Leasing Or Buying From Foreigner'S Nominee Company

[TigerWan]

I have found a piece of land I would like to lease with options to purchase ( through a legally structured entity of course ) .

The owners are foreigners with a home development company and have informed me quite openly the Thai 61% shareholder being their accountant's father or something like that- a nominee company

Is it safe to make a lease , and is it safe to buy ?

I know these companies with fake Thai shareholders ( Nominees) are actually quite illegal , although it seems everyone is doing it, and is done with regularity , at least in Phuket.

Any caveats, experiences?

Can I expect the land department to void any contracts if the present owners are audited and found to be owning land illegally?

[InterestedObserver]

If you lease with an option to purchase from an illegal Thai company you should not be surprised if you get burned. It's only a matter of time.

[TigerWan]

I know the provincial lands Depts were to begin auditing these companies, has anyone actually lost property because of it ?

Seems EVERYONE started a company with a fake shareholder on oerder to " buy " land

Are we to assume none of the lands may ever be re sold on- legally? or even leased in a manner safe for the tenant? If so, I would have to think the realestate markets are in for a huge adjustment. Rental prices may go up though.

[Darrel]

There was an interesting comment in the local paper the other day. It was from the boss of a Land Office; Pattaya, I think.

He basically said he had no problem with a foreign-controlled fake nominee shell company selling land. But he was deafeningly silent on the subject of one buying land.

My personal opinion is that any farang who attempts to do anything at all related to owning land here is a complete idiot. It seems pretty clear to me that the Thai government does not want foreigners owning land and, if they did, they would simply remove some or all of the obstacles. I see no sign of this happening. On the contrary, I would say that the signs are there of them tightening up on the problem.

I think that the same applies to the Thai quota of condo units also.

Not a problem at all as far as I'm concerned, as I would never even think about buying land here, at any price, unless they change the rules first.

[blackadder]

Here is the interesting comment in the local paper

There was an interesting comment in the local paper the other day. It was from the boss of a Land Office; Pattaya, I think.

He basically said he had no problem with a foreign-controlled fake nominee shell company selling land. But he was deafeningly silent on the subject of one buying land.

My personal opinion is that any farang who attempts to do anything at all related to owning land here is a complete idiot. It seems pretty clear to me that the Thai government does not want foreigners owning land and, if they did, they would simply remove some or all of the obstacles. I see no sign of this happening. On the contrary, I would say that the signs are there of them tightening up on the problem.

I think that the same applies to the Thai quota of condo units also.

Not a problem at all as far as I'm concerned, as I would never even think about buying land here, at any price, unless they change the rules first.

House in Thai company.pdf

Edited October 8, 2011 by blackadder

[Langsuan Man]

I went to the Sattahip land office this week to arrange for a survey of my companies plot in a development since the developer is building a wall between the back of my house and the house behind me

I brought my companies Chanote and all company paperwork and all the boss of the office did was have one of his employees type up meeting notes, where I as the Director held a meeting with myself and decided to request a survey

Unfortunately, I had to drive all the way back to Pattaya to get my company stamp, so that we could stamp all the documents to include the survey request

After charging me 20 THB for this, he sent me upstairs to the Survey Department Chief who kindly relieved me of 3,000 THB for the survey to be done in a month

At no time was anything mentioned about my company or it's ownership of the plot in the development. So if it is "illegal" as all these TV pundits say it is, then there sure are a lot of people involved in this illegality

My only concern for the OP, would be the upfront payment of the lease to the company, I would just buy it outright by forming your own company

The only time I have ever heard of the Thai Government taking over land that was purchased via the company route was a year or so ago, when it was discovered that a biker gang from overseas was purchasing land in Phuket to launder illegal foreign money and that wasn't because of the "company structure" but due to the illegal nature of the funds used for the purchases

If you want to rent a house or live in a concrete pill box of a condominium then listen to the TV experts, otherwise, Carpe diem