Do I need a lawyer for house sale or can an accountant do everything?

[Tapster]

Please assume that I know everything to to with the law regarding farangs owning a house by setting up a Thai company.

My question is not about the law in any way.

 

We are selling our house. Our company owns the house, so we will have to involve our accountant in the sale.

 

Can the accountant take care of everything to do with a house sale?

 

Do we need a lawyer at all?

 

Many thanks for helpful advice.

[FritsSikkink]

Are you selling the company or is the company selling the house?

[Tapster]

The company owns the house.

 

We are selling the house, therefore the company is selling the house.

 

It happens that the company is not being sold with the house, but that is not relevant to this discussion.

 

[Delight]

Separating the company from the house is unusual.

When you say the house -do you mean the house and the land that it sits on.

Assuming that you do then I think that it is a simple matter of transferring the house and land (or just the land) to the new owner.

The new owner must be a Thai. The alternative is to transfer to another company.

All carried out at the land office

Buyer ,seller and relevant monies must be present.

If it goes thru -then all you are left with is a company -a company looking for a role.

 

If you were to sell that which  I think you own i.e your share allocation and your 100% voting rights-then the land office is not involved. Just a lawyer who deals with company law.Very cheap this way

[Langsuan Man]

On 2/5/2020 at 1:15 PM, Tapster said:

It happens that the company is not being sold with the house, but that is not relevant to this discussion.

Good luck with that attitude since it is the only thing that is relevant

[Tapster]

@Delight

 

Thank you for the advice.

You're right, it would be very easy, and cheap, if we were selling the house with the company. Unfortunately we're not.

 

What I'm asking though, is can an accountant do all this? Is a lawyer really necessary?

It seems nobody's sure.

 

 

@Langsuan Man

I don't have an attitude, certainly not a bad one.

Selling or not selling the company isn't relevant to whether I need a lawyer/accountant/both.

You seem to know something about the issue.

Why not make a useful comment?

[Delight]

12 hours ago, Tapster said:

 

 

What I'm asking though, is can an accountant do all this? Is a lawyer really necessary?

It seems nobody's sure.

 

 

@Langsuan Man

 If you are just selling the house then you do not need a lawyer or an accountant.

All you will be doing is transferring the house  from the company to the new owner. This is a simple transaction at the land office.

As I stated earlier it can only be transferred  to a Thai or Thai company.

(Your attitude suggests that you do not intend to close the company. That for certain would require professional help)

 

Clearly you see it differently.

 How different?

[Tapster]

Argh!
????
I have no attitude (we are closing the company), and I don't necessarily see anything differently.

I'm just looking for advice.

 

I have the definitive answer.

Yes, you need a lawyer!

 

If you have a company, you need a lawyer to do anything at the Land Office.

One of the most important issues is that your company cannot have a farang in charge when the sale comes to the Land Office. The company has to have its structure changed just for the time it's dealing with the Land Office. The only person who can make that happen is a lawyer. Also, you have to trust your lawyer, because your name will no longer have voting rights. Clearly, the lawyer must make enough from the deal that skullduggery is unlikely. 

If I had my time again, I'd say ... never buy property in Thailand!!!

As of this morning, we have a lawyer and it's obvious that the accountant couldn't have done everything the lawyer is going to have to do.

The good news is that our accountant will hardly have to do anything, so there's some money to be saved.

 

Lesson 1.) NEVER buy property in Thailand!

 

Lesson 2.) See lesson 1

[Delight]

2 hours ago, Tapster said:

Argh!
????
I have no attitude (we are closing the company), and I don't necessarily see anything differently.

I'm just looking for advice.

 

I have the definitive answer.

Yes, you need a lawyer!

 

If you have a company, you need a lawyer to do anything at the Land Office.

One of the most important issues is that your company cannot have a farang in charge when the sale comes to the Land Office. The company has to have its structure changed just for the time it's dealing with the Land Office. The only person who can make that happen is a lawyer. Also, you have to trust your lawyer, because your name will no longer have voting rights. Clearly, the lawyer must make enough from the deal that skullduggery is unlikely. 

If I had my time again, I'd say ... never buy property in Thailand!!!

As of this morning, we have a lawyer and it's obvious that the accountant couldn't have done everything the lawyer is going to have to do.

The good news is that our accountant will hardly have to do anything, so there's some money to be saved.

 

Lesson 1.) NEVER buy property in Thailand!

 

Lesson 2.) See lesson 1

  You seem to have answered your own Q.  From what you say a Farang can have 100% of the voting rights when the   Thai company buys a property. However  a Farang must  have no voting rights (or at least no majority of the voting rights) when the company sells the same property.Seems a bit strange.

However 

Reference Lesson 1 . I purchased a condo in my name back in 2005. Probably the best decision ,in relation to property, that I have ever taken.That said I was lucky . Thanks to Alan Greenspan -then chairman of the Fed. One £ bought 70+ Baht. Now about 39.