Alien Land Owneship Rules

[Sumitr Man]

Although many of us discuss ways around Thailand's restirctions on foreign land ownership, just so you are aware, the following is the current policy of the Department of Land on this issue.

To my mind, regardless of what I or anyone else says, this is the Goverment's current policy on this issue. If you are doing anything else, as a foreigner, you are taking a risk - period. So, as others have said before me, never invest what you are not willing to lose.

Anyhow, here you go:

Acquisition of Land by Alien

According to Section 86 of the Land Code, an alien may acquire land in Thailand only by virtue of the provision of a treaty providing him with the right to own immovable property. Obtaining such acquisition is subject to the provision of the Land Code and the Ministerial Regulations issued under the Code, and the permission must be obtained from the Ministry of Interior. Before the termination of the treaty which was made on February 27th, 1970, there were 16 countries bided to the treaty ; USA, England, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, France, India, Belgium, Sweden, Italy, Japan, Burma, Portuguese, and Pakistan. Since then, Thailand has no longer made any treaty with any country to allow an alien to acquire land in Thailand by virtue of a treaty.

However, the Land Code has been amended with Section 96 bis providing that since January 19th, 2002, an alien is allowed to purchase land in Thailand for residential purpose and the land to be purchased shall be not more than one rai in area, and the following rules and conditions must be met:

1.  Bringing money not less than Baht forty million into the Kingdom for investment and maintaining the investment not less that five years;

2.  Permission must be obtained from the Minister of Ministry of Interior;

3.  Money brought into the Kingdom shall be invested in one of the following businesses or activities;

3.1  to purchase bonds of Thai Government, bonds of Thai National Bank, bonds of State Enterprise or bonds which the Ministry of Finance secures the capital or interest,

3.2  an investment in a property mutual fund, a property mutual fund or a mutual fund for resolving financial institution problems established under the law on Securities and Stock Exchange,

3.3  an investment in share capital of a juristic person who is granted permission of investment under the law on promotion of investment,

3.4  an investment in an activity as declared by the Board of Investment to be an activity eligible to be granted promotion of investment under the law on promotion of investment;

4.  the land to be acquired shall be located in Bangkok Metropolis, Pattaya City, or Tessaban (Municipality), or in the area specified as residential zone according to the law on Town and Country Planning and shall not be located in a military safety zone according to the law on Military Safety Zone;

5.  an alien, who is granted permission, shall utilize the land only for residence for his/herself and the family in a way that is not contrary to the local custom or good living of the local community;

6.  if an alien, who is granted permission to acquire such land, does not comply with the rules and conditions specified, he/she shall disposes of such land in the portion of his/her possession within the period of time specified by the Director General of the Department of Lands which shall be not less than one hundred eighty days and not more than one year. If the time limit elapses, the Director General shall have the power to dispose of such land;

7.  if an alien, who is granted permission to acquire such land, does not utilize the land for residence within two years as from the day the registration for land acquisition is made, the Director General shall have the power to dispose of such land.

Besides the aforementioned rules and conditions, an alien may acquire land by inheritance as statutory heir, in this instance, the land devolved when combined with the land already acquired shall not exceed that specified by law, for examples, land for residential purpose not exceeding 1 rai per household, land for commercial purpose not exceeding 1 rai, land for industrial purpose not exceeding 10 rais, and land for agricultural purpose not exceeding 10 rai per household.

An alien whose spouse is a Thai national either legitimate or illegitimate, that Thai national can purchase land but the alien spouse of that Thai national must give a joint written confirmation that the money which that Thai national will expend on purchasing the land is wholly the separate property or personal effects of that Thai national and not the Sin Somros or jointly acquired property.

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http://www.dol.go.th/guide/land_080745_eng.htm

There is also this:

APPLICATION FOR ACQUISITION OF LAND OR CONDOMINIUM UNITS BY

ALIENS AND PERSONS CONNECTED WITH ALIENS

          1. Application by Aliens for Acquisition of Land

            Nowadays, an alien may apply for acquisition of land in Thailand in three cases as follows:

1.1 Receiving inheritance as a statutory heir under section 93 of the Land Code, in this instance, the total area including the land which has already been acquired (or has not yet been acquired) shall not exceed that specified in section 87 of the Land Code, i.e. not more than 1 rai  for a residential purpose;

1.2  Bringing the money into the Kingdom for investment to the amount as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation, which shall be not less than Baht forty million.  In this instance, the land to be acquired must be for a residential purpose and must be of not more than 1 rai  in area, provided also that permission must be obtained from the Minister.  Under section 96 bis of the Land Code, the application for such acquisition of land shall be in accordance with rules, procedures and conditions prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation.

1.3  Applying for acquisition of land under other laws such as the Promotion of Investment Act, B.E. 2520 (1977), the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand Act, B.E. 2522 (1979), the Petroleum Act, B.E. 2514 (1971).  Detailed Information regarding the Promotion of Investment Act and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand Act can be obtained from the Board of Investment (BOI) at tel. + 66-2537-8111 and from the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand at tel. +66-2253-0561 respectively.

http://www.dol.go.th/guide/foreigner_Eng_ver.htm

Additional (not much though!) English language information is available here

http://www.dol.go.th/eng_version/menu.php

SM