Advantage of buying a condo in my name vis-a-vis a company name

[CartagenaWarlock]

I live in Q-condo, Sukumvit, Bangkok. Was scouting for a new condo in Pattya for week-end gateway. Spotted a condo at Laguana Beach Resort - Maldives. The agent assigned to me says I could buy it in my name or a company name. For a company name, they need an additional 50K BHT to form a company. What are the pros and cons for each option? 

[Peterw42]

If you have the choice buy in your name. The company route is just a work around when the foreign quota (49%) is full, enabling foreigners to buy condos in the Thai 51% quota.

Foreign title (your name) gives you 100% legal title. Will always be sought after by a foreigner (or a Thai)

Company ownership is you own half of a company (a Thai owns the other half) that owns the condo, yearly company running costs, as above, its a work around to buy a Thai title condo, not the preferred option.

[impulse]

4 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

If you have the choice buy in your name. The company route is just a work around when the foreign quota (49%) is full, enabling foreigners to buy condos in the Thai 51% quota.

 

It's also a way to buy land, which cannot be done under a foreigner's name.  But it's fraught with perils if the Land Office decides that the company was formed for the purpose of allowing a foreigner to control land.  Lots of people have done it, often successful for years or decades.  But it comes back to bite a lot of them.

 

Condo?  A foreigner can buy one, subject to the 51% Thai quota and that's by far the cleanest way to go.

 

[Delight]

  There is only one benefit of buying in a company

The benefit relates to succession.

It is very easy and very low cost to remove your name as managing director and replace with  the name of a future beneficiary.

The land office are not involved in this process.

If you will a foreign owned condo to another foreigner then that foreigner will need to acquire a FET. This means that the beneficiary has to import into Thailand an amount equivalent to the appraised value of the condo.

So if the appraised value is say 3 M  Baht. The beneficiary has to find that money. This  money is not lost -it simply has to be found.

For most people that could be just too much.

That said there is a 'workaround' to eliminate the need for a FET

It may be wise to think ahead.

 

As an aside . If you chose the company route -then I would use an independent law company to set up the company.

I would not allow the developer to provide.

[smutcakes]

17 hours ago, Delight said:

  There is only one benefit of buying in a company

The benefit relates to succession.

It is very easy and very low cost to remove your name as managing director and replace with  the name of a future beneficiary.

The land office are not involved in this process.

If you will a foreign owned condo to another foreigner then that foreigner will need to acquire a FET. This means that the beneficiary has to import into Thailand an amount equivalent to the appraised value of the condo.

So if the appraised value is say 3 M  Baht. The beneficiary has to find that money. This  money is not lost -it simply has to be found.

For most people that could be just too much.

That said there is a 'workaround' to eliminate the need for a FET

It may be wise to think ahead.

 

As an aside . If you chose the company route -then I would use an independent law company to set up the company.

I would not allow the developer to provide.

 

I thought the bolded bit only became relevant if the person the owner was passing it onto was not permitted to own a condo under section 19 of the Condo Act. Given that nearly everyone, even those on holiday and those with any type of valid visa are permitted to buy a condo it should not become an issue as nearly everyone is permitted to purchase a condo?

[JustAnotherHun]

To buy a condo on a company name only makes sesnse if you want to avoid the 51%-in-Thai-hands rule.

To sell/tranfer the condo is more easy on company name as long as the buyer is a company too.

Don't forget: Companies have to pay taxes.

 

If the condo's for personal use, buy it on your name.

 

Usually the company-construction is used to buy homes (and the land they're built on). This is dangerous. Many foreigners had to pay a lot of taxes after a couple of years or even lost their homes because the land offices claimed it just was to bypass the laws.

[khunPer]

On 2/22/2020 at 9:57 AM, CartagenaWarlock said:

What are the pros and cons for each option? 

Only upon sale, a company could be considered, as you can sell the company, i.e. the shares, and not transferring the condo to another owner, i.e. save fees and taxes.

 

As a foreigner can legally own a condo under the 49/51-scheme, that should be compared to the running costs of a company vs. fees and taxes upon a sale. Furthermore it might in principle be illegal to own property in a shell company; and furthermore you only own 49 percent of the company, but might have voting control.

[newnative]

    Always buy in foreign name if you can.  I, myself, would not recommend a condo at one of the 'theme park' low-rise, no view, condo projects unless you don't care about resale and plan to use it until you are toes up.  There are plenty of these units for sale so I would suggest you shop around for the best price.  Usually you have a choice of a pool view or a parking lot view.  Be aware that the pool view, while more desirable, could possibly be noisy at times since the units are usually close to the pool.  My last piece of advice would be to take your time--few projects sell out.   

[Delight]

On 2/24/2020 at 7:26 AM, smutcakes said:

 

I thought the bolded bit only became relevant if the person the owner was passing it onto was not permitted to own a condo under section 19 of the Condo Act. Given that nearly everyone, even those on holiday and those with any type of valid visa are permitted to buy a condo it should not become an issue as nearly everyone is permitted to purchase a condo?

 I think not correct

In all circumstances when a foreign owned condo is transferred to another foreigner then a FET is required.There is no way around this.

This requirement is not relevant when the transfer is a  condo which is organised within a company construct.

[CartagenaWarlock]

18 hours ago, newnative said:

Always buy in foreign name if you can.  I, myself, would not recommend a condo at one of the 'theme park' low-rise, no view, condo projects unless you don't care about resale and plan to use it until you are toes up.  There are plenty of these units for sale so I would suggest you shop around for the best price.  Usually you have a choice of a pool view or a parking lot view.  Be aware that the pool view, while more desirable, could possibly be noisy at times since the units are usually close to the pool.  My last piece of advice would be to take your time--few projects sell out.   

Where? I don't want an used condo. I need a brand new condo in a  theme park settings for week-end gateaways. It is not for me to live permanently or sell in the future. Now, I rent a 2-bed room Q-Condo, Sukumvit. Still looking for a 2-bed room condo in Bangkok for around 10-mil. Not easy to find a new one for 10-mil in Bangkok that I like. You're welcome to post suggestions with name please. 

 

[CartagenaWarlock]

18 hours ago, newnative said:

There are plenty of these units for sale

Can you name a few? Tired of running around with agents for days. 

[smutcakes]

51 minutes ago, Delight said:

 I think not correct

In all circumstances when a foreign owned condo is transferred to another foreigner then a FET is required.There is no way around this.

This requirement is not relevant when the transfer is a  condo which is organised within a company construct.

So what happens if they cannot afford it? They have to sell in 1 year?

They transfer the money in Thailand to who to get an FET? Transfer to themselves? Transfer to the dead persons bank?

Not saying you are incorrect but it seems wildly improbable even by Thailand standards.

[newnative]

2 hours ago, CartagenaWarlock said:

Where? I don't want an used condo. I need a brand new condo in a  theme park settings for week-end gateaways. It is not for me to live permanently or sell in the future. Now, I rent a 2-bed room Q-Condo, Sukumvit. Still looking for a 2-bed room condo in Bangkok for around 10-mil. Not easy to find a new one for 10-mil in Bangkok that I like. You're welcome to post suggestions with name please. 

 

     For what I call 'theme park' condos, here are some:  

Espana

The Venetian 

Grand Caribbean

Laguna Beach (Resorts 1 and 2, and 3 The Maldives)

Seven Seas

Seven Seas Cote d'Azur

Atlantis

Amazon

Dusit Grand Park

The Orient

 

     Hipflat is a good resource for condos for sale by project and information on the project itself.  When you go on the site, click on  'Condo Directory', then 'Projects in Pattaya', and then 'Jomtien' on the next screen.  All the projects I listed are there and you can search them individually to get some idea of pricing, project amenities, number of units, year project was built, location, etc.   

     I'm not that familiar with Bangkok but you can use Hipflat to search Bangkok, as well, using the Condo Directory, then Projects in Bangkok, then Bangkok districts you are interested in.  When you are searching listings for a project, be aware that some units may be listed more than once by different agents, and sometimes at different prices.  

     Thailand does not have an MLS system (multiple listing service) so when you visit a realtor you will only see the listings for that realtor, and not for all the agencies.  If you narrow down your search to one or two projects, you can use Hipflat to see what agencies have for sale in that project as many of the big agencies will post their listings there.  You can also check with some of the biggest Pattaya agencies:  Faz Waz, Coastal, East Coast, Gecko, Alan Bolton, Pattaya Bay, Prestige, and All Seasons.  Good luck. 

 

 

[Delight]

5 hours ago, smutcakes said:

So what happens if they cannot afford it? They have to sell in 1 year?

They transfer the money in Thailand to who to get an FET? Transfer to themselves? Transfer to the dead persons bank?

Not saying you are incorrect but it seems wildly improbable even by Thailand standards.

  You are correct about the option not to  transfer to the beneficiaries name . The beneficiary sells within one year.

If the beneficiary wishes to keep the condo then he/she  transfers the correct amount of money to his /her bank account. The bank will then issue the FET

The money remains with the beneficiary. Finding it in the first place could be a challenge.

Therefor I am suggesting that a condo in a company name has that one big benefit  ie the land office is not involved. Changing the MD's name is simple and very low cost. Of course it has to be done whilst the 'soon to die' MD of the company is still  alive

[Kalasin Jo]

On 2/24/2020 at 7:55 AM, JustAnotherHun said:

To buy a condo on a company name only makes sesnse if you want to avoid the 51%-in-Thai-hands rule.

To sell/tranfer the condo is more easy on company name as long as the buyer is a company too.

Don't forget: Companies have to pay taxes.

 

If the condo's for personal use, buy it on your name.

 

Usually the company-construction is used to buy homes (and the land they're built on). This is dangerous. Many foreigners had to pay a lot of taxes after a couple of years or even lost their homes because the land offices claimed it just was to bypass the laws.

Companies have to pay taxes. Yes. I've heard that if for personal use rather than lettings, the company is hit with tax on its notional rental income. Wondered how that is done. Market rates? A wild guess? For what % of the year

[Henryford]

Hard to imagine why anyone would want to buy a condo (illegaly) using a company which they will never own.

[CartagenaWarlock]

Based on all the posts here, I decided to buy the condo in my 19-year old former Poseidon Model's name who just gave birth to my first child at my age of 59. I was confirmed the baby's father earlier by a pre-natal DNA test and subsequently confirmed again after the birth. So, this is my first gift to her. I already had a pact with her when she became pregnant with my seeds. She has to refrain getting another men's seeds for five years and after that she is free to leave me or do whatever with her life. In five years, I will make her a wealthy girl with at at least an asset of 30 million, one third of my total asset. But I encouraged her to go finish her school (she has graduated 9th class) but it is up to her if she wants to do it or not. 

[OffshoreMig]

If you are buying a condo then yes best in your name.  If you buy a shop/house (Better option - No management fees or dispute with condo mafia ) than a company would be worth considering, You will need legal assistance,  If you are funding the purchase price you should consider signing up the company with a loan agreement which you underwrite and which gives you first call on any proposal to sell or transfer the title.  They have to pay-out the loan agreement before and sale.

[Pravda]

On 3/3/2020 at 11:05 AM, CartagenaWarlock said:

Based on all the posts here, I decided to buy the condo in my 19-year old former Poseidon Model's name who just gave birth to my first child at my age of 59. I was confirmed the baby's father earlier by a pre-natal DNA test and subsequently confirmed again after the birth. So, this is my first gift to her. I already had a pact with her when she became pregnant with my seeds. She has to refrain getting another men's seeds for five years and after that she is free to leave me or do whatever with her life. In five years, I will make her a wealthy girl with at at least an asset of 30 million, one third of my total asset. But I encouraged her to go finish her school (she has graduated 9th class) but it is up to her if she wants to do it or not. 

 

Good for your kid to know who her mom is