Thai govt considers allowing foreigners to more easily buy/own property

[mogandave]

21 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

That's the way - get your priorities right.  We wouldn't want any of those people with wives and children, the ones who just want to live a normal life and enjoy the same rights as other married couples do, owning properties would we?

 

The people with Thai wives or husbands can already own property. 

 

Quit making stuff up.

[Laughing Gravy]

This is your typical Thai mentality. We are struggling so lets consider letting westerners in to bring their money then after 5 years, tell them to Fox Trot Oscar.

 

I have said this before, speaking with a very Hi-so and wealthy Thai who had properties in London, why shouldn't Thailand allow foreigners to own houses her? "No way" she said. The UK are stupid letting others buy houses there.

 

That is the mentality and Thai logic you are up against. I could argue all day why it should or shouldn't happen but would rather not.

 

Just remember, Thais want your money and business when they do not need it.

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, Whale said:

 

So your point is whatever in Thailand happens is OK because Australia is worse? 

You seem to be missing the fact that Thailand is trying to "attract" business and retirees, not putting them off more, according to the OP.  

You miss my point, I'm suggesting the powers that be (mainly meaning the long-term military families/dynasties) will never allow it to happen, it would go against everything they stand for.

 

It is certainly true that Thailand needs to attract investment in many forms, but tradition (above) is a strong road block and especially in terms of land ownership.                                                     

[mogandave]

9 minutes ago, scorecard said:

You miss my point, I'm suggesting the powers that be (mainly meaning the long-term military families/dynasties) will never allow it to happen, it would go against everything they stand for.

 

It is certainly true that Thailand needs to attract investment in many forms, but tradition (above) is a strong road block and especially in terms of land ownership.                                                     

Why does Thailand need to attract investment? 

 

And how will that investment help working class Thais? 

[Bradmeister]

That would be investors and or residents.   

 

Not Foreigners.

[Black Angus]

Who's to say when the next Coup comes the goal posts, could all change. Creek and Paddle comes to mind

[mogandave]

4 hours ago, Yewbzee said:

 

I said selling after 5 years, thats hardly flipping for a quick profit is it?

 

Pretty quick for a property we were buying to own forever and pass to our kids, yes? 

 

in any event, why would you not be able to sell it after five years? 

[eastendanto]

On 4/13/2021 at 7:39 AM, bluesofa said:

Very apt. So summing up government policy:
I'm forever blowing bubbles.

I say sir that is an effrontery to the Hammers who are currently blowing bubbles at 4th in the PL ????????

[SiSePuede419]

I'm guessing 90% of Thais can't afford a house or condo over 10M Baht.

 

Easy to buy, difficult to sell.

 

Unless you have a wife& family, no foreigner should buy in Thailand, only rent.

 

You're not getting "security" by buying.  There's zero advantages and lots of unforseen disadvantages. 

[impulse]

7 hours ago, mogandave said:

It’s a safe bet that the same people that claim the government will steal their property are the same people that claim the government will steal the ฿800k from the bank, and the same people that claim immigration has a hard-on for them. 

 

And the same ones that claim you have to GIVE a Thai person 51% of your business, getting nothing in return.

 

That said, I'm still amused by all the posters who seem to think these policies are aimed at attracting western foreigners and their money.

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by impulse

[DJ54]

I don’t own a condo but I paid for a house that’s not mine...

 

if I were to purchase a condo and they’ve  (under debate)

raised the percentage of foreigners that can buy abo above

the 49% threshold taking your condo owner voting rights (if I read correctly) that would be a concern... 

 

 

[cncltd1973]

On 4/13/2021 at 2:54 AM, Pattaya Spotter said:

So if it's absurd...why even mention it...to get a rise out of people? As for the 30 year leases with extensions, Thai law doesn't recognize the extensions so they aren't worth the paper they're written on. Whoever the Thai owner of the land/property at the end of the 30 year period is under no obligation to honor such an extension. Legally valid leases are a maximum of 30 years (if registered with the Land Department). So the proposed 50 year period is almost double what's currently allowed. How long do people expect to live?

 

49 years ????

sorry, you made it too easy and I couldn't stop myself

[Mark Nothing]

3 hours ago, DJ54 said:

I don’t own a condo but I paid for a house that’s not mine...

 

if I were to purchase a condo and they’ve  (under debate)

raised the percentage of foreigners that can buy abo above

the 49% threshold taking your condo owner voting rights (if I read correctly) that would be a concern... 

 

 

I did buy a condo, many years ago, which was a mistake.  

 

This proposal is a recipe to fleece the unsuspecting foreigner while he is still in the honey moon stage still seeing thru rose colored glasses.

 

If the proposal is enacted, the voting class owners would out number these new foreign owners and could easily vote for new owners to pay all maintenance fees, common area renovation, sinking fund, etc.

 

And in 5 years when the foreign ownership quoto reverts back to 49%, your condo will likely lose significant value compared to the purchasing price.  By then every buyer will avoid condos with no voting shares.

 

Buyers should be aware and very leery.

[Soikhaonoiken]

Just ain't going to happen, 

[shdmn]

8 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

The people with Thai wives or husbands can already own property. 

 

Quit making stuff up.

No they can't.  The Thai wife/husband owns 100% of it.  I personally would never do that no matter how much I think the relationship will last forever.  I've heard way too many stories of people (mostly guys) getting screwed.

Edited April 14, 2021 by shdmn

[daejung]

On 4/13/2021 at 8:20 AM, webfact said:

The amount of foreign owned condos in a building is also set to increase well above the 49% ceiling though they would not have voting rights.

I knew there was a 49% limit or foreigners but not they did not have voting rights. I will never buy any property there

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by daejung

[daejung]

On 4/13/2021 at 8:33 AM, Forrests Father said:

Getting desperate?
Golf bubble, elite visa, Chinese tourist bubble, Phuket HiSo holiday bubble, yacht bubble, hospital big spender bubble, retirees who are willing to spend 300k per month and now the 15 mio ‘own a house concept’? What’s next? 
spend 1000 mio and become an astronaut on the new Thai spaceship?

Bubble government

[robsamui]

18 hours ago, Tonypandy said:

The Chinese already realise that Thailand is not a good place to buy property. In China they can make profit when selling a property, they have learned that is not the case in Thailand. Many Chinese come here to educate thier children at International schools, going forward these previous potential buyers will become renters only. They can leave when they decide and not get stuck with an unsellable house or condo. 

I think you raised a point here which I'd not realised, and no other posts seem to touch upon - that there are (at least) two levels of Chinese 'investment' running parallel in Thailand. There's the everyday-face of the Chinese on the streets in their (used-to-be-pre-Covid) hordes - and there's the unseen government-sponsored and corporate Chinese investment. 

 

Even ordinary working Chinese people invest heavily in property (in China), usually banding together in extended or combined family units to do so and usually acquiring several properties per family. These are the humble daytripping tourists, the golden cash-cow that the Thai government and TAT worshipped so openly pre-Covid.

 

And undoubtedly this is the sector which has learned the hard way that the process of buying, selling and/or investing in property in Thailand is unrealistic and unpredictable, if not outright dangerous. So you can cross this sector off the list.

 

(The corporate Chinese investment is a different matter, owning controlling interests in Thai banking, finance, manufacturing industry and large-scale property development. This is here to stay and appears to currently have influence over the way in which the Thai government is working. You can predict that this sector is taking full advantage of the currently unstable and depressed tourist industry in Thailand and acquiring as much property in the hospitality sector as it can in the current climate - which in a few year's time assumedly will stabilise.)

 

With no tourists worldwide, the only target left is the retirement sector - the older farangs with comparatively greater sums of investment cash. But, yet again, with the total lack of insight that is now the hallmark of the current Thai government, they're blundering up the wrong tree entirely.

 

Rather than aiming for the 'average' retiree investors, they're desperately trying to snare a handful of the very wealthy ones. 

 

Instead of the hundreds (thousands??) of fellas in their 50s and 60s who've got enough cash to build/buy a modest house or two, they're trying to pull-in wealthy investors by silly enticements. Build a house on the wife's family land? No. It has to be a ridiculously expensive condo or something in a gated 'estate' community'.

 

The Thais (the government anyway) could never perceive themselves as beggars - they are far too proud. And yet that's exactly what they are doing; just look at all the harebrained schemes in the last few desperate months. 

 

But beggars can't be choosers. And this is what the proud Thais have yet to understand.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by robsamui

[hotchilli]

21 hours ago, nickmondo said:

anyone who wants to buy a property here needs a check up from the neck up!

the rules will constantly change.

buy at your own risk

No thanks!!!

Rent and be able to walk away anytime.

[Excel]

2 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Rent and be able to walk away anytime.

or as the Thais say "up to you"

[Peterw42]

1 hour ago, daejung said:

I knew there was a 49% limit or foreigners but not they did not have voting rights. I will never buy any property there

 

If you buy in the 49% its the same full voting rights as any owner, The no voting rights would be if the proposal goes ahead and people can then temporarily buy over the 49%, or houses, with no voting rights.

[KhaoYai]

13 hours ago, mogandave said:

 

The people with Thai wives or husbands can already own property. 

 

Quit making stuff up.

Me making stuff up?  Please show me the law that says a foreign husband or wife can own land.  If you are going to try and wriggle by saying they can own the bricks and mortar - anyone can do that.

 

Do you seriously think foreigners go to all sorts of lenghts using companies and nominees to try and own land when they can legally own it - rubbish.

 

The only type of property that a foreigner can own is a condo - and that's subject to conditions.

 

Land ownership by a Thai married to a foreigner

Foreigners married to a Thai national can't own land themselves but the Land Department will allow transfer of ownership of the land to the Thai national who is married to a foreigner after a joint statement 'letter of confirmation' by the couple stating that the money expended on the land is personal property of the Thai spouse. This procedural requirement is based on a regulation issued by the Ministry of Interior (March 1999), which is based on the principle of section 1472 of the Civil and Commercial Code that if personal property has been exchanged for other property during the marriage (in this case land) that property becomes and remains a personal property, and not a joint marital property between husband and wife. This way the foreign spouse does not obtain ownership rights in the land based on Thai family laws, ‘property between husband and wife’. That is, as a personal property of the Thai spouse, the Thai spouse has sole management of the property (she can sell, encumber the property), and as a non-marital property the real property is not subject to an equitably division between husband and wife upon termination of marriage.

 

https://www.thailandlawonline.com/thai-real-estate-law/ownership-and-buying-real-estate-in-thailand#1

Edited April 14, 2021 by KhaoYai

[Henryford]

So at a condo AGM the existing 49% would have voting rights but the other 31% would not !! Sounds like a recipe for a riot. If one of the existing 49% sold their condo would the new owner have voting rights or not?

[sungod]

21 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Not negativity, but in truth reality.  Tell me in the historical records where it has never gone pear shaped and all are better for it.  More regulations have made it more tenuous for extensions, insurances, and then even the added paperwork.  Now tell me how that's negative except in the fact it puts people off in a negative way because of the supposed changes that never do occur or the ones that end up costing some problems.  (0 day reports is a prime example where it has become ridiculous.  Add in wanting to be assured that whatever plan is being put in place for purchase of a residence in order to bring in cash for the country does not turn out as a catch 22 for the foreign investor.  Not negativity as I said but reality.  Take of the rose colored glasses and look at things from the outside looking in and you might see a different perspective.

One would assume that its constant negativity with the same posters moaning on every topic.

[scorecard]

On 4/14/2021 at 9:33 AM, MasterBaker said:

sorry to say but this covid is awake up call for Thai government

 

 All the 'suggestions' of easier visas, land ownership etc., are because of current circumstances, to attract foreigners to spend/spend big, at a time when the Thai economy is way down and urgently needs big cash injections (from any source).

 

Is there any real chance in terms of the Thai attitude to foreigners owning land? I believe the answer is NO.

[ThailandRyan]

39 minutes ago, sungod said:

One would assume that its constant negativity with the same posters moaning on every topic.

Assuming and assumptions are very dangerous and can cause issues that are not there. Agreeing to disagree is more appropriate. Everyone has views, how those views are viewed is not supposed to be deemed negative. 

[sandmonster]

On 4/13/2021 at 2:03 PM, Pattaya Spotter said:

Nothing like a little racism to brighten the day.

Entitled white privilege never fails to rear it's ugly head on TV.

 

[pedro01]

On 4/13/2021 at 1:50 PM, tjo o tjim said:

How many farang would want to live in a Thai housing estate?  I mean it as an honest question— it would not be attractive to me, and I can’t quite figure out who the target market would bel\.

 

I live in one as do most of my western friends here.

 

By definition all housing estates here are Thai. What exactly do you think the problem would be? 

[wordchild]

3 hours ago, robsamui said:

I think you raised a point here which I'd not realised, and no other posts seem to touch upon - that there are (at least) two levels of Chinese 'investment' running parallel in Thailand. There's the everyday-face of the Chinese on the streets in their (used-to-be-pre-Covid) hordes - and there's the unseen government-sponsored and corporate Chinese investment. 

 

Even ordinary working Chinese people invest heavily in property (in China), usually banding together in extended or combined family units to do so and usually acquiring several properties per family. These are the humble daytripping tourists, the golden cash-cow that the Thai government and TAT worshipped so openly pre-Covid.

 

And undoubtedly this is the sector which has learned the hard way that the process of buying, selling and/or investing in property in Thailand is unrealistic and unpredictable, if not outright dangerous. So you can cross this sector off the list.

 

(The corporate Chinese investment is a different matter, owning controlling interests in Thai banking, finance, manufacturing industry and large-scale property development. This is here to stay and appears to currently have influence over the way in which the Thai government is working. You can predict that this sector is taking full advantage of the currently unstable and depressed tourist industry in Thailand and acquiring as much property in the hospitality sector as it can in the current climate - which in a few year's time assumedly will stabilise.)

 

With no tourists worldwide, the only target left is the retirement sector - the older farangs with comparatively greater sums of investment cash. But, yet again, with the total lack of insight that is now the hallmark of the current Thai government, they're blundering up the wrong tree entirely.

 

Rather than aiming for the 'average' retiree investors, they're desperately trying to snare a handful of the very wealthy ones. 

 

Instead of the hundreds (thousands??) of fellas in their 50s and 60s who've got enough cash to build/buy a modest house or two, they're trying to pull-in wealthy investors by silly enticements. Build a house on the wife's family land? No. It has to be a ridiculously expensive condo or something in a gated 'estate' community'.

 

The Thais (the government anyway) could never perceive themselves as beggars - they are far too proud. And yet that's exactly what they are doing; just look at all the harebrained schemes in the last few desperate months. 

 

But beggars can't be choosers. And this is what the proud Thais have yet to understand.

 

 

interesting post. i think you missed another strand of Chinese investment in Thailand which seems to have grown significantly in recent years; ie Chinese/HK/ Macau crims (and also certain mainland political figures) using Thailand as a place to clean up their dirty money. Or as a place to invest wealth (possibly obtained via corruption)  that they  could not risk doing in China or even in HK or Macau.

Thailand has some attractions for these kinds of activities. 

Here , what are perceived as respectable businessmen and Investors are sometimes just frontmen for  bigger fish back in China. 

It has been rumoured that at least 2 of the (bigger) clubs involved in the recent Thonglor   covid outbreak were backed by Chinese investors.  

 

[sungod]

2 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Everyone has views, how those views are viewed is not supposed to be deemed negative. 

Well, at least that's another way to describe doom porn.