23 hours ago, webfact said:

The businesses investigated span various sectors, such as tour guides, restaurants, car rentals, hotels, and real estate.

I'll bet there are 400 in Pattaya alone; all to 'own' a house.

16 minutes ago, mikebell said:

I'll bet there are 400 in Pattaya alone; all to 'own' a house.

Well the land too.....

I suspect more than 400. Also used to own condos where people purchase in the Thai quota.

17 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Well the land too.....

I suspect more than 400. Also used to own condos where people purchase in the Thai quota.

I suspect in my tambon there is many, 

The beginning of the end - bureaucracy will kill everything - eventually even Thailand! 

You cannot find room maids, waiters nor other hospitality staff; forget sufficiently educated tour guides speaking fluently a foreign language. The Phooyais, the oligarch elite is blocking everything and anybody trying to move Thais from under the stone into the 21st century. 

You want tourism money, then you have to formulate a product which is attractive enough so tourists come. 30+ years ago you had all the opportunities for quality tourism as Thailand was a mono-destination with history, culture and beaches. Now it's rip-off, rip-off and more rip-off while the customer base consists of avalanches for cheap Chinese, Indian and other floods of quantity tourism. 
 

20 hours ago, NativeBob said:

That's very sad news. I know some foreigners who bought houses using exactly this "trick". 

 

One thing I learned very early on during my time here is, never, ever, put yourself in a Thai's pocket. 

Check those elephants too. They don’t look genuinely Thai to me. Probably, illegal Burmese or Cambodian.

 

 

Thats without looking at businesses established just to enable a foreigner to buy property, they turn that stone and people are going to lose their homes

13 hours ago, jacko45k said:

I went the other way and have a place in a shell company name, still got the house, still got the GF after many years. I guess I did well. 

I wonder how many people have said that over the years.

Things can change in an instant.

Someone said to me a long time ago "you never know what's round the corner" he has been proven right so many times i have lost count. Easy come easy go.

10 hours ago, Dene16 said:

I wonder how many people have said that over the years.

Things can change in an instant.

Someone said to me a long time ago "you never know what's round the corner" he has been proven right so many times i have lost count. Easy come easy go.

Oh no argument from me.... we are all a bad day away from a complete change in our lives.  From her indoors learning something about your habits, she reaches menopause, or, like people from Switzerland, a particularly infuriating day! I recall how I felt when I firsts came here, and now look back and wonder how I let myself get so invested in the place. And all on an Extension that is very much year by year, without permanence. 

On 3/7/2024 at 7:58 PM, nomadinuk said:

I've not read all replies, so it may have already been mentioned, but all these homes owned under company name, could these properties ultimately be seized? 

If the proxy used was fake or there is discrepancy with the way the ownership was gotten. Of course it can be seized. 

On 3/7/2024 at 10:05 PM, sloopjohn said:

This is the normal business practice by foreigners who want to set up a business in Thailand.  This is the first I am hearing that it is illegal.  Or not entirely legal?  Or something they want to make illegal in the future and retroactively punish those who were never breaking any existent law?

 

I think it's just a setup to extract more under the table money from foreign owned businesses.  

Come on. How you can be smart enough to invest yet stupid enough not to think that paying someone to use their name to do something you are not permitted to do yourself, would not be considered illegal?

1 hour ago, thesetat said:

Come on. How you can be smart enough to invest yet stupid enough not to think that paying someone to use their name to do something you are not permitted to do yourself, would not be considered illegal?

Because the arrangement was drawn up by a legal entity.... a lawyers office. 

The company formed was accepted by the Thai authorities.

They have been taking the taxes for years.

Naive or what.....

On 3/7/2024 at 3:55 PM, thesetat said:

condo ownership

do you mean the legal Foreign Ownership of Condos has been revoked?

13 minutes ago, KKra said:

do you mean the legal Foreign Ownership of Condos has been revoked?

I dont think so, 

On 3/10/2024 at 3:31 PM, KKra said:

do you mean the legal Foreign Ownership of Condos has been revoked?

No mate! This was about using a thai to show 51% ownership with a foreigner owning 49% so he can buy something that would not normally be sold to him legally outright. 

Only 400 companies ??? 🤣

 

That is one of the best jokes this week !

55555

On 3/8/2024 at 10:05 AM, Hellfire said:

Check those elephants too. They don’t look genuinely Thai to me. Probably, illegal Burmese or Cambodian.

 

 

Possibly African elephants that had their ears trimmed.