Building A 2 Storey Condo?

[kunash]

Hi. from a legal perspective, is it possible for a non thai to build a 2 or 3 storey condo style property, on 1 rai of land. the non thai can then own the top floor, and the bottom floor / 1st floor, is owned by thai nationals ( my girlfriend and her family ). if this question is a stupid one, then i apologise for my stupidness

thanks in advance

[InterestedObserver]

What you describe is a shophouse type structure, not a condo. The land, by law, needs to be owned by a Thai. The building can be owned by a foreigner, after leasing or otherwise securing land rights from the Thai and obtaining the necessary building permit.

Edited October 31, 2010 by InterestedObserver

[eljeque]

You can form a company and the company can build a condominium. You can own... 34% ? of the shares. Maybe even 49%, but then the land office may ask questions, so simply take the 34%, like most companies with foreign share holders which hold property.

The condominium may be required to have a minimum number of rooms. You can break this up into little chinotes.

A foreigner can own any units, ground floor or 2nd floor.

Your inlaws can be the owners of the lower rooms, and you can be the owner of the upper rooms, to a maximum of 49% of living area.

Best of luck

[Puccini]

An English translation of the Condominium Act is here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?app=core&module=attach&section=attach&attach_id=100519

I see no minimum requirement regarding the number of condo units for a building to be recognised as a condominium building.

As InterestedObserver said, a foreigner cannot own land. Kunash, you can get a lease or usufruct on the land and then build a house on it in your own name and own this house 100%. Can you then register this house as a condominium building? I don't think so, because the buyer of a condo unit (apartment) acquires the ownership of part of the land on which the building stands and since you don't own this land it is not possible for you to sell it.

[oracle]

There is no minimum requirement for the number of units, so in theory it is possible, but you are outvoted in the condo meetings 2 to 1 by your girlfriend and her family.

[nara80]

Yes It's possible in Theory. But there are so many requirements for construction as condo such as;

- Car park area.

- % common area compare to living area.

- Common facilities

- Number of toilets

- etc...............................

and also taking more procedure than housing construction.

Since construction completed, you need Tessaban (Or Bor Tor officer) to certified and then asking Treasury Department to getting unit appraisal.

Next, Land officer would subdivide room units and issue Title Deed for room registration.

In the end, even there is no minimum requirements for numbers of unit but most of project develops need few room numbers to getting profit because they spent lot of capital cost to built.

[Puccini]

Yes It's possible in Theory...

Is it possible in theory to register as a condominium a building that was built on leased land?

[nara80]

Yes It's possible in Theory...

Is it possible in theory to register as a condominium a building that was built on leased land?

On leased land?

I don't think so. I haven't seen and done it before.

In my opinion, all unit room owners have right to own completely the land by ownership percentage.

I have seen ownership percentage somewhere on tlte Deed or purchase contract.

[Puccini]

Thank you, nara80. This was my thinking. too, The OP’s option might be a company to own the land and building and this company could then register the property as condominium, but as this company would have to be at least 51% Thai-owned he would have no control over it. However, as has been said, condominium registration and administation in this case would most likely prove too costly and cumbersome to even consider it.

[donx]

Yes It's possible in Theory...

Is it possible in theory to register as a condominium a building that was built on leased land?

On leased land?

I don't think so. I haven't seen and done it before.

In my opinion, all unit room owners have right to own completely the land by ownership percentage.

I have seen ownership percentage somewhere on tlte Deed or purchase contract.

There are condos that have been built on leased land. This is one of the reasons others in this forum often suggest determining whether a condo is freehold vs. leasehold.

[Puccini]

I can't find the section in Thailand's Condominium Act where a difference between freehold and leasehold is made. In fact, I can't find either of these two terms in that law. I wonder if something got lost in translation.

[trogers]

How can a condo unit be built on leasehold land? What kind of chanote will be issued?

[donx]

How can a condo unit be built on leasehold land? What kind of chanote will be issued?

I stand corrected. After researching this a bit more it appears that Thailand doesn't allow a developer of a condomimum to register it as a condominium if the structure is built on leasehold land.

Read this link.

The following is an excerpt from the link above:

"This is however as already explained above not applicable in Thailand where a developer may only apply for a condominium license if he owns the land and the building (Section 6 of the Condominium Act) but I needed to make the point to show that the leasehold/freehold criteria is not what distinguish a condominium from an apartment building."

There is a concept of leasehold condos in Thailand but it implies that the condo is leased long term and that there is a freehold owner of that same unit.

Forgive me for providing misinformation in my previous post.

[nara80]

There are few projects were announced as "Leasehold Condominium". Particularly, on the Rajdamri road which the land are owned by The Royal Highness Treasury(Royal Family).

Actually, Those condominium should were called " Long leasehold apartment"

Edited November 4, 2010 by nara80

[trajan]

(a ) there is no such thing as a leasehold condo....in a leasehold project, what you buy is technically a long term sub-lease of an apartment unit from a developer...some are very attractive like HANSAR and RAJADAMRI and ST. REGIS but are limited to 30 year leasehold rights

(b ) for a condo project, Ive never seen 2 units (or even 3 or 4 units) registered as a condo project....but I have seen small 14 condo unit projects like:

Supreme Residence (9 floors on Silom/Sathorn) http://www.cbre.co.th/en/bangkok-condo-Supreme-Residence.asp

Boutique 16 (7 floors on Sukhumvit Soi 16) http://www.prakard.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=3699

(c ) on the other extreme, the largest condo in BKK that I know of is: Lumpini Place Narathiwat-Chaopraya with 1,296 condo units