Property Ownership In Thailand

[fisherd3]

I read in the Pattaya property trader that :

"The general rule is that Thai nationals who marry foreigners are not allowed to own land in Thailand, unless the foreign spouse signs a document which declares that the property is separate, and that he or she has no interest in the property in any way. The Thai spouse must also declare that the money to but the property was his/hers inm the first place.

So, putting land into your Thai spouses name is difficult and fraught with difficulties."

This is news to me and seems to beg the question are all the houses owned by mixed married couples owned via the company method, even though this seems to cost around 2M baht to set up? A disproportionate amount considering the price of the average property.

Pattaya property trader also mentioned the 'Nominee with mortgage' method I have seen described on Thaivisa mentioning it had seen the method on ''an obscure web site".

[Sumitr Man]

Before you panic, I suggest you read:

Notification of Ministry of Interior Re Application for the Acquisition of Land by Thai National Who Has or Used to Have Alien Spouse and Juvenile Child of Alien Who Has Thai Nationality dated October4, 2001 and located in Ministerial Information Bulletin No. 9238

[Sumitr Man]

^essentially, Clause 1 of the Notification simply says what you wrote above.

However,

(1) provided that the farang is willing to sign an affidavit to the effect he has no right over the land - there should be no problem; and

(2) rarely, these days, does this become an issue [at the Land Dept. - although, technically, it could be].

Personally, I see no problem with a Thai women married to a farang buying land. As far as the "money must be hers" position, I know several farangs in Thailand who have mortgages with their Thai wife. Clearly it is the farang paying the mortgage. However, he has agreed that although he will pay the mortgage, he will not hold a claim over the land; thus his name does not appear on the Land Title Deed, but they have joint mortgage to appease the bank lending the money (registration and enforcement of security issue).

Moreover, IME, this scheme has far less in-built problems than the company route - where you need to find 6 other trusting Thai nationals, besides yourself (as a minimum).

But then again, I've always maintained that no farang should contemplate buying land in Thailand if they are not willing to walk away from the deal with nothing to show for it - there are just too many problems; for example, an almost non-existent resale market means if you do buy, you buy for life.

[toklong]

You can buy land just about anywhere.The misconception is you own it.You dont own it,it owns you.

[udon]

The above reasons are why I like renting, get fed up!, move on.......

I love it