Buy A Condo Without Transfering Funds To Thailand

[scorecard]

You can a buy a condo here using local baht and not having it transfefrred in from abroad, if you have a work permit. I know this because i did it.

There is a law that allows you to alocate 40% of your earning towards the purchase of a condo.

Nobody likes you doing it this way, as they want the currency bought in, and you need a lot of paperwork to show that you have generated the money and paid tax on it, BUT you CAN DO it as i did - i went through hel_l to get to this, but i did managed to buy my condo in Bangkok and have the tabian ban in my name.

wow, I ve never heard of that....what law is that? is it a special circumstance under a Board of Investment (BIO) approved project? or the like?

Not disputing what you say but here's my experience:

- I've had a work permit (WP) for about 18 years, and I've had PR status for about 15 years.

- When I bought my condo in central bangkok (now on the market for sale, 98 sq m 2 bed 2 bath) I asked my long-term lawyer (very thorough guy) to check whether WP or PR cancelled the need to transfer all the funds into Thailand from abroad.

His answer, makes no difference at all, you have to provide documentary evidence from your bank (a specific form), at the Lands Title office, on the day of transfer, indicating that all the funds have been transferred from abroad.

I also asked my own local bank manager, who is very customer oriented, to check the same details. Same answer.

- All of the above was about 5.5 years ago, maybe it's been adjusted.

Other options re transfer of funds - Bangkok Bank Singapore office can help with this, however the documentation is a nightmare, their fees (numerous fees) are far from cheap, and there is a fairly high minimum amount that they deal with.

If you want to investigate this further, I know from experience you are wasting your time to call Bangkok Bank on Silom Road, call their Singapore office, the staff there are mostly Singaporean locals, they listen, they give clear and specific answers and always alert you to other points you should be aware of.

Good luck.

Edited February 4, 2010 by scorecard

[trajan]

- I've had a work permit (WP) for about 18 years, and I've had PR status for about 15 years.

- When I bought my condo in central bangkok (now on the market for sale, 98 sq m 2 bed 2 bath) I asked my long-term lawyer (very thorough guy) to check whether WP or PR cancelled the need to transfer all the funds into Thailand from abroad.

His answer, makes no difference at all, you have to provide documentary evidence from your bank (a specific form), at the Lands Title office, on the day of transfer, indicating that all the funds have been transferred from abroad.

I also asked my own local bank manager, who is very customer oriented, to check the same details. Same answer.

- All of the above was about 5.5 years ago, maybe it's been adjusted.

sorry, but this is wrong (in the case of PR status)...I have personally done this twice so far (7 years ago and 2 years ago)....as a foreigner with PR (permanent residence) status, you do NOT need to remit in funds intho Thailand to buy a condo.....in other words you do not need to show the bank FX transaction form at the Land Office in order to have the condo title deed transferred into your own name.......please check again with your advisor......

[lennya12threh]

I don't understand this... Right now I have a very cheap (350,000 condo) in my girlfriends name. Shes Thai..... When we bought it we didn't need any sort of document about money at all. At the Land Department it's just a matter of changing the name and when we bought it we paid the previous owner in cash at a different location and it had nothing to with the Land Dep.. For all they know we could have given them 600,000 baht, 20,000 baht, or given them nothing and it was a gift....

What if I wanted to give the condo as a gift to someone?

You can't give a condo as a gift? It's already in gf's name. There is no condo office.... We can sell it any price we want. What if we wanted to sell it for 10000 baht? 1000 baht? 10 baht? A gift?

[trajan]

I don't understand this... Right now I have a very cheap (350,000 condo) in my girlfriends name. Shes Thai..... When we bought it we didn't need any sort of document about money at all. At the Land Department it's just a matter of changing the name and when we bought it we paid the previous owner in cash at a different location and it had nothing to with the Land Dep.. For all they know we could have given them 600,000 baht, 20,000 baht, or given them nothing and it was a gift....

What if I wanted to give the condo as a gift to someone?

You can't give a condo as a gift? It's already in gf's name. There is no condo office.... We can sell it any price we want. What if we wanted to sell it for 10000 baht? 1000 baht? 10 baht? A gift?

you need a foreign exchange transaction form to evidence remittance of foreign purchase funds into Thailand IF a foreigner (who does not have a residence permit) will be placed on the condo title deed as the owner.....it DOESNT APPLY to a Thai national (like your Thai girlfriend) being placed on the title deed as owner....

[Topprofile]

You can talk to your bank and open a non-resident bank account in Thailand.

Have the bank reissue a document for you which can be used to buy a condo in Thailand for money earned in Thailand.

You need a workpermit to do this and show your salaryslips.

Instead of calling friends and lawyers, call the landoffice direct!

Lot of lawyers who don't know what they are saying...

[aussiebebe]

You can talk to your bank and open a non-resident bank account in Thailand.

Have the bank reissue a document for you which can be used to buy a condo in Thailand for money earned in Thailand.

You need a workpermit to do this and show your salaryslips.

Instead of calling friends and lawyers, call the landoffice direct!

Lot of lawyers who don't know what they are saying...

That's good advice. This is an old thread, but the OP should have been guided at least to the website, there is lot of good information there in English. http://www.dol.go.th/

From 'Scorecard'

Not disputing what you say but here's my experience:

- I've had a work permit (WP) for about 18 years, and I've had PR status for about 15 years.

I think things have changed since the poster 'scorecard' made his purchase. Even the RP requirements have changed; nowadays you need to have held a Work Permit for three years before you can even apply and then the whole RP process takes an additional 18+months to complete, so these days getting RP status three years after a WP wouldn't be possible. I'm sure condo purchase rules could have also changed in this time, but it probably hinges on being able to show tax returns before the purchase.