Condo Bought In Company Name - Now What Do I Do?

[VAN2PATTAYA]

I was a naive condo buyer in Pattaya a few years ago and purchased a condo in a COMPANY NAME!!! Doh!!! (I know very dumb of me - so save the lectures!)

With the new rules that close up this loophole are there any options moving forward to salvage this investment? What are all the other Farang Condo owners who unwittingly bought via the Company route doing?

Appreciate constructive advice.

[laxman1960]

I was a naive condo buyer in Pattaya a few years ago and purchased a condo in a COMPANY NAME!!! Doh!!! (I know very dumb of me - so save the lectures!)

With the new rules that close up this loophole are there any options moving forward to salvage this investment? What are all the other Farang Condo owners who unwittingly bought via the Company route doing?

Appreciate constructive advice.

The replies on previous threads about this subject and purchase of houses with land via the Company route all said just hold on and wait it out for a bit. There were not reports of them going out to get the companies, just that they were not making it easy or advisable to register new properties that way. Of course you can also look at legitimizing your company, thai shareholders, etc. as well.

Check with the lawyers, Sunbelt is a sponsor of Thai Visa, they can let you know the current state.

[Gary A]

The best way is to sell it to a Thai and dissolve the company. You can also list it with a real estate company and they can sell it to another naive farang.

[think_too_mut]

I was a naive condo buyer in Pattaya a few years ago and purchased a condo in a COMPANY NAME!!! Doh!!! (I know very dumb of me - so save the lectures!)

With the new rules that close up this loophole are there any options moving forward to salvage this investment? What are all the other Farang Condo owners who unwittingly bought via the Company route doing?

Appreciate constructive advice.

Just with View Talay x,y,z....there could be many hundreds of people who bought company name.

Who ever thought Thais would buy 51% of approx 5-6000 rooms in all the complexes? The unsold rooms went through bogus companies, sales office took the cost (in 1 particular case that I know of). And what is happening now? Nothing, sit and wait.

Could be, since that is not possible any longer, View Talay (the one where construction has been halted) had smelled bankrupcy and made it look they were responding to demands not to block somebody's view.

Edited July 2, 2007 by think_too_mut

[pkrv]

VAN2PATTAYA - There have in the past been signs of some flexibility by the Thai goverment in the 49% share of Ferang Condo ownership. From past posters it appears during 'difficult times' like the 97 crash 100% ownership was possible, for a while at least. CBRE were trying to increase ownership to 70%, don't know if this is related. I'm afraid that is all I know.

It would be sensible for the Thai government to limit fallout if they continued down this track. The condo market would be easiest to fix with short term measures in individual buildings, things could then return to normal in new developments.

[VAN2PATTAYA]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will sit it out for now until things settle down and some clearer direction emerges from the Thai Government.

Thankfully I have no need or wish to sell the property in the forseeable future.

Cheers

[Jingthing]

I have heard the phony shell company laws are NOT being enforced against condo owners. Maybe someone really in the know can comment. This implies you could sell to another foreigner with your company. Of course, the price would be devalued compared to a cleaner ownership.

[expatgaz]

Don't see the problem.I've got property in Company name,not my place of residence,and to be honest there's no panic.Sit tight,all will come back to normal,EVENTUALLY.There's probably a million "bogus" companies in Pattaya / Jomtien owning like this.What are the authorities gonna do ?

EPG.