Buy a house when married = no control over it?

[stapoz]

If I’m married, is it possible to buy a used house in Thailand for MY money and being the only owner? I know the land must be in thai name and can be leased by foreigner. I would like to be able to sell it anytime later without my wife agreement (not want the sell of the house bought for MY money be dependant of my wife). I would like to have full control over the property I bought.

I know buying anything in Thailand when I'm single is much more safe then when I'm are married. Does it mean would be better to divorce before buying the house?!

Edited February 16, 2019 by stapoz

[Denim]

If it worries you that much just rent.

[stapoz]

Renting is not an option. I want have MY home.

[Peterw42]

Married or not doesn't make much difference as to having control over land. You cant own land. The best you can do is own less than half of a non-trading company that owns the land. There are some limited controls over ongoing access to the land and stopping the 51% Thai owner from selling/mortgaging the company or land.

Unless you want to buy a Condo, you cannot own a house, much less have 100% control over it.

[Vacuum]

3 minutes ago, stapoz said:

 I want have MY home.

Then you're in the wrong country.

[KiChakayan]

I am married, and I have spent about half of my saving on buildings a nice house for my family. I did so because we have two daughters, and there is no way I would leave them without a proper home if/when I departed, for whatever reason.

Now building a house for a girl friend or wife, without a solid, established relationship is just asking for trouble. Take your time, make sure it can last, and start building only after you get officially married. As far as I understand half of the house, or whatever you buy while married, will be considered as yours. Even though you can't own the land the house has been built on.

There is also the issue of where you want to built a house, most girls will try to coerce you to build nearby their parents homes, make sure that that's what you want before you give in. Again, take your time.

[luckyluke]

14 minutes ago, stapoz said:

I want have MY home.

If you pertinently wish an own home in Thailand, buy a condo.

[ThomasThBKK]

12 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Married or not doesn't make much difference as to having control over land. You cant own land. The best you can do is own less than half of a non-trading company that owns the land. There are some limited controls over ongoing access to the land and stopping the 51% Thai owner from selling/mortgaging the company or land.

Unless you want to buy a Condo, you cannot own a house, much less have 100% control over it.

That's wrong. 

 

It makes a giant difference. Every shareholding after marriage, everything you buy while Married she also owns and vice versa. 

 

It's a giant legal pain in the ass. 

 

Also there are more than limited controls over a thai company, preference shares and holdings are a thing and so are usufructs and superficies. 

 

Not to mention that only a director can sign sales contracts and land is worthless anyway if a usufruct is on a chanote in your name. 

[Delight]

 The simple solution is to buy a house via company.

If this company is set up correctly ,then you will have 100% of the voting rights and 100% control. Even if you gave your wife say 25%  of the shares-that act of apparent generosity changes nothing.

There are 2 issues to consider

1) If you at some future date you  sell the house-will your wife vacate the property willingly.

2) In the event of a divorce you will need an audit trail of the monies used to buy the property. If you can satisfy a judge that the money was yours prior to the marriage -then you will keep that amount of money post divorce. A good lawyer is required.

  Selling your property is simple-assuming that you have a buyer.

 Most important that the proceeeds for the sale are deposited outside Thailand -unless you are happy to keep them in Thailand.

 

  Some say buying thru a  company is dangerous. You are on your own with that one.

 

 

 

[elliss]

 

  Do not  buy , what you cannot own .  Common sense really .

[Christophers200]

The fake company scam is well known and actively discouraged by the Thai authorities. Anyone using this method of buying a house should exercise great caution.

[Delight]

34 minutes ago, Christophers200 said:

The fake company scam is well known and actively discouraged by the Thai authorities. Anyone using this method of buying a house should exercise great caution.

 However not 'discouraged by the Thai authorities' to a point where they actually stop it.

They could stop it tomorrow-but chose not to.

 

[Christophers200]

7 minutes ago, Delight said:

 However not 'discouraged by the Thai authorities' to a point where they actually stop it.

They could stop it tomorrow-but chose not to. 

 

 

In some parts of the country, it has been stopped - Try setting up a company with proxy shareholders and see how far you get.

Edited February 16, 2019 by Christophers200

[Delight]

1 hour ago, Christophers200 said:

In some parts of the country, it has been stopped - Try setting up a company with proxy shareholders and see how far you get.

 I wont be

Its up to the OP

Are you suggesting that the practice has stopped forever?

[Christophers200]

2 minutes ago, Delight said:

 I wont be

Its up to the OP

Are you suggesting that the practice has stopped forever?

I wrote what you can see - Interpret it however you wish

[siamcrut]

 The simple solution is to buy a house via company.
If this company is set up correctly ,then you will have 100% of the voting rights and 100% control. Even if you gave your wife say 25% .....

  Some say buying thru a  company is dangerous. You are on your own with that one.
 
 

I think this law changed but not a 100% sure. The managing director of a Thai limited company must be a Thai now as well. So no more “100%” control.
Which you never had anyway if you do have a crooked lawyer. Just to close such a company later on if not needed anymore can cost you somewhere between 50-100K. Up to your lawyer. So choose wisely.

I’m legally married to a Thai and we bought a house a few years back together (50/50) for us and our son.
In case we would divorce and we had to sell the house both of us would get 50% of the sales price.

[Delight]

4 minutes ago, siamcrut said:

 

I think this law changed but not a 100% sure. The managing director of a Thai limited company must be a Thai now as well. So no more “100%” control.
 

 

 The whole point of buying via a company is that the foreigner has 100% control

You are typical of 'fear spreaders'

Plenty of negative statements.

Not one ounce of actual evidence.

[Puchaiyank]

Go ahead and get your divorce now...stop planning for it...then things will get much clearer for you...

[AlexRich]

The more assets you have in your wife's name ... the more expendable you become. Only buy if it represents a small fraction of your wealth.

[KittenKong]

5 hours ago, Delight said:

 The whole point of buying via a company is that the foreigner has 100% control

You are typical of 'fear spreaders'

Plenty of negative statements.

Not one ounce of actual evidence.

I think it would be insanity to spend money on something that the government specifically prohibits me from owning and which can only be "mine" by legal trickery. But there are plenty of insane people here doing all sorts of things that are completely illegal, and some of them have yet to be caught.

 

Personally, anywhere in the world, I would only buy property that has my sole name on all the deeds. And I would never get involved in any sort of business relationship with any Thai, ever, under any circumstances. I like being wealthy and I dont want it to end before I die. As long as I keep my sole name on everything that is mine that should be fairly easy.

[Peterw42]

5 hours ago, Delight said:

 The whole point of buying via a company is that the foreigner has 100% control

You are typical of 'fear spreaders'

Plenty of negative statements.

Not one ounce of actual evidence.

There is no such thing as the foreigner having 100% control, no mater how you structure the company, you cannot sell the companies asset without the approval of the 51% Thai shareholder/s. Managing director etc can block the 51% selling but cannot overide the 51% and force a sale.

[Pravda]

6 hours ago, Delight said:

 The whole point of buying via a company is that the foreigner has 100% control

You are typical of 'fear spreaders'

Plenty of negative statements.

Not one ounce of actual evidence.

 

There is however plenty of evidence where foreigners got their properties stolen through crooked lawyer signatures and scummy wives. The government probably doesn't care if you use the company and they will care even less when you get skinned alive.

 

Many such stories on Thai Visa with no follow-up. Go ahead, be a dummy ????

 

 

 

 

 

[ThomasThBKK]

Nothing is illegal if setup correctly when it comes to holding structures, preference shares and usufruct. 

 

All that is backed by thai law and multiple decisions in the Supreme court. 

 

There are multiple things that are illegal as having a nominee structure, a company that just exists to own land... But all these things can be done correctly and every big company is either using that or a BOI. 

 

Usufructs have also been challenged in supreme court multiple times and it was ruled they are totally legitimate and can be issued for lifetime to foreigners. 

 

There's a lot of half truths and just factually wrong infornation in here. 

 

BUT none of this helps if you are married already - especially without a prenuptial agreement. 

 

All your company shares and your wifes will be owned by both of you and so is the usufruct, the usufruct could even be cancelled if you are married already. 

 

 

You are out of luck if married if you want to protect your after marriage assets from your wife imo. 

 

 

 

[Delight]

7 hours ago, Pravda said:

 

There is however plenty of evidence where foreigners got their properties stolen through crooked lawyer signatures and scummy wives. The government probably doesn't care if you use the company and they will care even less when you get skinned alive.

 

Many such stories on Thai Visa with no follow-up. Go ahead, be a dummy ????

 

 

 

 

 

 Fraud ,as you descibe ,is ,I am sure a feature of Thai life. A feature of life everywhere.

My point was in response to the statement that the 100% control was now illegal.

I was seeking evidence that this is  now legally the case.

 

It has certainly been the case that Lawyers with Notary authority have witnessed  fraudulent signatures-then verified their authenticity.

Buyer beware

 

[jackdd]

10 hours ago, Delight said:

My point was in response to the statement that the 100% control was now illegal.

I was seeking evidence that this is  now legally the case. 

It has always been illegal, in recent years there were just some cases where foreigners lost their property because of it.

http://library.siam-legal.com/thai-law/civil-and-commercial-code-juristic-act-sections-149-171/

Section 150

If a foreigner sets up a company which he controls just to own land, then this clearly violates the law which says only Thai people can own land, so the transfer of this land is void.

Of course nothing has to happen, but you might spend millions of THB for land and a house and one day somebody has the contract declared as void and your land / house is gone. Good luck getting any money back.

[giddyup]

On 2/16/2019 at 4:41 PM, luckyluke said:

If you pertinently wish an own home in Thailand, buy a condo.

A home is a house, not a shoe box.

[luckyluke]

Here an idea how much " shoe boxes" cost :

 

https://www.ddproperty.com/en/condo-for-sale/in-khong-tan-th103302/priced-under-20m-baht

 

 

[1FinickyOne]

= gift

[Pilotman]

On 2/16/2019 at 4:28 PM, Peterw42 said:

Married or not doesn't make much difference as to having control over land. You cant own land. The best you can do is own less than half of a non-trading company that owns the land. There are some limited controls over ongoing access to the land and stopping the 51% Thai owner from selling/mortgaging the company or land.

Unless you want to buy a Condo, you cannot own a house, much less have 100% control over it.

Agreed, that is the best way to do it.  I am the largest shareholder in our company, that is I hold 48% of the shares, but not the majority shareholder, my wife and daughter each share the other 52%.  In our company Articles of Association, no decision can be made by the other two unless I agree, such as selling shares or assets.  That's as close to full ownership as you can get in Thailand. 

[bbz404]

OP can own the house legally. No issue whatsoever. Just go to the land office and get it registered under your name.

 

Land will remain in your wife's name as well as ownership of the land.

 

Land and house are two separate things.

Edited February 18, 2019 by bbz404