Freehold Appartments For Non-thais

[Khun Bob]

Hi

Just been reading a website giving advice and providing services to foreigners with respect to property purchases. After reading their notes about foreign ownership of thai apartments freehold, they seem to indicate that there are some restrictions on this :

* It is only possible in the greater bangkok area

* There can only be 49% foreign ownership

I have a feeling that this is out of date, but am just looking for confirmation.

As you may have seen on some of my other posts, I am considering a leasehold apartment ownership at the moment, but would much prefer freehold.

Also are there any other restrictions/surprises I could expect for freehold ownership ?

I am considering some other locations Chonburi and Isaan as well.

Look forward to hear from you.

PS Did a search on condo and freehold and nothing came back

[Sumitr Man]

the first one is wrong - unless you consider Phuket, Chang Mai and Pattaya parts of Greater Bangkok

the second one is correct - unless you have Permanent Resident status, in which case it does not apply.

SM

[expatinasia]

You can get around the second restriction by forming a company to buy the condo.

[Khun Bob]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Just to draw some conclusions - there is no restriction on any part of thailand that a foreigner can own an apartment freehold, provided no more than 49% of the building is foreign owned at the time of the purchase (rather than at some point later in time, when possible lots of foreigners decide they like the building and pile in and buy apartments thus rendering all foreign owned apartments null and void - or something like that)

So if i would like to buy a freehold apartment in Chonburi, Khon Kaen, Chang Rai or Yala (!) I can do that.

I was actually under the impression that the 49% rule had been relaxed in some areas or completely. Just out of curiosity who monitors and keeps records of the ownership of apartments and what happens if you happen to be the foreigner who pushes the foreign ownership over the 49% mark ?

Thanks in advance

[loong]

I was actually under the impression that the 49% rule had been relaxed in some areas or completely. Just out of curiosity who monitors and keeps records of the ownership of apartments and what happens if you happen to be the foreigner who pushes the foreign ownership over the 49% mark ?

Once foreign ownership reaches 49%, the management would only be able to sell other apartments to Thais, so foreign ownership should not exceed 49%.

Of course a farang seller, could sell to farang buyer as ratio would be maintained

Edited September 10, 2005 by loong

[Khun Bob]

I take it that by management you mean the management of the condo/apartment as this is their responsibility to ensure that the 49% foreign ownership is not exceeded ?

Also i think it would be shrewd to actually check with them on this and see what the ownership of the units in the building is - even offer to help them calculate just to make sure there is not a problem.

Cheers

I was actually under the impression that the 49% rule had been relaxed in some areas or completely. Just out of curiosity who monitors and keeps records of the ownership of apartments and what happens if you happen to be the foreigner who pushes the foreign ownership over the 49% mark ?

Once foreign ownership reaches 49%, the management would only be able to sell other apartments to Thais, so foreign ownership should not exceed 49%.

Of course a farang seller, could sell to farang buyer as ratio would be maintained

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