British and American men arrested for real estate violations

[Dan O]

1 hour ago, impulse said:

 

Foreigners can own up to 49% of shares in a registered company that can own land.  Americans can own 100% of a registered company that can own land (under the Treaty of Amity)   But the companies have to be properly registered and the owned land can only be used for specified purposes.  So it's not that black and white...

 

 

Check the regs on that? other than a hotel you cannot own land or develop land under the treaty of aminity. 

[khunPer]

6 hours ago, Chetzee said:

..... so to put in one sentance .    They helped create Ltd companies to facilitate land purchase ........ Is that what everyone else is read there ?    

No, the serious part is the nominee shareholders: "...orchestrated the establishment of companies and subsequently transferred shares to Thai nationals to conduct real estate transactions with foreigners, a practice restricted by law."

[bkk6060]

Buy houses, motorbikes, cars, fill the closets and garage overwhelming yourself with a bunch of garbage and junk you don't need.

Make all the mistakes you made in your home country that you left to have a simpler life.

Some will just never learn..

[Surasak]

5 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Yup, those solicitors didn't get their reputation by being honest. They probably have an office party after muggins gives them a whole heap of loot to evade the law.

Top of my list of people not to trust would be lawyers/ solicitors, and second is Thai wives.

Lawyers/solicitors, I would agree. However, I believe you are being unfair to many Thai wives. I would definitely trust my wife's judgment, as opposed to many of the bar stool lawyers up and down the country.

[findlay13]

A Danish mate I met when I fairly new to the Pattaya bright lights told me , "DON'T marry the women and DON'T buy a house". As he explained the pitfalls,with both, I realized it was the best advice as a newbie I ever got concerning the LOS.

Edited March 16 by findlay13

[proton]

38 minutes ago, Dolf said:

Only the Americans saved us in WW2. The Brits were losing.

 

The USSR beat the Nazis not the Americans or the Brits

[Dolf]

Just now, proton said:

 

The USSR beat the Nazis not the Americans or the Brits

The Russia winter beat the Nazis. The Americans beat the Japanese.

[ChipButty]

51 minutes ago, proton said:

 

But what happens if the land is sold on to new owners, do these 30 year renewable leases still hold water?

Im not sure that 30 years lease nonsense has been tested yet, I do know of some villas thinking about it, it has to be around 22 years into the lease, 

One builder I know says he will renew the lease,

 

[NorthernRyland]

55 minutes ago, proton said:

 

But what happens if the land is sold on to new owners, do these 30 year renewable leases still hold water?

that would obviously violate the terms of the lease.

[xylophone]

52 minutes ago, proton said:

 

But what happens if the land is sold on to new owners, do these 30 year renewable leases still hold water?

That area is a potential minefield, because once the land is sold to new owners, they have no obligation to abide by the original agreement, whatever it was.

There was also a similar "scam/ruse" whereby agents were telling prospective buyers that land could be bought on a 30+30+30 year lease. That was ruled illegal in a Thai court of law.

[ChipButty]

I wonder how many fell for that nonsense that was being touted here in Phuket many years ago, 90 year lease, 30+30+30, I remember a guy in a bar telling me he was going to buy he said to me he will get on a 90 years lease, Sorry mate there is no such thing, 

[ChipButty]

3 minutes ago, xylophone said:

That area is a potential minefield, because once the land is sold to new owners, they have no obligation to abide by the original agreement, whatever it was.

There was also a similar "scam/ruse" whereby agents were telling prospective buyers that land could be bought on a 30+30+30 year lease. That was ruled illegal in a Thai court of law.

I just posted about that, also it was not allowed to be registered at the land office, 

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

Yes 

But who can legally buy it/own it is the problem.

[NativeBob]

5 minutes ago, xylophone said:

There was also a similar "scam/ruse" whereby agents were telling prospective buyers that land could be bought on a 30+30+30 year lease. That was ruled illegal in a Thai court of law.

Yes, indeed Heard those stories (triple 30) many times from brokers. 

[ChipButty]

3 minutes ago, xylophone said:

But who can legally buy it/own it is the problem.

The owner who owns the land and creates a lease for the property on the land that is then registered at the land department, 

Edited March 16 by ChipButty

[ross163103]

7 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Just keep your head down, only speak when spoken to.

That's the golden rule I live by, has worked for numerous years while living here.

[Surasak]

58 minutes ago, Dolf said:

Only the Americans saved us in WW2. The Brits were losing.

Sounds like a  try at enhancing a little history?

[Zack61]

Reminds me of a scam being run in Rayong / Ko Samet being run by an English guy going by the name of L*** 

Beware investors!!!

[ukrules]

If you must buy something then leasing is the way to go but based on what I've read over the years the lease renewal is not guaranteed in any way.

 

Also a lease contract which has a 'binding' obligation on the registered land owner to renew after each 30 year term is not legal which it is speculated nullifies the lease completely. A lease contract with clauses that are not allowed doesn't simply nullify the bad clauses - it nullifies the whole lease - is this true? Has it been tested yet?

So there's a lot of people out there who think they're sitting pretty in their house on a lease that's quite possibly not acceptable should the owner decide they want it back.

 

If I ever did a 30 year lease on a piece of land I would consider it a long term rent for 30 years max, I'll probably be dead by then anyway so it wouldn't matter as I have no aires and would likely pick up another house or two over the coming decades also on 30 year leases which stretch far beyond my time here.

 

Now I would do this on my Mrs name and lease from her, we are not married which is important because you can't do contracts between husband and wife. Well you can easily do them - but they can easily be reversed based on what I've read on here as well.

 

I figure if you spend 5% of your assets on a house then it's kind of disposable anyway but there's no need to let anyone know that.

 

 

[LukKrueng]

7 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Just keep your head down, only speak when spoken to. Sort of like prison rules.

You can leave whenever you want

[xylophone]

31 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

The owner who owns the land and creates a lease for the property on the land that is then registered at the land department, 

My question was really relating to who can legally buy it/lease it, because although the land is up for lease, as others have pointed out, it is not easy for farangs to lease it unless their wives can buy it (and the law states that if the wife does by it, then it has to be with money that she has accumulated by her own right) or if they set up a company, but then as others have pointed out they can only own 49% of it.......and so it goes on. 

[Kim Jones]

This is just the tip of the iceberg here. I hope they clear them all out. 

[HammerGuy]

7 hours ago, impulse said:

I wonder how many real estate transactions will be unwound, costing unsuspecting foreigners $$ millions.

 

I also wonder whether they're genuinely trying to clean it up, or just steer the money to the right parties.

 

Let's hope it's all the ruskies doing all the buying then!

[TheFishman1]

Yeah, that guy from Arizona seems all confident with all the <deleted> hits the fan. Yeah it’s like he’s an expert I lived here 13 years and half of what he said, said is not proven. Actually I think he’s incorrect.TIT

[cncltd1973]

"establishment of companies and subsequently transferred shares to Thai nationals to conduct real estate transactions with foreigners"

 

the first part sounds legal, must be the 2nd part that got them in trouble? selling land to foreigners?

Edited March 16 by cncltd1973

[theblether]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I think I saved a life when I got divorced and no longer lived with my wife, and that life wasn't mine.

The opposite of love is said to be hate, and that is the truth.

 

The opposite of love is indifference. 

 

Far too many people of both sexes spend years growling about long-gone exes. You know you're cured when you don't care. 

[traveller101]

5 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Just stick by the rules and you don't have a problem.

Unfortunately - some rules leave quite a bit of room for interpretation.

[moe666]

7 hours ago, proton said:

These two seem very sure of themselves and the 30 year lease on the land,

 

 

Nothing wrong with that. In the state the White mountain indian tribe leased land on the reservation to people for 99 years. People built million dollar houses on this land. Then there was a change in tribal government by election. The new chief says white man get your house off our land now.  There were some great videos of helicopters lifting up the house and flying away. Hopefully the new home owners in Thailand want have to fly their house out.

[BestB]

Charged with working in realestate or charged with assisting setting up companies to purchase properties? 

[BestB]

In the mean time Thai pretending to be accountants and agents continue to steal , scam and deceit without any repercussions what so ever.

 

and if you take one to court and win, your visa gets cancelled because accountant or agent is guilty and then PM goes overseas to scream how Thailand is open for business and more people should be investing 😎