Can anyone tell me how difficult it is for a foreign couple to buy a house in thailand.I understand that we can form a company to purchase the house through is this correct ?.

"I understand that we can form a company to purchase the house through is this correct ?"

Yes.

Not too difficult if you use a proper Thai lawyer and not an armchair/bar room lawyer!

Yes you can buy a house, no problem.

But you cannot buy land in your own name. Period. Full stop.

In Thailand land and house can actually have separate owners.

Hi,You can form a company to buy the house and the land it sits on,the house gets purchased in the name of the company and you become the director of the company,one thing you can do when forming the company or after youve formed it is to make you or your wife the Director and then make yourself or your wife a co director.This is to your advantage if you or your wife died then the surviveing director has legitimate ownership of the company without having to go through the court system which may be costly and time consuming.Even if you made a will in Thailand leaving it to each other you still have to present the will to the court to claim it.

Find a reputable lawyer who can also translate all documents for your company into English.There is masses of signatures to be signed but your lawyer will prepare everything and you only need to sign,and pay of course.

You will have to pay the lawyer at the end of each year to prepare/send in the accounts of your company and pay a very small amount of tax.Lawyers fees are around 12.000 baht for making accounts and the tax around 1000 baht or less.

Nowadays the lawyer has to first set up the company in a thais name as the director,he then purchases the house/land then transfers the directorship into your name.This is because the land registry office want to see evidence of all the shareholders money came from where?But in the case of a thai director they dont care.A good lawyer will fully protect you so that the directorship is transfered to you as soon as the purchase is within the company.

All sounds a bit complicated but it really is no big deal.There are other options such as leaseing the land and house,depending on what your spending/how long you will need to live in it.etc. you can pm me if you need more advice. thanks,

All sounds a bit complicated but it really is no big deal.

It is only illegal, but for the rest, yeah it is no big deal......

The previous post by a wannabee laywer is ridiculous.

Where is it mentioned that you can own maximum 49% of this company, that 51% has to be from Thais and they need to prove that the money is really theirs. On top of that the company has to be a real company, meaning, it needs to make money, pay tax, do administrative tasks, keep meetings, etc...

Great advice, NOT!!!

Thanks for all replies have taken on board what as been said,next step go to see reputable thai lawyer.

Reputable laywers are hard to find. The chance is higher when you get a lawyer that is not in any way connected with the area you want to buy something. Especially not the ones that will be recommended through agents and developers.

Do the research yourself.

Start with www.samuiforsale.com and follow the links to government websites and articles.