Buying a Condo and changing from Thai Company to Thai Freehold Chanote

[beautifulthailand99]

I am interested in buying for my wife a second-hand condo for 1.3million baht that is owned by a Thai Company which apparently only owns this condo and was bought from another Thai company 9 years ago. The first Thai company bought directly from the developer. The farang owner has had it for 9 years and paid up accounts of 14k a year and has no problems to date. He is not a property developer but a private sale as he is buying a house elsewhere. He mentioned that the Thai company has 5 names in it. We are looking to buy from this company and transfer the condo to my wife's name to obtain Thai freehold chanote. I understand this will then have sales cost of around 6-7% of the sale price. My wife is going to have a good look at the company documents and chanote tomorrow and we are going to his lawyer's office on Monday to do further due diligence. 

 

My questions are what are the key points in doing this and my worry is he may have a leasehold condo but isn't aware. Will this be clear on Chanote and or in the company documents and why would a Thai nominee company that was formed to solely own a condo on the Thai side have 5 persons associated with it?

 

Most grateful for any light some of the more learned members may be able to shine on this. Many thanks in advance for any suggestions or comments. 

[Peterw42]

How the condo is presently owned is largely irrelevant to you (wife) the buyer. So long as company representative , with the power to sign everything , goes to the land office with you.

Make sure you dont get involved with paying any of the companies tax liability to do with the sale, 3.3% business tax, withholding tax etc. As the buyer you would usually only be party to the transfer fees of 2% (usually agreed prior, 50/50 or buyer/seller pays).

6-7% sounds like the seller is getting you to pay the companies tax liabilities.

Agree on a price and who pays transfer fees (maybe a small deposit), take a cashiers check to the land office and dont hand it over until the land office says wife is the new owner.

 

 

Have you enquired if there is foreign quota in the building, allowing you to purchase in your name.

[beautifulthailand99]

23 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

How the condo is presently owned is largely irrelevant to you (wife) the buyer. So long as company representative , with the power to sign everything , goes to the land office with you.

Make sure you dont get involved with paying any of the companies tax liability to do with the sale, 3.3% business tax, withholding tax etc. As the buyer you would usually only be party to the transfer fees of 2% (usually agreed prior, 50/50 or buyer/seller pays).

6-7% sounds like the seller is getting you to pay the companies tax liabilities.

Agree on a price and who pays transfer fees (maybe a small deposit), take a cashiers check to the land office and dont hand it over until the land office wife is the new owner.

 

 

Many thanks Peter for your wise words. He wanted to do a company to company sale whereas my wife wants chanote so we are happy to pay the cost over and above the 50% of what a company to company would have been which I think would have been around 5k. The foreign quota is full my wife and I have been happily married for 15 years so I trust her implicitly !

[blackcab]

As has been stated, the fact that a company owns the condo is irrelevant. Your wife is just buying an asset of the company.

 

The current owner probably wants to sell the company structure along with the condo, because otherwise they will be left with an empty company they still have to submit accounts on or they have to pay to close.

 

The thing is a Thai citizen would almost never buy a company that owns a property in this manner. Why would a Thai citizen pay an accountant every month to file accounts when they have the absolute right to own the property in their own name, hassle free?

 

Politely explain you will buy the condo, but you are not interested in the company. If the seller won't agree then walk away. There are condos for sale literally everywhere, and both you and the seller know it.

[beautifulthailand99]

9 hours ago, blackcab said:

As has been stated, the fact that a company owns the condo is irrelevant. Your wife is just buying an asset of the company.

 

The current owner probably wants to sell the company structure along with the house, because otherwise they will be left with an empty company they still have to submit accounts on or they have to pay to close.

 

The thing is a Thai citizen would almost never buy a company that owns a property in this manner. Why would a Thai citizen pay an accountant every month to file accounts when they have the absolute right to own the property in their own name, hassle free?

 

Politely explain you will buy the condo, but you are not interested in the company. If they won't do that then walk away. There are condos for sale literally everywhere, and both you and the seller know it.

Many thanks Blackcab for your helpful comments. We don't want to buy the company just the freehold condo. On Monday we will see the company accounts which he says are fully paid up to date and he will find he is responsible for closing it down if that is what he wants to do. Sometimes though Thai's who want to buy and sell condos quickly to anybody use a Thai company to keep the transaction costs down as each time they only sell the company and the company name remains the same on Chanote with no resultant sales taxes. 

[blackcab]

1 hour ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

Sometimes though Thai's who want to buy and sell condos quickly to anybody...

 

You mean if they want to sell to a non-Thai person. A Thai person would not buy a condo owned by a company.

 

The only exception would be property trading/development, but believe me, you have to be pretty special to make a living doing that because the majority of property takes a considerable time to sell. 

[beautifulthailand99]

1 hour ago, blackcab said:

 

You mean if they want to sell to a non-Thai person. A Thai person would not buy a condo owned by a company.

 

The only exception would be property trading/development, but believe me, you have to be pretty special to make a living doing that because the majority of property takes a considerable time to sell. 

 

Yes thanks for the clarification. To sell to foreigners when the 49% quota is used up. Which it is in this case.