Just been looking into this proxy, fake Thai ownership malarky and wondered how far it could go.

There's 'talk' of luxury villa ownership being investigated after all these businesses have been closed down and land and property could possibly be seized.

I was thinking I'm safe......everything is in my Thai wife's name anyway......house, farmland, bar, restaurant........my name doesn't appear on any documents.

I asked Siam Legal to give some assurances and they said ................."unless your wife has evidence of previous earnings, inheritance, lottery win even, that show the funds to purchase came from her and not me, then the property is technically still at risk of seizure.

Hand on heart, I don't see anything coming of it, but it makes you realise how fragile things could become with Anutin running riot

13 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

."unless your wife has evidence of previous earnings, inheritance, lottery win even, that show the funds to purchase came from her and not me

Perhaps it's best not to get married.

Never been married in Thailand, all property in kids names. 😊

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by SAFETY FIRST

2 minutes ago, SAFETY FIRST said:

Perhaps it's best not to get married.

Never been married in Thailand, all property in kids names. 😊

As it happens I've kept all my wife's P60s, wage slips, NI records, P45 etc.........but if push turns to shove, I imagine some might find themselves in quite a predicament.

13 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

I was thinking I'm safe......everything is in my Thai wife's name anyway......house, farmland, bar, restaurant........my name doesn't appear on any documents.

I asked Siam Legal to give some assurances and they said ................."unless your wife has evidence of previous earnings, inheritance, lottery win even, that show the funds to purchase came from her and not me, then the property is technically still at risk of seizure.

Same with me, name doesn't appear anywhere, and signed doc at land office, of all her money for land purchases.

She has previous employment record of over a decade, and family well off, so source of finances wouldn't be an issue. And technically, all funds were from her, after I sold the first house, built with previous wife.

Wasn't even married to current wife when she bought land & contracted our previous house, which profits from, financed current assets, she holds. So no worries here. I'm just along for the ride.

I know more than a few, that if peeked at, their home and business ownership would be questionable.

Edited 1 hour ago1 hr by KhunLA

Depends how far the authorities want to go, it's a quasi looting going on which is probably addictive so may keep going until wealth has gone to the Thais involved

6 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Same with me, name doesn't appear anywhere, and signed doc at land office, of all her money for land purchases.

She has previous employment record of over a decade, and family well off, so source of finances wouldn't be an issue. And technically, all funds were from her, after I sold the first house, built with previous wife.

Wasn't even married to current wife when she bought land & contracted our previous house, which profits from, financed current assets, she holds. So no worries here. I'm just along for the ride.

I know more than a few, that if peeked at, their home and business ownership would be questionable.

Yes, my thoughts exactly.......I can't imagine a purge would get down to our/my level........but it just might in certain areas, or if someone upsets the wrong person!

17 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

Just been looking into this proxy, fake Thai ownership malarky and wondered how far it could go.

There's 'talk' of luxury villa ownership being investigated after all these businesses have been closed down and land and property could possibly be seized.

I was thinking I'm safe......everything is in my Thai wife's name anyway......house, farmland, bar, restaurant........my name doesn't appear on any documents.

I asked Siam Legal to give some assurances and they said ................."unless your wife has evidence of previous earnings, inheritance, lottery win even, that show the funds to purchase came from her and not me, then the property is technically still at risk of seizure.

Hand on heart, I don't see anything coming of it, but it makes you realise how fragile things could become with Anutin running riot

So what is really at risk?

Is everything owned by your wife personally, or by a Thai company? That makes a difference. From what I understand, they are mainly going after nominee structures where Thai names are used as fronts for foreign control. Fake shareholders, professional fixers, land holding companies, and businesses set up mainly to bypass foreign ownership rules.

If your wife genuinely owns and controls it, or if the company is a real Thai business with proper accounts, tax records, and real activity, I would not lose sleep over it. But if it is only a paper company holding land for a foreigner, that is exactly the kind of thing they are looking at now.

5 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Depends how far the authorities want to go, it's a quasi looting going on which is probably addictive so may keep going until wealth has gone to the Thais involved

With Anutin running the show he might really push this, especially if he sees a ground swell of support from the voters.

1 minute ago, Hummin said:

So what is really at risk?

Is everything owned by your wife personally, or by a Thai company? That makes a difference. From what I understand, they are mainly going after nominee structures where Thai names are used as fronts for foreign control. Fake shareholders, professional fixers, land holding companies, and businesses set up mainly to bypass foreign ownership rules.

If your wife genuinely owns and controls it, or if the company is a real Thai business with proper accounts, tax records, and real activity, I would not lose sleep over it. But if it is only a paper company holding land for a foreigner, that is exactly the kind of thing they are looking at now.

No company structure involved for us, this just about where the funds originally come from.

My wife had to signed the Sin Suan Tua form (I thnk)

Under the current law, if it can be shown that even if the purchase was made in a Thai's name, but the funds came from a non-Thai.........there could be repercussions.

3 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

No company structure involved for us, this just about where the funds originally come from.

My wife had to signed the Sin Suan Tua form (I thnk)

Under the current law, if it can be shown that even if the purchase was made in a Thai's name, but the funds came from a non-Thai.........there could be repercussions.

Then I would not lose sleep over it. No company structure, no fake shareholders, no third party setup, and no nominee arrangement.

It is in your wife’s name, signed as her separate property, and that is the structure Thailand itself allows. Money inside a marriage is often family money. Unless there is some hidden agreement showing she is only holding it for you, I would not make the lawyer fear bigger than the reality.

30 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

Under the current law, if it can be shown that even if the purchase was made in a Thai's name, but the funds came from a non-Thai.........there could be repercussions.

The land I build my house on is in Thai name, not my wife as I'm not married.

Contract was made up by a lawyer, which states that I loaned the money for the purchase, and the mortgage is registered at the land office, and noted on the back of the Chanote.

The house is in my name, with building licence in my name, and I have a 3 year lease on the land.

Leases of less than 3 year do not require registration, and can legally auto-renew.

42 minutes ago, MIke B Bad said:

With Anutin running the show he might really push this, especially if he sees a ground swell of support from the voters.

What he doesn't realise is people will stop investing costing thousands of thai jobs

30 minutes ago, Hummin said:

Then I would not lose sleep over it. No company structure, no fake shareholders, no third party setup, and no nominee arrangement.

It is in your wife’s name, signed as her separate property, and that is the structure Thailand itself allows. Money inside a marriage is often family money. Unless there is some hidden agreement showing she is only holding it for you, I would not make the lawyer fear bigger than the reality.

No, apparently if it's in the wife's name but funds come from elsewhere i.e the farang there could be an issue, read it on facebook earlier so must be true

My cleaner told me last week that a friend / customer farang transferred his house to her, panic has started

45 minutes ago, Hummin said:

So what is really at risk?

Is everything owned by your wife personally, or by a Thai company? That makes a difference. From what I understand, they are mainly going after nominee structures where Thai names are used as fronts for foreign control. Fake shareholders, professional fixers, land holding companies, and businesses set up mainly to bypass foreign ownership rules.

If your wife genuinely owns and controls it, or if the company is a real Thai business with proper accounts, tax records, and real activity, I would not lose sleep over it. But if it is only a paper company holding land for a foreigner, that is exactly the kind of thing they are looking at now.

Exactly and the OP should probably get a second opinion.

The letter of confirmation signed at the Land Office at purchase is required when a Thai is married to a foreigner. It basically states the property is "her" property. Doesn't matter where the funds came from. It is completely legal and the property is owned 100% by her.