Developers Using Foreigners Rule To Avoid Paying Up

[prefabs]

Friend of mine "thought" he bought a house 2 years ago. Contract for house and land was in his name till the developer(also a "Law Office") made out all his paperork for the company. Anyway, after getting the run around for a long time, he went to court. No surprise that the court ruled against him because " he is an alien and has no right to own land and property in Thailand".

My buddy used a local lawyer to sue the guy, paid 10% of the sued amount up front and wasted every dime of 400,000 baht. Now he wants an extra 100,000 for an appeal. What a waste of time and money.

So now this developer is screwing him and others who haven't had any paperwork from him, chanotes or other wise, even though receipts showing his law firm charged for legal services. And he is using the government's May 2006 proclamation to back his court case. So once again, please go and get all your ducks in a row before signing anything here in Thailand.

Whole deal is that the developer does not need to return any monies, change the land title to anyone he don't want to, doesn't even need to turn up in court. He has quite a few houses finished, some for a year now, but no one lives there. Looks like he is saving up a whole new estate to sell off in it's entirety

[Jbragg]

Would you mind sharing who your friend had these problems with. To maybe guide others away from the same trap.

[george]

Please be careful here, we don't want to end up with legal trouble for the website.

Thanks!

[quiksilva]

Friend of mine "thought" he bought a house 2 years ago. Contract for house and land was in his name till the developer(also a "Law Office") made out all his paperork for the company. Anyway, after getting the run around for a long time, he went to court. No surprise that the court ruled against him because " he is an alien and has no right to own land and property in Thailand".

Hang on, so your friend sought legal advice to protect his interests, by consulting the developer's own internal legal counsel?

The real lesson that 'would be buyers' should learn from your friend's experience is what happens when you ignore unmitigated conflicts of interest.

If you are going to buy real estate in Thailand, do not take any less measures to protect your legal and financial interests than you would in your home country.

In fact seeing as it is not your home country, perhaps what people should be doing is seeking additional independent advice. Perhaps if your friend paid more on advice at the outset, he could have avoided the nasty and expensive situation described in the OP.

Edited March 6, 2008 by quiksilva

[backflip]

"In fact seeing as it is not your home country, perhaps what people should be doing is seeking additional independent advice. Perhaps if your friend paid more on advice at the outset, he could have avoided the nasty and expensive situation described in the OP. "

Exactly. The OP could have formed a company, which could have purchased the home. But, it trying to save the 40K THB it would cost to form a company, he lost 10 times that. It could have been worse. He could have put the home in the name of his GF, and she would have kicked him to the curb quickly...and have lost 10 times the money that he did.

[sweetchariot]

"In fact seeing as it is not your home country, perhaps what people should be doing is seeking additional independent advice. Perhaps if your friend paid more on advice at the outset, he could have avoided the nasty and expensive situation described in the OP. "

Exactly. The OP could have formed a company, which could have purchased the home. But, it trying to save the 40K THB it would cost to form a company, he lost 10 times that. It could have been worse. He could have put the home in the name of his GF, and she would have kicked him to the curb quickly...and have lost 10 times the money that he did.

Ummm.... which thread were you reading? He's already lost 4m, plus 400k legals, and he did have a company which is probably partly why the court ruled against him.

Edited March 6, 2008 by sweetchariot

[quiksilva]

No the point sweet chariot is, if he had actually sought out independent legal advice before entering into a contract to purchase with the developer in the very first place, he probably wouldn't be in this mess today.

[WilliamJarvis]

The OP make no sense.

That the person does not acquire the land, because it contravenes Thai law, I can understand. But the contractual relationship, for monies, as a deposit or otherwise, is a separate issue (assuming their is a contractual relationship, as indicated). Even under Thai law, one cannot benefit from an illegal act.

I'd love to know the RED/BLACK court case docket number. Sorry, but I smell a smallish rat.

That the bloke could have been cheated is beyond doubt, but that the court upheld it on the facts given in the OP seem, well, unlikely.

Edited March 6, 2008 by WilliamJarvis

[prefabs]

The OP make no sense.

That the person does not acquire the land, because it contravenes Thai law, I can understand. But the contractual relationship, for monies, as a deposit or otherwise, is a separate issue (assuming their is a contractual relationship, as indicated). Even under Thai law, one cannot benefit from an illegal act.

I'd love to know the RED/BLACK court case docket number. Sorry, but I smell a smallish rat.

That the bloke could have been cheated is beyond doubt, but that the court upheld it on the facts given in the OP seem, well, unlikely.

My friend is on holiday just now, but is quite prepared to scan and send on the court judgement to whoever wants it next week. One lawyer aquaintance said that "Thai Culture" makes it difficult for a foreigner to win a lawsuit against Thai people. He wonders where he should go next for really "independent" legal advice.

[quiksilva]

There are countless tales in this forum where Farangs have won court cases against Thais, but they won because they took their time and did things right, right from day one.

Of course its easy to believe that the law favours locals when you end up being the losing party because you (or your friend) was not wise enough to get your own lawyer to guide you at the start, preferring instead to rely upon the other party's no doubt cheap / free legal team, which are of course obliged to look out for the developer's best interests and not your own.

It's a shame that your friend has found himself in this situation, but I really don't see many ways out for him.

Prefabs you sum it up best yourself:

So once again, please go and get all your ducks in a row before signing anything here in Thailand.

Edited March 7, 2008 by quiksilva