A Condominium has come open in my Building, nicely done, opens to the pool, 2 bedroom 2 bath. I own one other in same building upstairs but 1 bedroom, and am ready to upgrade. Real estate agent is well known to ppty management, we went thru, and I found out no one has lived there in over 2 years - the “Owner” is in Middle East and can't travel anymore. Talk further I find out it is owned by a ‘Company', in a Thai Quota and to buy it all we have to do is change the name of the ‘Owner’ ‘Boss', to mine and Land office does not get involved at all. Now at risk of all the naysayers - "Don’t buy in Thailand", I have owned and sold two condo’s already, so am not exactly a rube, first one I did with lawyer and another I did with myself, Lawyer only to observe transfer at Land Office. My question, with all the hype in news about these ‘Company Owned’ Properties, is this Legal?? They all told me there is no problem for Condominiums, only for Businesses and Land or Building ownerships. Color me suspicious but I’d like a second opinion from those that have done this sort of transaction before. The “Company” has been in JomTien about 15 years, has bought over 30 Condominiums and according to Mgt, has never lost one yet. So do you think this is legit and legal according to Thai Law? Please, constructive comments only, but I am sure the “Don’t buy in Thailand’ crowd will be first to respond. Peace

No, don't buy, it's a hot potato now, crazy to get involved

I find out it is owned by a ‘Company', in a Thai Quota and to buy it all we have to do is change the name of the ‘Owner’ ‘Boss', to mine and Land office does not get involved at all.

If it's in the Thai quota, how can the OP buy it unless he/she is Thai, or a company registered in Thailand? And if he/she is a company registered in Thailand, is that by way of Thai nominees (that they're currently cracking down on)?

If it's in the foreigner quota, go for it. If it's not, let someone else take the risk...

Now the part that stumps me... They don't apparently allocate specific units to the Thai/Foreign quota. It seems that they just look to see if over 49% are owned by foreigners when the transaction takes place. Someone else is going to have to 'splain those risks to my pinhead.

4 minutes ago, impulse said:

Now the part that stumps me... They don't apparently allocate specific units to the Thai/Foreign quota. It seems that they just look to see if over 49% are owned by foreigners when the transaction takes place. Someone else is going to have to 'splain those risks to my pinhead.

What do you need explaining?

This how it always works. 49% of the total floor surface of a condominium can be in foreign name.

As long as the foreign quota is not fully used, units in Thai quota can be moved to foreign quota at the time of transfer.

Once foreign quota is depleted, only Thai quota is availabe

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

If it's in the Thai quota, how can the OP buy it unless he/she is Thai, or a company registered in Thailand? And if he/she is a company registered in Thailand, is that by way of Thai nominees (that they're currently cracking down on)?

If it's in the foreigner quota, go for it. If it's not, let someone else take the risk...

Now the part that stumps me... They don't apparently allocate specific units to the Thai/Foreign quota. It seems that they just look to see if over 49% are owned by foreigners when the transaction takes place. Someone else is going to have to 'splain those risks to my pinhead.

Tks for the response: Thai Mgt told me that the unit is actually considered two units under Thai Law, so both units are under Thai Quota. Even if I changed my 1 bedroom to Thai Quota, only half the Condo will be Foreign and other half is Thai - Bizarre, but they have been doing this for twenty years, so I have to believe them. I suspect this is like one poster said - A Hot Potato and the “owner “ wants out - hasn’t lived there in two years, read the news, and decided to cut & run…….I’m out!! Peace

17 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

No, don't buy, it's a hot potato now, crazy to get involved

I suspected something like that - it’s listed at 3.4 Mil, but agent said you can offer 3 mil and I am sure he will accept it…….normally they don’t advise that when selling, that would cut into their own profit. I’m out. Tks

9 minutes ago, Explorator en Action said:

I suspected something like that - it’s listed at 3.4 Mil, but agent said you can offer 3 mil and I am sure he will accept it…….normally they don’t advise that when selling, that would cut into their own profit. I’m out. Tks

No ones buying in thai company name now, some transfer in thai friends name but of course that's a risk also. I'd wait and see if govt increase foreign quota to enable a legal route

What do you need explaining?

This how it always works. 49% of the total floor surface of a condominium can be in foreign name.

As long as the foreign quota is not fully used, units in Thai quota can be moved to foreign quota at the time of transfer.

Once foreign quota is depleted, only Thai quota is availabe

I understand that. But what happens if one of the foreign units sells to a Thai? Who gets to move their Thai unit to the foreign quota? Is there a queue? Is it first come, first serve? What happens if someone at the Land Office screws up and they end up with more units in the foreign quota than allowed (does the next seller get hosed?)

15 minutes ago, impulse said:

I understand that. But what happens if one of the foreign units sells to a Thai? Who gets to move their Thai unit to the foreign quota? Is there a queue? Is it first come, first serve? What happens if someone at the Land Office screws up and they end up with more units in the foreign quota than allowed (does the next seller get hosed?)

If someone in foreign quota moves to Thai quota, which I doubt ever happens, those exact sqm become available again if foreign quote.

To move your property from Thai to foreign quota you will have to make a transfer at the land department, and pay all the fees.

On top of that you have to close the company that held your condo, which again involves costs.

Land office doesn't mess up, because the juristic person has to declare the total floor surface and how many sqm in foreign quota

Edited July 1Jul 1 by CallumWK

The first thing I would check would be whether there is Foreign Quota still available in your condo project. Having bought and sold 20-some condos in Thailand, I would strongly advise not buying in Company Name. Foreign buyers have been using Company Name to buy houses, as that is the only option other than leasing or putting the property in a Thai spouse's name, but that's not the case with condos. You have the right, as a foreigner, to legally buy a condo in your name, providing there is foreign quota available in the condo project.

Foreign Quota has several advantages over Company Name. First, a FQ condo has always been easier to sell should you choose to sell at some point--and, even more so now with the CN crackdown. With those 20 condos I mentioned, 2 were bought in Thai Name, as FQ was not available. One was in maybe the most desirable condo project in Pattaya and we were able to sell it without too much trouble--as buyers want to be in that project so much that they will purchase non-FQ condos. In our case, the foreign buyer bought in Thai Name with his Thai wife as the new owner. The second condo, in a less desirable project, was a much harder and longer sale, which we only managed to sell when FQ became available and we were able to move the condo to FQ.

Second, with FQ ownership, you don't have the annual paperwork and expenses required with CN. You'll need to do this yearly company accounting paperwork yourself or hire someone to do it for you. House buyers put themselves through this annual hassle because they have to. Condo buyers have a much better option available with FQ.

While I would tend to agree that condo buyers who have bought in CN will probably be the last to face investigation for possibly illegal use of CN to purchase a property, why put yourself through the uncertainty and possible legal hassles if you don't have to? It's entirely up to you, of course, but in your shoes, I would look for a FQ condo to purchase if the condo you mentioned is not available in FQ.

9 hours ago, Explorator en Action said:

My question, with all the hype in news about these ‘Company Owned’ Properties, is this Legal?? They all told me there is no problem for Condominiums, only for Businesses and Land or Building ownerships. Color me suspicious but I’d like a second opinion from those that have done this sort of transaction before. The “Company” has been in JomTien about 15 years, has bought over 30 Condominiums and according to Mgt, has never lost one yet. So do you think this is legit and legal according to Thai Law? Please, constructive comments only, but I am sure the “Don’t buy in Thailand’ crowd will be first to respond. Peace

According to Thai law, it is illegal to use nominees for any Thai company, regardless of what the Thai business does. As an example, google the case of shareholder nominees for Thaksin Shinawatra.

Having said that, it may be that Thai company ownership of condos are less likely to be cracked down on than those that own land and houses. Nevertheless, this is still something that is illegal as far as i can tell, unless you can bring your own Thai shareholders to pay for the 51% shares owned by the current Thai shareholders and can prove they provided the funds to purchase those shares.

9 hours ago, CallumWK said:

If someone in foreign quota moves to Thai quota, which I doubt ever happens, those exact sqm become available again if foreign quote.

To move your property from Thai to foreign quota you will have to make a transfer at the land department, and pay all the fees.

On top of that you have to close the company that held your condo, which again involves costs.

Land office doesn't mess up, because the juristic person has to declare the total floor surface and how many sqm in foreign quota

All true, my curent condominium was Thai quota, they changed it to Foreign quota, 1000 baht at land Office. It ia still foreigner quota.

17 hours ago, impulse said:

I understand that. But what happens if one of the foreign units sells to a Thai? Who gets to move their Thai unit to the foreign quota? Is there a queue? Is it first come, first serve? What happens if someone at the Land Office screws up and they end up with more units in the foreign quota than allowed (does the next seller get hosed?)

Yes there has been fu ck ups where too many condos are in foreign quota, one about 2 years ago was Pattaya soi 15 condo Centara, from memory the notice said sales will be from thai quota.

Foreign quota can go to thai quota when a farang dies and it goes to a thai leaving more foreign quota or a repossession.

As for queue system for foreign quota, shenanigans do go on where committee members can restrict use prioritising them or someone else, best to check with condo office.

I bought from thai company name and i put it in foreign quota, no shenanigans, it was very transparent at the time

Edited July 1Jul 1 by scubascuba3

If it's a majority Thai owned company, then no problem!

The authorities are looking at foreign owned trading businesses

I've not heard of any problems with the normal companies owning residential properties.

Just be careful who you name as shareholders of the company in my unqualified opinion.

If it's a Thai company with a 51 %. Thai Percent owner ship,which it must be if it's in the Thai quota you are into nominee ownership issues.

You are also liable for any tax shenanigans or other criminal activities of the company in the past .

If you want to buy it pay the transfer tax and put it in your own name if it there is foriegn quota available in the development.

It makes no sense to buy it as a company

11 minutes ago, Andyfez said:

If it's a majority Thai owned company, then no problem!

The authorities are looking at foreign owned trading businesses

I've not heard of any problems with the normal companies owning residential properties.

Just be careful who you name as shareholders of the company in my unqualified opinion.

When the unit is Thai company owned, it can be obtained by buying the foreign owner's shares, which represent 49% ownership of the company, thus keeping the original Thai nominees. So no need to get the land office involved since the unit remains owned by the Thai company.

That said, with the latest crackdown on companies formed with nominees, whether a commercial company to do business or a real estate company to own property, there is now IMO a much higher risk that a company with a foreigner holding 49% of the shares may be investigated.

Although the current crackdown appears to be primarily aimed at commercial businesses, it does not mean that companies created to own property will not in the near future also be investigated.

On 7/1/2026 at 6:05 AM, Explorator en Action said:

My question, with all the hype in news about these ‘Company Owned’ Properties, is this Legal?? They all told me there is no problem for Condominiums, only for Businesses and Land or Building ownerships. Color me suspicious but I’d like a second opinion from those that have done this sort of transaction before. The “Company” has been in JomTien about 15 years, has bought over 30 Condominiums and according to Mgt, has never lost one yet. So do you think this is legit and legal according to Thai Law? Please, constructive comments only, but I am sure the “Don’t buy in Thailand’ crowd will be first to respond. Peace

It is NOT legal. Some Thais own 51% of the company, and if they are nominees, it's illegal. It is, what you almost daily read about in the news. Furthermore, a Thai company limited shall have other purpose(s) than owing property, rented out to a major shareholder.

Wait to buy until a condo within the 49% quota is available.

On 7/1/2026 at 5:05 AM, Explorator en Action said:

A Condominium has come open in my Building, nicely done, opens to the pool, 2 bedroom 2 bath. I own one other in same building upstairs but 1 bedroom, and am ready to upgrade. Real estate agent is well known to ppty management, we went thru, and I found out no one has lived there in over 2 years - the “Owner” is in Middle East and can't travel anymore. Talk further I find out it is owned by a ‘Company', in a Thai Quota and to buy it all we have to do is change the name of the ‘Owner’ ‘Boss', to mine and Land office does not get involved at all. Now at risk of all the naysayers - "Don’t buy in Thailand", I have owned and sold two condo’s already, so am not exactly a rube, first one I did with lawyer and another I did with myself, Lawyer only to observe transfer at Land Office. My question, with all the hype in news about these ‘Company Owned’ Properties, is this Legal?? They all told me there is no problem for Condominiums, only for Businesses and Land or Building ownerships. Color me suspicious but I’d like a second opinion from those that have done this sort of transaction before. The “Company” has been in JomTien about 15 years, has bought over 30 Condominiums and according to Mgt, has never lost one yet. So do you think this is legit and legal according to Thai Law? Please, constructive comments only, but I am sure the “Don’t buy in Thailand’ crowd will be first to respond. Peace

On 7/1/2026 at 5:05 AM, Explorator en Action said:

A Condominium has come open in my Building, nicely done, opens to the pool, 2 bedroom 2 bath. I own one other in same building upstairs but 1 bedroom, and am ready to upgrade. Real estate agent is well known to ppty management, we went thru, and I found out no one has lived there in over 2 years - the “Owner” is in Middle East and can't travel anymore. Talk further I find out it is owned by a ‘Company', in a Thai Quota and to buy it all we have to do is change the name of the ‘Owner’ ‘Boss', to mine and Land office does not get involved at all. Now at risk of all the naysayers - "Don’t buy in Thailand", I have owned and sold two condo’s already, so am not exactly a rube, first one I did with lawyer and another I did with myself, Lawyer only to observe transfer at Land Office. My question, with all the hype in news about these ‘Company Owned’ Properties, is this Legal?? They all told me there is no problem for Condominiums, only for Businesses and Land or Building ownerships. Color me suspicious but I’d like a second opinion from those that have done this sort of transaction before. The “Company” has been in JomTien about 15 years, has bought over 30 Condominiums and according to Mgt, has never lost one yet. So do you think this is legit and legal according to Thai Law? Please, constructive comments only, but I am sure the “Don’t buy in Thailand’ crowd will be first to respond. Peace

On 7/1/2026 at 5:05 AM, Explorator en Action said:

A Condominium has come open in my Building, nicely done, opens to the pool, 2 bedroom 2 bath. I own one other in same building upstairs but 1 bedroom, and am ready to upgrade. Real estate agent is well known to ppty management, we went thru, and I found out no one has lived there in over 2 years - the “Owner” is in Middle East and can't travel anymore. Talk further I find out it is owned by a ‘Company', in a Thai Quota and to buy it all we have to do is change the name of the ‘Owner’ ‘Boss', to mine and Land office does not get involved at all. Now at risk of all the naysayers - "Don’t buy in Thailand", I have owned and sold two condo’s already, so am not exactly a rube, first one I did with lawyer and another I did with myself, Lawyer only to observe transfer at Land Office. My question, with all the hype in news about these ‘Company Owned’ Properties, is this Legal?? They all told me there is no problem for Condominiums, only for Businesses and Land or Building ownerships. Color me suspicious but I’d like a second opinion from those that have done this sort of transaction before. The “Company” has been in JomTien about 15 years, has bought over 30 Condominiums and according to Mgt, has never lost one yet. So do you think this is legit and legal according to Thai Law? Please, constructive comments only, but I am sure the “Don’t buy in Thailand’ crowd will be first to respond. Peace

I would be VERY wary indeed

I suspect the owner is selling in a hurry- hence the advised drop in price potential before yo uhave even started to "hard bargain"

I have been speaking to one of the many companies now advertising on Tik Tok/Instagram etc that they can sort out the nominee problem for foreign owners of property in Thailand

I should mention here I have a lot of experience in UK law regarding shell companies, SPVs etc

The scheme they suggested to me, for a fee overall of circa 1,000,000 baht was clearly never going to stand up to close scrutiny

Remember if, heaven forbid, your ownership credentials are under close scrutiny your business relationship with your nominee or any company that you hold a significant interest in, will be scrutinised very carefully

I have subsequently spoken to a very well respected Thai lawyer- and she said to me if the authorities are after you then you are going to have to have a VERY good and watertight case to avoid bad consequences

She said the consequences will be a criminal prosecution as well as civil proceedings leading to the confiscation and subsequent auction sale of your property

2 hours ago, soisanuk said:

When the unit is Thai company owned, it can be obtained by buying the foreign owner's shares, which represent 49% ownership of the company, thus keeping the original Thai nominees. So no need to get the land office involved since the unit remains owned by the Thai company.

That said, with the latest crackdown on companies formed with nominees, whether a commercial company to do business or a real estate company to own property, there is now IMO a much higher risk that a company with a foreigner holding 49% of the shares may be investigated.

Although the current crackdown appears to be primarily aimed at commercial businesses, it does not mean that companies created to own property will not in the near future also be investigated.

2 hours ago, soisanuk said:

When the unit is Thai company owned, it can be obtained by buying the foreign owner's shares, which represent 49% ownership of the company, thus keeping the original Thai nominees. So no need to get the land office involved since the unit remains owned by the Thai company.

That said, with the latest crackdown on companies formed with nominees, whether a commercial company to do business or a real estate company to own property, there is now IMO a much higher risk that a company with a foreigner holding 49% of the shares may be investigated.

Although the current crackdown appears to be primarily aimed at commercial businesses, it does not mean that companies created to own property will not in the near future also be investigated.

2 hours ago, soisanuk said:

When the unit is Thai company owned, it can be obtained by buying the foreign owner's shares, which represent 49% ownership of the company, thus keeping the original Thai nominees. So no need to get the land office involved since the unit remains owned by the Thai company.

That said, with the latest crackdown on companies formed with nominees, whether a commercial company to do business or a real estate company to own property, there is now IMO a much higher risk that a company with a foreigner holding 49% of the shares may be investigated.

Although the current crackdown appears to be primarily aimed at commercial businesses, it does not mean that companies created to own property will not in the near future also be investigated.

I agree- sooner or later the authorities will smell the money to be made by in effect confiscating foreign owned nominee company related properties.

I have engaged in correspondence with one of the many companies that are now advertising on to Tik Tok/Instagram and son asking foreign owners to contact them in relation to their nominee shareholding related companies.

The schemes that they are putting forward to try to get round the 49/51 nominee shareholder problem are in my humble opinion transparent and doomed to failure.

As I understand it the whole problem with a nominee shareholder is that so far as the authorities are concerned unless you can show there is a bona fide business relationship between you, the 49% owner and the 51% nominee shareholder, your scheme will be deemed to be simply a ruse to try to get round the law so far as ownership of land by a foreigner is concerned.

I have a lot of experience in dealing with nominee shareholders of SPV’s, and unless there is proven to be a bona fide business relationship between all parties partaking in the SPV, the nominees will be simply regarded as in effect an extension of the foreign which under Thai law will mean a breach of the Thai law.

I have spoken with a lawyer who I am instructing in relation to my own new home build. She is a very good lawyer who also speaks perfect English.

She said to me she thinks the attacks on the nominee shareholders ownership schemes will widen as the authorities realise they can get a lot of money quite easily.

The attack initially will probably be by way of a criminal prosecution and she thinks that then probably “deals will be done” whereby the criminal prosecution is dropped in return for the property being sold at an auction.

I asked in the event of an auction sale would the foreigner get 49% of the sale proceeds

She said to me she doubted it. She thought from that 49% sale proceeds would be deducted a substantial amount to in effect represent the “fine” and costs that would otherwise have been imposed if the criminal prosecution had been pursued.

I had a general discussion where I said that the proposed crackdown will not help the Thai economy but as she said, with Thailand hoping to attract next year in the region of 30 million tourists losing a few foreigners because they can no longer owned property in Thailand will have a minimal impact on the economy in Thailand.

My own view is I would steer very clear of any form purchasing any condo/property at the moment until we can all see the proven approach of the authorities in actually pursuing foreign owners generally

25 minutes ago, Legal Lifeline said:

I have been speaking to one of the many companies now advertising on Tik Tok/Instagram etc that they can sort out the nominee problem for foreign owners of property in Thailand…

The scheme they suggested to me, for a fee overall of circa 1,000,000 baht was clearly never going to stand up to close scrutiny…

The schemes that they are putting forward to try to get round the 49/51 nominee shareholder problem are in my humble opinion transparent and doomed to failure…

Can you describe the scheme, curious to know how these scammers think they have a way around nominee problems.

I am very opposed to buying any condo in Company name, and I said so in an earlier post. However, I came across an article in Thaiger that I found interesting. Whether all the information in the article is true or not, I can't say. But, I am passing it along to add another perspective.

According to the article, 47,000 companies have been flagged for investigation. Of those 47,000, only 852 have had charges brought against them so far. Thaiger points out that the figure of 852 does not represent convictions, just charges brought. The next step would be for the cases to go to court, followed by appeals should there be a conviction.

Thaiger also points out that each case has to be investigated separately and, should charges be filed, each case then needs to also wind its way through the court process, also separately. Since this is how the system works, Thaiger estimates that at the current pace it will take 50 years to get through the current cases. How they determined it would be 50 years, I have no idea.

Neither Thaiger nor Google had any information on actual convictions, although Google had the same number of cases, 852. Although I have never bought in Company name and never would, if I did own a single 'small potatoes' property in Company name I might be breathing a little easier if the information in the article proves to be correct.

Buying a condo in anything other than your own name

is just silly.

Next.

23 hours ago, TimBKK said:

Can you describe the scheme, curious to know how these scammers think they have a way around nominee problems.

Well from what I understood- they in effect plan to replace the nominee company altogether with simply a Thai national- and the foreign owner has to in effect trust the Thai national

I said the scheme was fundamentally flawed- for example how do you explain to the investigating authority your sudden business relationship with the Thai national

I think they are preying on the natural fear a foreign owner will now have

When I said I felt their scheme was transparently false they simply told me to do nothing now if I chose- and call them when I had been arrested!

Their fees would be over 1 million and they gave no guarantee of success

I suspect they are preying on panic and fear among many 49/51 nominee company "owners"

7 hours ago, Explorator en Action said:

All true, my curent condominium was Thai quota, they changed it to Foreign quota, 1000 baht at land Office. It ia still foreigner quota.

53 minutes ago, Legal Lifeline said:

Well from what I understood- they in effect plan to replace the nominee company altogether with simply a Thai national- and the foreign owner has to in effect trust the Thai national

I said the scheme was fundamentally flawed- for example how do you explain to the investigating authority your sudden business relationship with the Thai national

I think they are preying on the natural fear a foreign owner will now have

When I said I felt their scheme was transparently false they simply told me to do nothing now if I chose- and call them when I had been arrested!

Their fees would be over 1 million and they gave no guarantee of success

I suspect they are preying on panic and fear among many 49/51 nominee company "owners"

Not sure how they justify 1m baht, but 1m is very popular in Pattaya, often bars, massage shops etc are valued at 1m baht based on a calculation on a fag packet