Crackdown On Land Owned By Foreign Residents

[personchester]

I wonder how this would effect those of us that are married to thais with children and own our primary residence that is obviously in the name of the Thai spouse. Certainly if all the paperwork was done and filed correctly then no laws were broken right? No intention to break or circumvent any laws either.

Marriage to a Thai woman legalises the purchase, she becomes the sole owner, children play no role in this matter.

Edited March 13, 2012 by personchester

[Thai at Heart]

This topic is so easily used as a bit of tub thumping it is ridiculous.

I remember a few years ago some politician making an impassioned plea to stop huge areas of the country being fenced off by foreigners so that "No thai could ever walk on it again".

This was met with a more enlightened reply from some other politician, "When was the last time you let someone through your front gates to walk on your lawn?" Once again, the protectionist elements in the country try desperately to hide behind the veil of nationalism, when we all know that 70% of the useful land in the country sits in the hands of probably less than 20% of the population, the majority of which ethnic origin we can all probably guess very easily.

[Macmundi]

Thats right, you foreigners!! Sell us back the land and take your money away with you! We don't want your money. Um.... let me count my money first and see if I can buy it back.. um... no. Can we pay you with a few of our gorgeous hookers? They can make you happy long time!

[EyesWideOpen]

I wonder how this would effect those of us that are married to thais with children and own our primary residence that is obviously in the name of the Thai spouse. Certainly if all the paperwork was done and filed correctly then no laws were broken right? No intention to break or circumvent any laws either.

Marriage to a Thai woman legalises the purchase, children play no role in this matter.

Except.......in the last crackdown from a couple of years ago, the government said if the wife purchased the house in her name, she had to prove the origin of the money to buy the house. If a foreigner/ husband provided the money, then somehow it became fraud.

[AleG]

Second class Citizens again....

No, not at all.

Very few foreigners in Thailand are citizens at all, let alone second, third or stowage class.

[Thai at Heart]

Don't underestimate the resentment among the upper echelons of the country, that many "mia farang" are now worth not inconsiderable amounts of money through purchases funded by hubby.

Its just not how it is meant to be.

[Colin Yai]

Second class Citizens again....

The name for us on our Immigration visa forms plainly says "ALIEN"

[bendix]

I dont know what's more laughable. The regular announcement of this crackdown which all parties - including the Auditor General and his audience - know is a lot of hot air and nonsense, spouted for purely political reasons, or the hysterical over-reaction which it gets from Thai Visa members every year.

[RHCP]

I wonder how this would effect those of us that are married to thais with children and own our primary residence that is obviously in the name of the Thai spouse. Certainly if all the paperwork was done and filed correctly then no laws were broken right? No intention to break or circumvent any laws either.

Marriage to a Thai woman legalises the purchase, children play no role in this matter.

Except.......in the last crackdown from a couple of years ago, the government said if the wife purchased the house in her name, she had to prove the origin of the money to buy the house. If a foreigner/ husband provided the money, then somehow it became fraud.

As I understand in this situation there is a conflict between land ownership and marital laws and in the event of a divorce the foreign spouse could make a claim. Perhaps someone could dig out the details on this for clarification.

[whitejaguar]

They think that when a foreigner buys land it will be always foreigner land. But the Thais can buy it back when we have polished it up and increased the price ten times

[softgeorge]

Just wondering how many property investments Mr Sriracha Charoenpanit has overseas. These Thai laws have been around for years and will never be changed. I believe that a former P.M Mr T has/had multi million dollar properties in exclusive prime real estate in Sydney whilst still strictly enforcing these laws on foriegners in his own country. I am sure many current politicians are doing the same today.

[samran]

So the xenophobic nonsense by the AG has been balanced out by the racist spleen venting from the shallow end of the TV gene pool.

So mods, shall we call this one a draw and close this thread?

There will no doubt be a thread tomorrow fit for more spleen venting. Another day, another rant fest so to speak...

[personchester]

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 ?

Thailand knowns the land that was purchased by foreigners can not be carried away on their backs, but they may have a suspicion that it can be done using a suitcase, hence the policy.

[AGareth2]

Xenophobia?

No!

It is worse.

The rich can't stand the idea that their "slave" class might get to have a slice of the cake.

[Gary A]

Most know that a foreigner controlling land or a home through a company is illegal. The laws are quite clear that foreigners are not permitted to own land here in Thailand. You can whinge and complain as much as you want but this is Thailand and this is the way it is.

Contrary to some posts, your wife can own as many houses and as much land as she wants, PROVIDED that you sign a document that does away with any claims you may have on those properties. You are giving your wife that money to buy the property and any claim you think you may have does not exist.

You have two choices, you can legally buy a condo in your own name or you can trust that your wife won't throw you out of the house on the land that you paid for.

It is likely that this will blow over AGAIN and nothing will be done to the existing companies. It is also possible that some nationalistic politician will eventually pull the plug and there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

[bangkokrick]

Another bullshit story. We are not allowed to own land so all the land 'owned by foreigners' is actually owned by Thais, be it nominees or people like jay and me. The Thais still own it.

+1 so wondering which brain owner but not brain user came to the above conclusion

Just stating facts. If farangs don't own the land how can they take it back. If your comment was meant to be amusing, you failed miserably.

[arrowsdawdle]

I wonder how this would effect those of us that are married to thais with children and own our primary residence that is obviously in the name of the Thai spouse. Certainly if all the paperwork was done and filed correctly then no laws were broken right? No intention to break or circumvent any laws either.

Last year they were saying this is no exception and that just because all the paperwork was filed correctly, laws may still have been broken if a spouse could not prove that she had the funds prior to purchase of the property. It was clearly pointed out that, married or not, if a Thai person used a foreigner's money to buy land on behalf of the foreigner, the transaction became illegal.

One way that this might be avoided could be for a foreigner to act as a lender and contract for a spouse to borrow the money from the foreigner to buy the property. This provides a transparent paper trail for how she made the purchase and apparently, there is no law prohibiting a Thai from borrowing money from a foreigner to purchase land and home. Of course, some sort of payment schedule would have to be in effect and the payments would have to be made but the lender could approve the contract so long as it was not obviously unrealistic.

One way to achieve a realistic contract may be to have quite low payments for 10 years or so and then have a balloon payment, or some other form of adjusted rate financing. Certainly the documents would have to pass muster. Being a lender to a spouse gets the foreigner on the title as lender and protects the property because if the contract and payments are not fulfilled by the spouse, the foreigner lender has the right to liquidate--although not own--the property in order to recover the invested financing.

[richard10365]

This is not the first time this story has surfaced. In July 2011, Sriracha Charoenpanit, claimed foreigners had 1 billion rai of land. He seems to have problems getting his figures straight. Now he is saying it's 1 million rai. (Source) He also said the new law would be passed in August of that year. That didn't seem accurate as well.

I don't disagree with protecting Thai land from being owned by foreigners illegally. We have similar issues with foreign land ownership in the United States. I'm sure other countries also have similar issues. I just hope the laws that are being proposed don't target families where a Thai married to a foreigner is not allowed to use their combined incomes to purchase a home. In this case, any off spring that would come about from this would be Thai and eventually own the land.

[david555]

1/3 of the land owned by foreigners???

All I want is a couple of rai to build a house on and retire with the wife.....

i think they would like to put on youtr grave NOT your name ..... but only illegal immigrant N° .....!! they really becomes arrogant ....

[SICHONSTEVE]

Another bullshit story. We are not allowed to own land so all the land 'owned by foreigners' is actually owned by Thais, be it nominees or people like jay and me. The Thais still own it.

The Amity Treaty enables American citizens to own up to 1 rai of land. It has not been modified or annulled to date.

The stats doesn't come from 1 million Americans owning land here.

It might come from over-estimations and fear-mongering...

Where does it mention the fact that 1 million Americans own land in Thailand???

[Slaps]

When you farang morons finally start to understand it ?

You are only allowed to spend as much as possible money for as less as valuablle things, but NEVER got a real possession back for it.

Understand it: the only reason you are tolerated in Thailand is because you leave a lot of money here. But.. the best.. simply transfer it, and stay in your own country.

Sounds like your Girl Friend has developed the urge for the Larger things in life

.

[Pib]

Crackdown like last time?

Nothing happened.

This is just the annual crackdown for 2012. Normally they hold this promotion in January of each year but the floods delayed the promotion this year.

[Bagwan]

so basically if you're married and your wife has bought land, you're in violation.

they needed you in 1997...but now it's screw off.

I signed an undertaking that affirmed that I had no interest in the land, that the sole owner was my wife and she had bought the property that I had donated - not lent - her.. I don't see a problem. After 10 blissful years I had the confidence to cede my shares in the company which owns my house to my wife and her daughter.

Comments that I have been unwise or even foolish by people who do not know either me or my family are both unwelcome and very wide of the mark.

[BigJohnnyBKK]

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?

Why does that surprise you? Publicly admitting that fellow Asians are smart is very acceptable here, not only of Chinese descent but also the Japanese.

Now if he were to call farangs smart, then I'd be surprised!

[bangkokrick]

Another bullshit story. We are not allowed to own land so all the land 'owned by foreigners' is actually owned by Thais, be it nominees or people like jay and me. The Thais still own it.

The Amity Treaty enables American citizens to own up to 1 rai of land. It has not been modified or annulled to date.

The stats doesn't come from 1 million Americans owning land here.

It might come from over-estimations and fear-mongering...

Where does it mention the fact that 1 million Americans own land in Thailand???

Dunno not my post.

[Thai at Heart]

Isn't there some law somewhere in this country about spouting b*******s?

You can get locked up for telling the truth, but you are free to spout utter rubbish?

[Lifer]

Think your all worked up about nothing. Legally married Thais who bought a place to live and is registered in the Thai spouses name should have nothing to worry about. I believe they are looking at those foreigners who are using Thais to buy large pieces of land to run a business etc. That should be easy for them to find.

Think of it as another grandious hub, the hub of illegal land purchases. None of the other hubs have happened. This topic came up some time ago with no results. Relax.

[khaowong1]

Foreigners own 30% ? Stupid !

This guy really believe that its country is the only one in the world... come back to earth Charlie !

Ask any Thai, they ARE the only country in the world. The rest of the world is not really there. It's a figment of the imagination.

[mayday49]

Reminds Me of the G Mods and their odious and subjective nannyisms ... this post is about foreign ownership of land in T-land.....OK! I own 100 rai in a northern Province... I just changed My last Name so there,....no problem

[Thai at Heart]

His idea about people paying a proper tax on it though is extremely valid. How many bazillion rai is sitting idle in the hands of Thai(Chinese)????