buying a house with thai partner . uk citizen

[brendan3150]

hi

 

when buying a house with my thai partner    , is there anything i need to do regarding sending the money to thailand for the house purchase ?

 

i will be sending about £60,000

 

do i have to set up a thai bank account when i get there ?

 

can i just send it to her account ?

 

at the land regsitry office, if all the money has come from her bank account can i still have 49% put in my name ?

 

thanks for any advice

 

( i know i won't ever own it and any money i put into i am prepared to lose )

[Pmbkk]

My Thai wife and I have bought a few.

 

Ensure you get a good transfer company - UK banks tend to be high,

Not transferred large amounts via Wise, but I know they're highly recommended on this site. Used them for smaller amounts(£1000s)

 

Done the same in Spain when buying/selling property - used Torfx or currency converter. That way you get to speak to a representative and control the transfers. Best to send in smaller chunks based on company costs over time.

 

Re bank accounts, I had one, but I split it between a couple of my wife's accounts over time.

 

The funny thing about the Land Registry is  you see lots of people walking around with very large brown envelopes/bags.

If I was ever desperate and needed cash it would be my number 1 place to hang-out.

 

Good luck

They'll be may along to say just give to your gf and kiss goodbye to it ????

 

 

 

[brendan3150]

17 minutes ago, Pmbkk said:

My Thai wife and I have bought a few.

 

Ensure you get a good transfer company - UK banks tend to be high,

Not transferred large amounts via Wise, but I know they're highly recommended on this site. Used them for smaller amounts(£1000s)

 

Done the same in Spain when buying/selling property - used Torfx or currency converter. That way you get to speak to a representative and control the transfers. Best to send in smaller chunks based on company costs over time.

 

Re bank accounts, I had one, but I split it between a couple of my wife's accounts over time.

 

The funny thing about the Land Registry is  you see lots of people walking around with very large brown envelopes/bags.

If I was ever desperate and needed cash it would be my number 1 place to hang-out.

 

Good luck

They'll be may along to say just give to your gf and kiss goodbye to it ????

 

 

 

They'll be may along to say just give to your gf and kiss goodbye to it

 

hahaha pmbkk , hence my ending to my question .

 

thanks for the reply .

 

i alread have about £25k in my wise account in thai baht  . i thought i read somewhere that when buying property they need a letter from the bank , or something like that

[impulse]

3 hours ago, brendan3150 said:

at the land regsitry office, if all the money has come from her bank account can i still have 49% put in my name ?

Can you explain what you mean by that?

 

Also may be helpful for a look into the future, whether marriage to your partner is in your plans?

 

 

[4MyEgo]

3 hours ago, brendan3150 said:

i alread have about £25k in my wise account in thai baht 

Don't know much about the property thing, 49%, I know if it's land, you have 0%.

 

As far as Wise goes, I have used them for amounts as high as a mil and they are fine, but if you leave the money in the account for more than 3 days they charge you and annual interest rate of 1.6% something to do with Oz government regulations about them having to have the equal amount in their account so it costs them, might be different in the UK.

 

Also most banks in Thailand only allow up to 50k baht transfer per day into those bank account, so best look into that and if your wife has a bank a/c with SCB, I believe 2 mil baht per day is the limit, but best be checking, that's all I can offer. 

[Peterw42]

OP, You mention owning 49% of the house, you cant own 49% of the house.

 

You can set up a Thai company that owns the house and you own 49% of that company etc. That involves seeing a lawyer, company setup, share holders, company bank accounts etc. 

A whole lot more involved than which bank account does the money go to.

 

If, on the otherhand, you are just buying a house 100% in your partners name etc, it doesn't matter what account the money comes to/from.

The only time the bank account would be relevant would be if you are buying a foreign title condominium, 100% in your name, then money needs to go to/from your Thai acct

[Peterw42]

25 minutes ago, 4MyEgo said:

Also most banks in Thailand only allow up to 50k baht transfer per day into those bank account, so best look into that and if your wife has a bank a/c with SCB, I believe 2 mil baht per day is the limit, but best be checking, that's all I can offer. 

There is no limit as to transfers from overseas (or Thailand) into Thai accounts. There are often individual online banking (sending) limits set by banks, but those limits can be changed within the banking apps.

[4MyEgo]

25 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

There is no limit as to transfers from overseas (or Thailand) into Thai accounts. There are often individual online banking (sending) limits set by banks, but those limits can be changed within the banking apps.

Wise has a limit as to how much you can send per transfer, I should have said Wise in my previous statement, don't know about banks, your probably correct as I have never used them to transfer money, their fees are much more than Wise.

 

https://wise.com/help/articles/2932335/guide-to-thb-transfers

 

[scubascuba3]

If you put the house in thai company name so 49% in foreigner name then at least you won't lose all the property, if you put in thai birds name 100% kiss it goodbye when she decides to go off

[RafPinto]

4 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Also most banks in Thailand only allow up to 50k baht transfer per day into those bank account, so best look into that and if your wife has a bank a/c with SCB, I believe 2 mil baht per day is the limit, but best be checking, that's all I can offer. 

WRONG

Transfer limited to 49.999 Baht at a time but you can do this multiple times a day.

[siam dreamers]

on every piece of land or home I have purchased in Thailand in my wife's name the land office required a "Letter of Confirmation"  stating that all money was hers. This is very easy/cheap to do at the land office but very difficult to accomplish if I was not present at the land office at the time of sale.

 

https://www.thailandlawonline.com/letter-of-confirmation

[worgeordie]

37 minutes ago, siam dreamers said:

on every piece of land or home I have purchased in Thailand in my wife's name the land office required a "Letter of Confirmation"  stating that all money was hers. This is very easy/cheap to do at the land office but very difficult to accomplish if I was not present at the land office at the time of sale.

 

https://www.thailandlawonline.com/letter-of-confirmation

Everytime I signed that paper at the land office , everyone

burst out laughing , thinking , here's another one to the

slaughter , going to lose the lot , but I was one of the lucky

ones, 35 years later she's still with me ,a trusting more honest

person you could not meet, sure I took a risk , but that's life, 

 

To the OP you need to look into everything more closely ,

and know 100 % what you are getting into , think with your

big head not the small one , but good luck.

regards Worgeordie

 

[brendan3150]

thanks very much for all the replies

 

i seem to have mixed up the company route and owning a house. i thought you could own 49% of a house but not all of it , i now see you can own 49% of a company , my mistake apologies .

 

i have only been with my girlfriend for around 15 years . it is cheaper to buy her a house than marry her and then divorce ????

[RichardColeman]

13 hours ago, brendan3150 said:

when buying a house with my thai partner    , is there anything i need to do regarding sending the money to thailand for the house purchase ?

 

i will be sending about £60,000

Please tell me you have been together more than 6 months. I know a guy just retired, just blew all his retirement pot on his first trip here paying his first serious 'boos' debt off

[4MyEgo]

4 hours ago, RafPinto said:

WRONG

Transfer limited to 49.999 Baht at a time but you can do this multiple times a day.

Unless your with SCB, and the others where you can transfer 2 mil per transfer.

[brendan3150]

29 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Please tell me you have been together more than 6 months. I know a guy just retired, just blew all his retirement pot on his first trip here paying his first serious 'boos' debt off

around 15 years richard , is that long enough ?

[Dan O]

13 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

OP, You mention owning 49% of the house, you cant own 49% of the house.

 

You can set up a Thai company that owns the house and you own 49% of that company etc. That involves seeing a lawyer, company setup, share holders, company bank accounts etc. 

A whole lot more involved than which bank account does the money go to.

 

If, on the otherhand, you are just buying a house 100% in your partners name etc, it doesn't matter what account the money comes to/from.

The only time the bank account would be relevant would be if you are buying a foreign title condominium, 100% in your name, then money needs to go to/from your Thai acct

I believe thats not correct about the house. You dont need to set up a company unless your looking at "owning" the land or at least trying to. 

[Delight]

 This may help.

 

 In certain circumstances when   a property  (typically a house or a condominium that is in the non foreign 49% allocation)is acquired via the company  route-then this extra effort and cost is for the benefit of a foreigner.

The foreigner does not own the property and the foreigner does not own the company.

What he does own is his share allocation-max 49% of the total share issuance- and 100% of the voting rights.

It is the latter that counts. The foreigner has control. It is control that counts.

If in the future should the foreigner wish to dispose of the property then this foreigner  will simply transfer his share allocation and his  voting rights to another foreigner. That other foreigner will become the new MD.  This transfer will be carried out for the  agreed price of the house-plus admin fees.

An accountant or  a lawyer will supply this admin.

The Land office   entries and all the other shares are not involved. They stay where they were before.

Very easy and low cost.

Should -at some point in the future-  the company has to be closed

-then this procedure is expensive.

The act of closing a company will be required if the property has been transferred out of of the company. A transfer of this nature will occur when a Thai national buys the property.

 However- if the Thai national is buying the property with  the aim of  selling to a foreigner at some point in the future -then closing of the company is unlikely to happen.

[donx]

13 hours ago, siam dreamers said:

on every piece of land or home I have purchased in Thailand in my wife's name the land office required a "Letter of Confirmation"  stating that all money was hers. This is very easy/cheap to do at the land office but very difficult to accomplish if I was not present at the land office at the time of sale.

 

https://www.thailandlawonline.com/letter-of-confirmation

For the OP, whether you need to sign the document siam dreamers posted or not will depend upon if your wife is considered married or not in Thailand. I have never signed such a document although I've been married to my Thai wife for over 20 years and she has purchased at least three different properties during that time. The reason is that she is still shown as single on her Thai ID card because we have never registered our marriage in Thailand and she still shows her maiden name on all Thai documents - Thai ID and passport.

 

However, if your wige changed her last name and it shows that she is married on her Thai ID, then you will be required to sign this document.

[brendan3150]

1 hour ago, donx said:

For the OP, whether you need to sign the document siam dreamers posted or not will depend upon if your wife is considered married or not in Thailand. I have never signed such a document although I've been married to my Thai wife for over 20 years and she has purchased at least three different properties during that time. The reason is that she is still shown as single on her Thai ID card because we have never registered our marriage in Thailand and she still shows her maiden name on all Thai documents - Thai ID and passport.

 

However, if your wige changed her last name and it shows that she is married on her Thai ID, then you will be required to sign this document.

thanks donx . we are not married , yet . but it is a possibility that we will be. thanks to everyone for taking time to reply , even those that just posted a haha emoji ????‍♂️

[scubascuba3]

5 hours ago, Delight said:

 

Very easy and low cost.

Should -at some point in the future-  the company has to be closed

-then this procedure is expensive.

The act of closing a company will be required if the property has been transferred out of of the company. A transfer of this nature will occur when a Thai national buys the property.

 However- if the Thai national is buying the property with  the aim of  selling to a foreigner at some point in the future -then closing of the company is unlikely to happen.

About 15k a year some won't consider that low cost. Tax due if selling out of company could be expensive as cost depreciates annually in accounts

 

A thai company condo can be sold directly to a foreigner in foreign quota, that's how i bought mine

[Delight]

On 4/9/2022 at 4:30 AM, scubascuba3 said:

About 15k a year some won't consider that low cost. Tax due if selling out of company could be expensive as cost depreciates annually in accounts

 

A thai company condo can be sold directly to a foreigner in foreign quota, that's how i bought mine

 You have not read my input correctly.

 

The 'low cost' refers to the admin to transfer 'control of a company ' from one foreigner to another foreigner. My friends who have done this state that it is about 10000 to 12000 baht as a one off transaction.

 

Also-I never referred to  transferring a condo from company to foreign allocation

[scubascuba3]

47 minutes ago, Delight said:

 You have not read my input correctly.

 

The 'low cost' refers to the admin to transfer 'control of a company ' from one foreigner to another foreigner. My friends who have done this state that it is about 10000 to 12000 baht as a one off transaction.

 

Also-I never referred to  transferring a condo from company to foreign allocation

You said "The act of closing a company will be required if the property has been transferred out of of the company. A transfer of this nature will occur when a Thai national buys the property"

 

which is wrong, it doesn't need to be a Thai national.

 

Also "However- if the Thai national is buying the property with  the aim of  selling to a foreigner at some point in the future -then closing of the company is unlikely to happen."

 

again not correct

[Pmbkk]

On 4/8/2022 at 7:49 AM, siam dreamers said:

on every piece of land or home I have purchased in Thailand in my wife's name the land office required a "Letter of Confirmation"  stating that all money was hers. This is very easy/cheap to do at the land office but very difficult to accomplish if I was not present at the land office at the time of sale.

 

https://www.thailandlawonline.com/letter-of-confirmation

 

I've bought a few, but can never remember signing this - always at the dept' in Bangkok.

That's not to say I didn't - it was a few years ago ????

 

We're thinking of selling one of our Condo's - in my wife's name - is there an equivalent on sale?  My wife's gone back for a couple of months.

We've already had offers, I wouldn't want to hold up the sale for a form.

TIA, Regards

 

[Kinnock]

On 4/8/2022 at 10:52 AM, RafPinto said:

WRONG

Transfer limited to 49.999 Baht at a time but you can do this multiple times a day.

WRONG (I can use capital letters too).

 

Unlimited transfers if you can show it's for a specific purpose and you have proof of ID and address.

[recom273]

On 4/8/2022 at 2:44 AM, Pmbkk said:

 

The funny thing about the Land Registry is  you see lots of people walking around with very large brown envelopes/bags.

If I was ever desperate and needed cash it would be my number 1 place to hang-out.

 

Not too sure how true this is, we only needed to do this on one land purchase.

 

We were told, If you want to complete the purchase on the day, then it needs to be cash. I suggested a bankers draft or transferring money via an app, but apparently the land office need to see proof before they finalize the transfer - that's hard currency being exchanged or a letter from the bank to confirm the amount has been transferred.

 

I would love to know if this is the truth.

 

But yeah, lots of people with A4 brown envelopes with bank logos. Robbing gold from shopping centers seems popular here, you would be better of snatching a brown envelope from the land office.

[Banana7]

An optional way, and the best way in way in my opinion, to help your GF is for you to loan her the money as a mortgage, and have the mortgage registered in the land office. I recommend using a reliable law firm to register the mortgage in your name.

 

This way, if she gives you the boot, she'll still owe you the remaining balance on the mortgage . If she doesn't pay the mortgage, you can foreclose on the property.

 

As for the mortgage payments, make sure she does pay every month into your account. If you are feeling kind, return the payment in cash, so there is no paper trace.

 

Also, get a usufruct on the house and land, registered by the lawyer. Although the law does not prevent Foreigners from being able to apply to register a usufruct on a land, however, this is still subject to the discretion of the Land Officer. The person who enters into a contractual agreement with the owner for this right is called the "usufructuary". Section 1418 of the commercial code provides that a usufruct may be created for a period of time or for the life of the usufructuary. A usufruct will be registered in a similar manner to a lease of up to 30 years or until the lifetime of the usufructuary.

 

There are stories of foreigners dying prematurely to terminate a lease or a  usufruct, but in this case, the mortgage benefit will revert to your heirs. She'll have little incentive to attend to your premature departure.

 

 

[RafPinto]

6 hours ago, Kinnock said:

WRONG (I can use capital letters too).

 

Unlimited transfers if you can show it's for a specific purpose and you have proof of ID and address.

I did not mention that only 1 transfer is possible.
I said that a maximum of 49,999Baht per transfer is possible if you don't bank with 

• Bangkok Bank Public Company

• Kasikorn Bank

• Siam Commercial Bank

[RafPinto]

1 hour ago, RafPinto said:

I did not mention that only 1 transfer is possible.
I said that a maximum of 49,999Baht per transfer is possible if you don't bank with 

• Bangkok Bank Public Company

• Kasikorn Bank

• Siam Commercial Bank

https://wise.com/help/articles/2932335/guide-to-thb-transfers?origin=search-buying+property+in+thailand