Farang Condo Ownership

[greytown]

I know this has been covered before but a search didn't yield conclusive results regarding foreign ownership in Thailand.

As I understand farangs are allowed to own condos either:

1- Only in BKK

2- Only in BKK, Chiang Mai and a few other places

3- Only in some selected areas of BKK, Chiang Mai, etc

As I understand, ownership in those designated areas is not restricted to farangs with work or permanent visas but possible for tourists?

Anyone can clarify any of this?

Thanks!

Edited January 15, 2010 by greytown

[richm7]

4. Anywhere.

Any restrictions to ownership are plastered all over this forum and some of them are even right!

Let's not go there again, please.

[wpcoe]

greytown: Your inquiry is probably related to a now-expired Thai legal provision after a previous (1997?) financial crash.

Currently, only 50% of a condo may be owned by a non-Thai. After the above-mentioned market crash, however, ownership in a condo by a foreigner could be up to 100%, provided certain criteria were met. I'm relying on my feeble memory, but IIRC, some of the criteria were that the condo be located in certain defined area (like Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai), approval for the condo development must have been applied for in advance,* and it was only offered for a year or so.

Just to let you know that what you've heard may have had basis in past fact, but no longer is relevant.

And, another IIRC: In such a case where 100% of a condo were able to be legally bought by a foreigner, resales can be from foreigner-to-foreigner even if the current foreigner ownership is above 50%.

(*side note: I've heard that one of the View Talay developments in Pattaya was bitten by the provision that it had to be pre-approved for consideration under the 100% foreign ownership program. Apparently the VT sales folks marketed it as 100% available to foreigner ownership, and it was in a designated area (Pattaya) at the appropriate time, but they failed to apply for designation as a 100% foreign ownership project in advance, so were still restricted to 50% foreign ownership.)