Foreigner Land ownership

[cobyco]

Hi

Is thete any way foreigner can put thai land under his name?(or company name?)

 

[itsari]

I have read that US citizens can buy land in Thailand . I am curious to hear of any information coming forward on that subject .

[DrJoy]

Yes, if you can manage to start a BOI company 

[Callmeishmael]

38 minutes ago, itsari said:

I have read that US citizens can buy land in Thailand . I am curious to hear of any information coming forward on that subject .

That ended decades ago.

 

Foreigners can buy up to 1 rai of land if they make a governmetn approved investment of 30 or 40 million baht (I don't remember the exact figure). 

 

There is also the rather dodgy 'company buying land'.  But if the company is non-trading and was only set up to purchase land to build a house on, the Thai government can seize the property at any time (though this is rarely done).

[blackcab]

1 hour ago, Callmeishmael said:

Foreigners can buy up to 1 rai of land if they make a governmetn approved investment of 30 or 40 million baht (I don't remember the exact figure). 

 

Foreigners can apply for permission to buy up to 1 rai of land in specific areas of Thailand after they have invested 40 million baht of funds that have been remitted from outside Thailand. The investment must be an approved investment.

 

After making the investment, the foreigner must receive written permission from the Minister of the Interior granting approval to purchase the land. It is up to the foreigner to obtain this approval; there is no specific form to submit to the Interior Ministry to gain approval. The foreigner has to be able to approach the Minister of the Interior themselves in order to gain permission.

 

Note that ownership is only for the life of the foreigner. After the foreigner dies, the land must be sold to a Thai citizen. It cannot be inherited by non-Thai children of the deceased.

[smutcakes]

On 2/5/2022 at 6:55 PM, blackcab said:

 

Foreigners can apply for permission to buy up to 1 rai of land in specific areas of Thailand after they have invested 40 million baht of funds that have been remitted from outside Thailand. The investment must be an approved investment.

 

After making the investment, the foreigner must receive written permission from the Minister of the Interior granting approval to purchase the land. It is up to the foreigner to obtain this approval; there is no specific form to submit to the Interior Ministry to gain approval. The foreigner has to be able to approach the Minister of the Interior themselves in order to gain permission.

 

Note that ownership is only for the life of the foreigner. After the foreigner dies, the land must be sold to a Thai citizen. It cannot be inherited by non-Thai children of the deceased.

So for all practical purposes the answer is no...

[blackcab]

1 hour ago, smutcakes said:

So for all practical purposes the answer is no...

 

Under these conditions, why on earth would anyone want to?  A foreigner would need to have an absolute burning and unassuageable desire to own a piece of land in Thailand to do this. There are very few 1 rai plots of land that will massively increase in value in the short to medium term unless you are looking at very specialist plots in the Sukhumvit and Sathorn areas of Bangkok where you will be paying 1-2 million baht per square wah (7,500 - 15,000 USD per square meter, with a minimum purchase of 1,600 square meters). Personally I would imagine that is not most people's idea of a long term investment of 12-25 million USD. Especially as the purchase would not guarantee your right to enter or reside in Thailand on a permanent basis.

 

For those with that kind of money there are some really nice condos in Bangkok in the 125 million baht (3-5 million USD) range. If people want a garden at any cost it would be cheaper to buy 2 of these units, live in one and plant grass seed in the other.

 

For everyone else I think it's a case of dream on...

[smutcakes]

8 minutes ago, blackcab said:

 

Under these conditions, why on earth would anyone want to?  A foreigner would need to have an absolute burning and unassuageable desire to own a piece of land in Thailand to do this. There are very few 1 rai plots of land that will massively increase in value in the short to medium term unless you are looking at very specialist plots in the Sukhumvit and Sathorn areas of Bangkok where you will be paying 1-2 million baht per square wah (7,500 - 15,000 USD per square meter, with a minimum purchase of 1,600 square meters). Personally I would imagine that is not most people's idea of a long term investment of 12-25 million USD. Especially as the purchase would not guarantee your right to enter or reside in Thailand on a permanent basis.

 

For those with that kind of money there are some really nice condos in Bangkok in the 125 million baht (3-5 million USD) range. If people want a garden at any cost it would be cheaper to buy 2 of these units, live in one and plant grass seed in the other.

 

For everyone else I think it's a case of dream on...

Yeah I completely agree with you. There a few laws in Thailand which are there, but for all practical reasons intentionally or not they are just not really readily available. Like you can buy greenfield land with BOI approval.... well yes you can, but very very few ever actually get BOI approval to acquire land.