was 14 years old. "owner" by means that the land registration (Chanote) is under his name and he is the master on the house registration (tabien baan). I purchased the land and house through a Thai limited company originally, then transfer the "ownership" to him as he is Thai. As per my lawyer during that time, as my son is thai, has Thai birth certificate and Thai ID card, the fact that he is French also (French birth certificate, French passport...) is not related. My son is now 19 years old and still hold both passports. 

Good on You and the Poster for wanting to take care of their kids, Thai men should (but they won't) take a page from your books.

[khunPer]

On 12/20/2018 at 8:45 AM, Clive said:

I was just wondering if it might be possible to buy/build a house for my Thai/English child please as she has dual nationality or would I need to wait until she's 18?

To my knowledge – and experience – it's possible, and there there's no minimum age, but you need a guardian (normally parent), and you shall not expect to be able to sell, transfer or mortgage the property. I you need any superficies agreement on the land, make it before the land is transferred to a minor, as it might be difficult to get it registered later.

 

Remember, a foreigner can be house owner in Thailand, but not owner of the land under the house (unless you're staying on invester visa). You can use a combination of usufruct and superficies to be house owner.

 

My daughter had been land owner since she was a few year old, and a shareholder from she was four.

[LukKrueng]

On 12/20/2018 at 2:45 PM, Clive said:

I was just wondering if it might be possible to buy/build a house for my Thai/English child please as she has dual nationality or would I need to wait until she's 18?

you can buy a house under a thai person of any age - no minimum. However, a minor (under 20) can't sell the property without a court approval which will only be given after the child's guardian proves to the court that the funds received from the sale are to be used for the child's benefit.

[baansgr]

Is the Thai Mother still alive.  Having the property in a child's name adds security  of not being able to sell however the legal Thai Mother of the child can move into the house with her husband,  boyfriend or other family members and do anything to the property she wants without any legal recourse. Depending on your circumstances If she is still around you may want to think twice

[BritManToo]

31 minutes ago, baansgr said:

however the legal Thai Mother of the child can move into the house with her husband,  boyfriend or other family members and do anything to the property she wants without any legal recourse.

Not true,

The person appointed 'property manager' at the land office (which will be you if you aren't completely stupid) has 100% control of who lives in the house.

[baansgr]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Not true,

The person appointed 'property manager' at the land office (which will be you if you aren't completely stupid) has 100% control of who lives in the house.

It is true,  she is the legal Mother and under the Thai constitution has every right to stay with her offspring. Don't listen to what the lawyers say. 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, baansgr said:

It is true,  she is the legal Mother and under the Thai constitution has every right to stay with her offspring. Don't listen to what the lawyers say. 

Only if you allowed her 100% custody.

[baansgr]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Only if you allowed her 100% custody.

As the child's legal parent she can stay and do what she wants there. Lawyers will tell the vulnerable anything to get money. Try having the police evict the child's mother or any other person she wishes to stay there, they won't and can't. 

[jphasia]

Is the Thai Mother still alive.  Having the property in a child's name adds security  of not being able to sell however the legal Thai Mother of the child can move into the house with her husband,  boyfriend or other family members and do anything to the property she wants without any legal recourse. Depending on your circumstances If she is still around you may want to think twice

Correct. That's a point that I am aware and can be at risk. As for my situation, I am divorced officially and have the custody of my son. I am in good term with the mother, even if we are not seing each other and she doesn't live near by. But yes, it is a risk. My son will pass 20 years old in a couple of months, so I believe this risk has been minimize now.
Another point that came to my mind after transferring the ownership to my son is in a case of dramatic event that my son passed away before me, I believe the house and land will go to his mother as per law? I have always been thinking of the future of my son if something happen to me, that's the main reason I put this property under his name.
But if this ever happen, the house will be my less concern.

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