Crackdown On Land Owned By Foreign Residents

[jaapfries]

ALMOst began to care.

It is an absolutely FALSE statement that foreigners own 1/3 of thai land.

Completely, and utterly false. 0 Statistics to back this up.

1/3 of people reading this article probably believe it when they read that too.

IslandMuayThai: You are so right ! ! !

Totally absurd statistics (as usual); probably calculated by the same 'geniuses' who recently announced that 20% of Thailand was flooded . . . . . 555 - you've got to LOVE this country: I certainly do ! !

[Markaew]

Get real guys. Isn't that the Thai way we all know already? You sell something to a farrang 'cause he pays double the price as a local and then you find a tricky lawyer to get the sold item back.

At least, now they finally have the guts to do it the "official" way.

They hate farrangs! You are only welcomed to leave your money (preferable right at the airport on a transit) and go home.

I just wonder, are they really that arrogant (stupid?) to believe they can chase away tourists, foreign expertise and investment and survive in the "Thai Light Zone"?

Yes, they are that stupid.

[heybruce]

Some 100 million rai of Thai land is owned by foreigners, mostly through their Thai spouses or nominees, Auditor-General Sriracha Charoenpanit revealed yesterday.

He said if this situation was "unsolved", it could lead to later generations of Thais having no land to live on.

Mr. Charoenpanit, you have nothing to worry about. I long ago learned that foreigners are not protected by the rule of law when it comes to owning property in Thailand. I promise to only bring what I need to live on into Thailand and will not make any kind of serious investment in this country. Is everyone happy now?

[RedNIvar]

National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) lecturer Piyanuch Potawanich warned that the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015 would lead to more foreigners using nominees to own Thai land, especially Singaporeans, who were smart, had money and needed to invest for profit.

As opposed to the non-Singaporeans, who are dumb, poor and invest for a loss. And this lady is a lecturer at NIDA!!!! OMG. If there is a God, please, please please, help these poor Thai people. For they need more help then the rest of the world.

[Nisa]

We have been officially married for 24 years(in Australia) but she has maintained her maiden name here in Thailand so as she can still own and buy land. This is legal and will do this forever.

Why do you believe she wouldn't be able to buy property in Thailand, being a Thai citizen, if she changed her last name when married????

[Nisa]

Get real guys. Isn't that the Thai way we all know already? You sell something to a farrang 'cause he pays double the price as a local and then you find a tricky lawyer to get the sold item back.

At least, now they finally have the guts to do it the "official" way.

They hate farrangs! You are only welcomed to leave your money (preferable right at the airport on a transit) and go home.

I just wonder, are they really that arrogant (stupid?) to believe they can chase away tourists, foreign expertise and investment and survive in the "Thai Light Zone"?

Yes, they are that stupid.

Based on Thailand being one of the top tourist destinations with steadily increasing numbers ... sounds like it is not the Thais who are stupid.

[cowboydog]

these people only know 2 ways to make money - screw foreigners any way they can or open more prostitution venues.

[Markaew]

Does this mean it will be tit for tat globally and Thai foreign investment will cease, even be terminated? No Thai companies buying up steel mills in the UK, sky scrapers in HK, farm land in NZ...wake up please, this is 2012. Roll on 2015 and reality when Thailand embraces (or not?) the ASEAN community.

Thais will never embrace the ASEAN community. They aren't even embracing the English language that is agreed upon. Thai are far too superior a race to be included with such common people.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Markaew

[KKK]

What a load of bullshit.....33% of thailand owned by foreigners..utter crap....

very little land is owned by foreigners...but a lot of it has been paid for by foreigners.

And if Thailand considers foreign ownership of land wrong where's the Thai law forbidding Thais to own land overseas.....two-faced, double standard cu_nts.....

[Reasonableman]

Darned "quotes" bug!!

Permanent residency is a legal status, granted by the government. Many people have it, they applied, met the criteria, paid the fee and have their red and blue books to prove it. They are legally married, with an official Thai marriage certificate of registration, they have Thai children, they have committed their hearts and lives to Thailand, but they cannot buy land on which to build a family home, and have ownership registered in their own name. That is wrong, imo. On the other matter, if the wife has little funds, but the husband does, she can buy the land using his money, and keep the title, while he has nothing in the case of a divorce. And divorce is fairly prevalent in Thailand. Even ex-PMs practice it.

[airconsult]

Get real guys. Isn't that the Thai way we all know already? You sell something to a farrang 'cause he pays double the price as a local and then you find a tricky lawyer to get the sold item back.

At least, now they finally have the guts to do it the "official" way.

They hate farrangs! You are only welcomed to leave your money (preferable right at the airport on a transit) and go home.

I just wonder, are they really that arrogant (stupid?) to believe they can chase away tourists, foreign expertise and investment and survive in the "Thai Light Zone"?

Yes, they are that stupid.

Based on Thailand being one of the top tourist destinations with steadily increasing numbers ... sounds like it is not the Thais who are stupid.

What's the definition of "Top tourist destination"? If I go by numbers of people in 2010 (excluding transit at airport), Thailand came in around 15 million tourists.

That's compared to France with 76 million, USA with 60-odd million, China with 56 million.....

(skipping many.....)

Turkey had 27 million and Mexico had 22 million......

But if you meant highest number in ASEAN countries..... Yes, ok, you're perfectly correct, but shouldn't Thailand be thinking further than that?

Cheers

[Markaew]

*Yawn*

He's early this year.... last year as "Land Inspector" he claimed Foreigners owned 90% of Phuket (July 2nd).

Though some obscure twist in reality he has moved on to being auditor-general and he's still on with his nationalistic, xenophobic rant

The thing is, the educated people realise that direct land ownership by foreigners would actually bring much more wealth into the Kingdom - and the land doesn't disappear, it's used to create jobs for Thai people, ask the Swiss, ask the Australians - it worked out pretty well for them.

Cheers

You forget this is the Land of Smiles Thieves. They would prefer to steal from you than look at the big picture.

[yummypizza]

I really believe that one day,in some crazy regime change,they will enforce the law on this matter and there will be nothing we can do,because, we cannot own land in Thailand, so the world will look on and say " they did warn you and yet you bought land" 49% ownership is as good as none, it's just an edge in case they wanna take it back one day .... but hang on...what if you are honestly married,really love Thailand and have a family and every thing is in your wife's name? i dare say, that poor woman will be put under so much pressure, that a loving husband will just take her back to his own country and leave the land and corruption behind, then another regime change and all will settle and a new generation of investors will fill Thailand's pockets again, the situation in whole, is a very sad thorn in Thailand's side...

[rmacdon61]

National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) lecturer Piyanuch Potawanich warned that the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015 would lead to more foreigners using nominees to own Thai land, especially Singaporeans, who were smart, had money and needed to invest for profit.

did he really say that? or is it just the quality translation?

Yes!! Don't you just hate people that " who were smart, had money and needed to invest for profit." Better stupid ones that invest for lose?

[laurentbkk]

oh well here we go again , what about thais who own lands abroad ? In my country , everybody can own lands as its impossible to bring the land back to your home on your back .... its always too easy to blame foreigners, the big white devil ... my suggestion ? foreigners cannot own land in Thailand ? then Thais shouldnt be allow to own lands abroad. After all that would be a very normal procedure no ?

[Markaew]

Get real guys. Isn't that the Thai way we all know already? You sell something to a farrang 'cause he pays double the price as a local and then you find a tricky lawyer to get the sold item back.

At least, now they finally have the guts to do it the "official" way.

They hate farrangs! You are only welcomed to leave your money (preferable right at the airport on a transit) and go home.

I just wonder, are they really that arrogant (stupid?) to believe they can chase away tourists, foreign expertise and investment and survive in the "Thai Light Zone"?

Yes, they are that stupid.

Based on Thailand being one of the top tourist destinations with steadily increasing numbers ... sounds like it is not the Thais who are stupid.

What's the definition of "Top tourist destination"? If I go by numbers of people in 2010 (excluding transit at airport), Thailand came in around 15 million tourists.

That's compared to France with 76 million, USA with 60-odd million, China with 56 million.....

(skipping many.....)

Turkey had 27 million and Mexico had 22 million......

But if you meant highest number in ASEAN countries..... Yes, ok, you're perfectly correct, but shouldn't Thailand be thinking further than that?

Cheers

Nisa is Thai and like most Thais they make up stuff as they go and call it fact. I'm convince she is paid to promote Thai Culture within this forum.

[Thai at Heart]

So who signed off on all these title deeds with foreigners names on them?

By the time all the nominee shareholders are investigated, the will probably find that Osama's nephew owns half of Samui and the Elvis has a little beach front property in Hua Hin. The headline could equally say, millions of Thais profiting legally from being nominees. I sometimes wonder if the only reason this story comes along is that some foreign hotel group has just outbid a local Thai company for a choice bit of land on a beach somewhere, using perfectly legal and approved means.

[jalansanitwong]

What about the Thai wife whom sold property with out my knowledge, forged my signature to sell house, forged my travler's cheques without my passport present at Bank in Roi Et and stoled my savings....I got little response from the law here in Thailand...years went by with lawyer taking my money...nothing came out of it...so where is the law...does not exist here in Thailand. Crack down is cracked up... I know of another fellow that is going down the same road but he will come to the reality that Thailand is not a place to invest in property or any future indevours one might have a likeing to do.

Did it ever occur to you that it was just too easy meeting and getting married to girls in Thailand ? Now you know why. Are you going to fallin love again ?....probably.

[thurien]

"As a long-term solution, he urged the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) and Department of Special Investigation to look into foreign land ownership and give rewards to people who help police arrest those who break the law."

now, these carpet-buggers will find out amazing things worth-while to be reported to police: The vast majority of investors are Chinese, Singaporean, Japanese, Malay, Russian, Indian, Arab etc. multi-nationals and they put their eggs into hotels, tourism, transport, food, chemicals, cars, electric appliances, electronics. These high-stakers will not be found between Khon Kaen and RoiEt but in the Eastern Seaboard Industrial Parks, in Ayuthaya, Bangkok, Hua Hin, Phuket and, of course, in Pity-Ya (centre of lowly fun)

Edited March 13, 2012 by thurien

[Derifo]

So a person married to a Thai has no right to buy a piece of land in the name of his / her spouse, and build a house to live in?

Nationalistic pricks.

[EyesWideOpen]

This issue seems to come up once a year like clockwork. So all the foreigners that bought houses in Pattaya using a company name start getting a bit nervous...That matter is a bit more clear, as those people knowingly used a loophole in the law to own land. House sales in Pattaya came to a stop..... The Chinese developers applied pressure, and the whole thing went away.

What I recall from the last " crackdown/exercise in stupidity" was that they were going after the much bigger group of people. Meaning the hundred of thousands of foreigners who provided the money for their loving Thai wife to buy a house in her name. So if the farm/bar girl could not show where the two million baht came from to buy the house, it was somehow fraud, and the house would be taken away. Even though EVERYONE knows where the money came from......

I was going to buy some land for my daughter who has a Thai passport, but now think I will pass. I would feel bad taking land away from deserving Thai people........ :-)

Edited March 13, 2012 by EyesWideOpen

[Markaew]

Think about this for a minute. Many here are saying it would be smarter for the Thais to open up land ownership to foreigners to expand their economy. Why would they do that? Foreigners haven't stopped sinking money into this country because they can't own the property that they buy. If foreigners stopped buying property so foolishly then the government might change the process. Where else would people buy property and not have their name on the title? No where! Any businessman would love to sell you a bridge and you not own it!

[anterian]

Last time, two years ago, is was the farmers stirring things now it is the hoteliers. They do this partly out of envy, because we make things (farms and hotels) work and they can't, partly because they hope to force quick sales on farangs at knock down prices. Last time it was Middle Eastern Arabs who were targeted, now it is Singaporeans, who will be the next group in two years time. The ChinThais are running scared, I hope ASEAN gives them a bloody nose, it's time Thailand stopped being a Xenophobic third rate third world country.

[softgeorge]

What a load of bullshit.....33% of thailand owned by foreigners..utter crap....

very little land is owned by foreigners...but a lot of it has been paid for by foreigners.

And if Thailand considers foreign ownership of land wrong where's the Thai law forbidding Thais to own land overseas.....two-faced, double standard cu_nts.....

Ah but in uncivilised countries overseas such as Australia there are anti discrimination laws. All people regardless of race, sex or religion must be treated "Equally" no dual pricing, right to own land and even Somchai your local Soi barber can become Prime Minister of Australia if he wants.

I paid for land in my wife's name in Thailand and in doing so I personally put money into the Thai economy which would never have gone in if I didn't. This also created a dozen jobs for thais in the construction of our home not to mention further revenue into the Thai community for building materials etc. Multiply my situation by many many more and this can only be good for Thailand. This land will never leave Thailand or be in farang hands as it will passed down the line to kids/grand kids, unless of course they make a rule that a mixed race child called Billy Smith can not inhierit land.

[mrtoad]

Usual bit of xenophobic tub thumping that gets these idiots in the news for a bit. As someone mentioned, it'll enable a few land grabs and then back to business as usual till the next time. Now, if we want this 1/3 claim investigated properly maybe give Chalerm a call, he pretty much knows everything.

[taichiplanet]

does that mean that foreigners have to give back all the flooded factories?

Edited March 13, 2012 by taichiplanet

[bikerider21]

Saving the land for future generations of Thai people? What about saving the land in England for future generations of English people?

What are English people? Seems that they are Indian, Pakistani, Caribbean, African, you name it. So who are Thai people? Is Thaksin Thai people? Just a thought.

[jambco984]

Deny all knowledge and smile

[ShodomonRules]

Thai crackdowns crack me up.

[AZBill]

Does anyone still question the stupidity, short-sightedness and greed of the little filths in charge of this country? If a Thai spouse owns the land then she owns the land and there cannot possibly be a law violation. As far as Thai corporations using nominees, the Thai law allows it so where's the problem? These people talk out their own asses and don't even understand their own system, which doesn't suprise me as they are all idiots! They don't care about their own people, they only care about pretending to have wealth and looking the part. They don't work for it or earn it, they steal it and are simply common theives. A message to all these greedy little Thai beurocrats who actually think they are something - we in the west who actually do have real wealth see you all as a bunch of corrupt, second-class world citizens who simply steal from your own people. You have nothing that impresses us and never will. Give me an Isaan farmer that works hard every day to put food on his family's table and a decent roof over their heads any day over any phony Thai politician/thief trying too hard to impress us that he or she is worth anything.