Place In The Sun

[32x]

Hi here in the UK we get a program called PLACE IN THE SUN.

Wot its about is couples buying there dream house abroad,99% of the time the tv show is about buying property in europe or florida.

This newyears day its about a couple wanting to buy a place in Thailand(samui).

From what i read in the paper there after a house/villa.

The couple are both English so has the law changed now?

Im sure the tv crew arnt flying them all the way to Thailand to tell them they cant buy nothing or they need a Thai partner to buy a place?.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

They can't buy land period. Not with a Thai partner either.

[32x]

Should be fun to watch then.

20.35 channel 4 new years day.

[pnustedt]

there after a house/villa.

Maybe they're going to buy a 30 year lease on their "Place In The Sun" or buying thru' a Thai registered company?

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Anything is possible .. it is British TV...pity we can't watch it. .

[maerim]

A pity you can't watch British TV ?

They say it's the best in the world, this is said of course by the people who serve up this pap, says a lot for the rest of the worlds television output.

I don't even watch it when I am in the U.K.

[taxexile]

the programme,a place in the sun, is quite an entertaining programme.

its a fly on the wall reality type documentary about couples emigrating from the uk(no shortage of those) to sunnier and happier climes.

the programme focusses on the progress of the hapless newcomers in a new country as they get shafted,screwed,bankrupted,misled and messed about by the local builders,estate agents,officials and avaricious locals.

the french and the italians seem to be the most difficult to deal with, however a programme set in thailand should up the ante considerably.

as their difficulties increase and their funds decrease, its "fun" to watch as the dream collapses along with the disintergration of the relationship.

very few of these programmes have had happy endings, if a couple were to be successful then i doubt if the programme would be broadcast as it would be too boring.

how could they be so stupid,couldn't they see that coming,i'd never get caught like that,are comments i regularly make as i watch the newcomers stumble and fall as they desperately try and escape from the ###### on earth that is life in the uk these days.

however, i shall be watching this weekends programme with added interest and not a little trepidation as we (mrs. taxexile and myself) will be embarking on a similar adventure in 3 weeks time.

we bought a piece of land on samui (in mrs.taxexiles name) 18 months ago after 6 months of searching.we must have been taken to every coconut plantation,beach,hillside,shack,and unpaved track on the island, twice.

toothless farmers accosted us from out of nowhere,machete wielding crones begged us to look over their brothers orchards,sharp suited bangkok players in enormous offroad machines promised us nirvana for a few baht,desperate agents guaranteed us peaceful paradise, gregarious german millionaires and british hippies offered us similar never again to be repeated offers.

i learnt more about the thai psyche and how the faintest whiff of a few baht profit from a falang can corrupt the mind from trying to buy land there than from anything else in my many years in thailand. buyer beware,and then beware again is all i can say. my wife is thai and pretty savvy to purchasing property, having experience of buying in bangkok. nothing prepared her for what goes on down there. land sellers and their agents are the same the world over, but the abscence of any regulations regarding selling practices makes buying land there a particularly risky business.

there are a lot of falang land agents there,operating as middlemen between the locals and the foriegn buyer, some of them are very professional in the way they operate and can be trusted and some of them are not to be trusted... not because they are trying to cheat or mislead... but because they have absolutely no knowledge of the procedures and/or the legalities of buying and the intricacies of the thai land title system, add that to their lack of adequate thai language skills and misunderstandings are common.

we havent seen our plot for 18 months now and we hope it has not been surrounded by tall buildings,supermarkets,another monkey theatre or a sewage works.

but hopefully, our project will be successful and i will avoid all the con-men and mistakes that have had me in stitches over the past few weeks.

however, i suspect that we are in for a ride just as bumpy as any that i have seen.

if anyone can recommend a good architect and builder, etc. etc.etc.etc.

i should just like to add that whilst there we met a larger than life land agent called "mo". he was from the usa and tried really hard on our behalf to find something for us. unfortunately he was killed in a motorbike accident during our stay there. R.I.P. MO.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Well Tax....in the fullness of time there'll be a house warming I hope. Good luck with it all. I still can't see how that program is handling the land acquisition there for the hapless couple.

Happy New Year

[taxexile]

the selling company will enter into a leasing agreement (30 years) with the purchaser. we were told that these agreements are binding under thai law.

tracts of land are divided up into plots of varying sizes and sold through these companies. if a farang cannot buy in the name of his wife then the company will lease it to him.

we met quite a few falang couples there who had bought houses that way, they seemed to be happy with the arrangement.

[parryhandy]

Do give us a full report on the programme .me thinks because they have schedueled it on News years day and its Thailand it will be a good one.

[parryhandy]

well anybody have a report on the programme to share ?

[sabaijai]

taxexile, while shopping on Samui did you come across a development called Nagalaya? Rang a bell when you mentioned british hippies.

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Musta been exciting

[Guest IT Manager]

Maybe it was 32X doing a self plug ala mark in krungthep.

He is still pissed off if that's the case.

[taxexile]

i never came across the nagalaya development, where was it?

the programme "a place in the sun" was on tv last night.

it was not the format that i expected.

instead of following a couple over a period of time as they try to settle into a new life in a new country and building a house, this was a 30min. programme showing how a uk "celebrity couple" in this case someone called gail porter (kids tv presenter i think) and her rock star husband (forgotten his name) were shown four houses and had to choose their favourite one.

they were shown a balinese style gaff in samrong bay, it was about £250,000 and i wasnt too impressed with it, it was all style and little function and surrounded by identical ones.

next they were shown a 3 storey "traditional" thai house, also about £250,000. this was a wooden place with ayutthaya style roofing and filled with antique style thai woodcarvings and buddha images everywhere. looked like a thai restaurant in milton keynes.

then it was onto a resort behind lamai where they were shown a house built into the rocks on the hill. it looked interesting and was the sort of place that architecture and fashion magazines love, but it had no walls at all and i would have thought that mosquitos would be a problem there, it really was completely open to the elements,with an open air white sit down toilet between a rock and a coconut tree,no walls,roof or door!! all yours for £240,000.

the last place was atop a hill with a superb panoramic view overlooking bophut and chaweng,a new western style mansion owned/built by a scotsman called.......... scott, who i think is a developer on the island. it was conspicuous consumption at its best (worst), straight out of beverly hills, but it looked comfortable and well equipped if you like that sort of thing, all yours for £260,000 which by uk values is a steal.

between the viewings of each house we were shown views of samui (you know the type, big buddha,beaming food vendor,coconut trees,songtheaw with 50 passengers and beach massage)

i would have liked to have seen a longer programme that dealt more with the intricacies of building a property and dealing with the locals.

the celebrities liked the open plan place behind lamai best.but what do celebs know!

purchasing and ownership was possible we were told by either purchasing on a 30 year leasehold basis, the lease being renewable at the end of each 30 year period.

or by forming a company with the purchaser being the major shareholder out of the 7 or 9 others. the presenter explaining all this did mention that thai law is flexible and that the services of a good lawyer should be sought before purchasing property in thailand. much was made of the rental potential of houses on samui and how almost year round occupancy could be guaranteed on top-end properties.

although the programme was a disappointment, it was good to see samui on tv in the middle of the english winter and has fired our enthusiasm for building there when we return, although finding a sympathetic architect might be difficult.overkill seems to be the rule of the day!!

[monitorlizard]

Good luck Tax. I hope things go smoothly and your house is up in record time! You certainly can't go wrong on Samui. Beautiful place I hear. Funny, I have been here nearly 6 years and never made it there. I fell in love with Krabi.

I think you should make a documentary of your experiences there. You can sell it to the TV stations. In any case, I wish you all the best. Maybe you can ask one of the tech experts on this site to help you build a website where you can keep a running commentary on your experiences of building in LOS. It would certainly be a great service and help to those who might follow your footsteps.

Good luck to you and the wife!

All the best.

[32x]

###### wot do you think i work for channel4?.

The reason i raised this topic is from the headline i read in the paper"COUPLE LOOK TO BUY DREAM HOUSE IN THAILAND".

It has nothing to do with me self pluging anything.

[andy50]

hi tax, i would agree with monitor-about you making a website about building your home, good luck with the project !