Correct. They all wanted to get rich selling land to foreigners, who were happy to pay over the odds for it, without any legal and proper structure of ownership. I don't think people are laughing, but as another member has posted, there is a lack of sympathy, and I can understand why. I've never subscribed to the "everyone else is doing it, so it must be fine" theory. Let's be honest, these people knew it was illegal, but because there was no enforcement, they thought it was fine to go ahead. Surely they must have given a thought to the possibility there could be enforcement one day in the future. For me, and I have posted this in the past, the day was always going to come when the Thai government was going confiscate these illegally owned properties. That day has arrived, with 47,000 Thai companies to be investigated for using Thai nominees. In any case, when I researched it, I discovered it was also a lousy way to create the appearance of ownership to a foreigner. No one would accept a property ownership structure like this in their own country, but they come to Thailand and set up a Thai company solely for owning a property because "everyone else is doing it, so it must be fine." It's like they have turned a blind eye to due diligence. I use a visa agent. I like the convenience. The less dealings I have with any government officials here the better. I am not donating 800k to a Thai bank, when the interest from that 800k, left in my home country, more than pays for the agent. Should they seriously ban the use of agents, I don't expect any sympathy, but I transfer way more than 65k baht a month, so I will fall back to that method.
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