Hua Hin: DSI investigate Brit using Thai nominee in alleged 240 million baht property crime

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, FarangOnTour said:

What is the process of using a Thai nominee, is it basically you your "trusted" Thai wife/friend/business partner buys the property using your cash in their own name?

 

Or is it a 51%/49% thing?

 

Or is it more complicated/secure for the falang than that?

 

Not here long just wondering how falangs attempt to go about buying land here.

In a nutshell, a foreigner cannot own land here, but his Thai wife can buy it and own it and he can live on it, and he can live and own the house that is built on it.

 

Nominee companies were set up to allow foreigners to actually buy the land with no input from the supposed shareholders, and that includes lawyers who set these things up.

 

There will be many folks on here who will suggest ways around it, but the law is the law and trying to circumvent it, one does so at their own risk.

[xylophone]

53 minutes ago, xylophone said:

In a nutshell, a foreigner cannot own land here, but his Thai wife can buy it and own it and he can live on it, and he can live and own the house that is built on it.

 

Nominee companies were set up to allow foreigners to actually buy the land with no input from the supposed shareholders, and that includes lawyers who set these things up.

 

There will be many folks on here who will suggest ways around it, but the law is the law and trying to circumvent it, one does so at their own risk.

Actually there are a couple of exceptions to this but in general the above holds true, irrespective of trusts, family and circuitous routes often quoted.

 

But this has been covered extensively on other threads, so am bowing out of this discussion.

Edited June 24, 2020 by xylophone

[tweedledee2]

 Dodgy looking fellow, wearing a black belt, brown shoes with white pants. 

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, robblok said:

Dutch make bland food too ???? 

I think Dutch and Brit cuisine are equally terrible. 

First place I ever had mayo with fries... but everything tastes better when you can say "lekker" afterwards... 

[robblok]

56 minutes ago, kenk24 said:

First place I ever had mayo with fries... but everything tastes better when you can say "lekker" afterwards... 

???? I am not that impressed with the Dutch cuisine ( I dont really count Mayo and fries as a Dutch thing its just fast food). 

 

I ate Brit food a few times too was also not that impressed. I must say I liked German food a lot more. French food was also not to my taste that much (maybe I am just picky)

[MrsT]

11 hours ago, robblok said:

Seems Brit crooks are as bad as Thai crooks. I am sure I wont get many likes for this one.

 

I wish t here were some tough laws for this to protect buyers. I don't mean it has to applied to foreigners only but to everyone giving better protection to buyers.

 

But I think it would be hard as the people doing such things are usually rich or have al ot of cash from cheating their clients enough to bribe a lot of people. 

 

 

You are si right .

if the thai gov can or well start with the basic of penalising these rich thai home owners in ripping people off electricity and water charges - that will be a baby step to start with...then they can eventually get around these tax evaders in thailand. 
It is simple you reside in the country, you respect their law.
unfortunately even the rich thais don't do that.

[robblok]

19 minutes ago, MrsT said:

You are si right .

if the thai gov can or well start with the basic of penalising these rich thai home owners in ripping people off electricity and water charges - that will be a baby step to start with...then they can eventually get around these tax evaders in thailand. 
It is simple you reside in the country, you respect their law.
unfortunately even the rich thais don't do that.

They already started that about eh electricity charges. If an owner has 5 or more units for rent they have to charge normal electricity rate. Problem is if you rent from an owner that has less then 5 houses units. So they already did something.

 

However the owners then just increased rent.

[Nip]

9 hours ago, BestB said:

Origins of the crooks are irrelevant, what is relevant is lack of laws and regulations allowing crooks to come up with scams

 

The regulations are all there but its finding folk to uphold them is the problem.

[Nip]

8 hours ago, OnTheRun said:

If it's the same guy I'm thinking it is he was exposed a long time ago on Drummonds site. He did finish 1 or 2 developments but as you say left many more unfinished including taking a friend of mine, amongst many others, for close to 5 million Baht. The person I'm thinking of has 'history' going back at least 15 years, how he's survived so long is anyones guess.

If its the same guy Drummond ran a story about ie on Phuket. He did runner after he carried out a number of scams going back 20 years in Spain ie Marbella & Malaga arrived on Phuket with a new name and attempted the same trick but made the mistake of trying to get the better of a couple of well connected Somchai's and was found in a ditch. 

[Venom]

I would not recommend using Thai nominees for the property ownership as they actually own the land title deed and any agreement you may have will not hold up in a court of law. In this instance this English dude could easily get thrown out of the country and loose his investment without legal recourse.

[SiSePuede419]

13 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

In general, property developers do not set out to deceive. If they can make good income delivering projects then it's much easier to deliver the projects.

 

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.  There's no such thing as property developer scam artists.

 

For example, from Queens, New York. ????

 

Got any evidence that this criminal has a SUCCESSFUL property development track record back in Old Blighty?

 

Or was that pure, uninformed SPECULATION not based on facts? ????

[roo860]

10 hours ago, OnTheRun said:

If it's the same guy I'm thinking it is he was exposed a long time ago on Drummonds site. He did finish 1 or 2 developments but as you say left many more unfinished including taking a friend of mine, amongst many others, for close to 5 million Baht. The person I'm thinking of has 'history' going back at least 15 years, how he's survived so long is anyones guess.

You mean the Scottish person, likes a drink?????

[impulse]

Whenever I read a story like this, I wonder how the authorities differentiate between legitimate Thai investors and illegal Thai nominees.

 

[kiwikeith]

13 hours ago, TheDutchEngineer said:

When was this? You must be really insane to invest in property in these times in Thailand with current laws and political 'development'

 Correct , the property in the picture looks like a stripped Bank repossessed house, maybe he has been selling these in collusion with a Thai and a whole lot of BS papers to people who are thinking that they are cheap because of the  C19 situation 

[GAZZPA]

17 hours ago, robblok said:

Seems Brit crooks are as bad as Thai crooks. I am sure I wont get many likes for this one.

 

I wish t here were some tough laws for this to protect buyers. I don't mean it has to applied to foreigners only but to everyone giving better protection to buyers.

 

But I think it would be hard as the people doing such things are usually rich or have al ot of cash from cheating their clients enough to bribe a lot of people. 

 

 

A crook is a crook, doesn't matter where they are from, every country has them.

 

I think the laws are in place, the issue is enforcement is not easy if the accused has big, fat brown envelopes to hand around. 

 

Like most things in Thailand corruption ruins everything. Best option is to buy eleswhere in my opinion.

[GAZZPA]

3 hours ago, SiSePuede419 said:

 

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.  There's no such thing as property developer scam artists.

 

For example, from Queens, New York. ????

 

Got any evidence that this criminal has a SUCCESSFUL property development track record back in Old Blighty?

 

Or was that pure, uninformed SPECULATION not based on facts? ????

Don't think he is saying that, I read it that the majority are honest, which of course they are. However sometimes a market collapse, finance problems etc mean the project does not get finished.

 

For this guy I have no idea,, but I would be nervous if I were any of those individuals who bought property using the loophole of putting it into a inactive company name.. Thai law is very clear, you cannot buy land if you are foreign but many still do.

[GAZZPA]

6 hours ago, robblok said:

???? I am not that impressed with the Dutch cuisine ( I dont really count Mayo and fries as a Dutch thing its just fast food). 

 

I ate Brit food a few times too was also not that impressed. I must say I liked German food a lot more. French food was also not to my taste that much (maybe I am just picky)

British food is amazing, the country has a lot of restaurants that are considered the best in the world,, things have changed since people associated British food with just fish and chips, not to mention thousands of world class chefs nowadays. Like most EU countries there are also a lot of mediocre places and fast food, sounds like you ate at one of these places, perhaps a chain restaurant. Also in my opinion the French are the masters of cuisine, they have added more to global cuisine then any other nation and I have eaten some stunning food in France. I am pretty shocked you couldn't find something that was to your taste in France.????

[Jonathan Fairfield]

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