New Draconian Property Law To Deport Foreigners Who "Owns" Land Illegally

[fredKroket]

I notice they say about land being held in a nominee company, but there is no mention about condos being owned the same way? It's not like a condo owner is going to set up a paddy field in his front room is it?

[Tatsujin]

"welcoming foreign investment",

Just as long as you dont end up owning anything !!!

Doh

And that's the whole point . . . with the laws currently in place here anyway, that land, house, business or whatever that is "foreign" owned can be taken away in a heartbeat cos it was obtained illegally in the first place. They "allow" it to happen at the moment but it can be taken away just as easily.

[ayayay]

No use trying to apply logic in anything that the Thai government does when it comes to foreigners, their xenophobic ways will never change.

And foreigners who does not know anything about anything, and who always just want to complain about thai culture and thai politics will never change either...

[Tatsujin]

I notice they say about land being held in a nominee company, but there is no mention about condos being owned the same way? It's not like a condo owner is going to set up a paddy field in his front room is it?

Because a foreigner already CAN own a condo 100% . . . that's easy and not illegal.

[RickTheBear]

"The new law includes a reward to anyone providing information about foreigners owning land through nominees. They will get 20% of the market price of that piece of land as a reward after the plot is sold,"

Are foreigners eligible for this reward... if so, I think I'll be dam_n rich pretty fast by providing infos :-)

Don't you DARE report those Singaporeans buying out Evason Phuket before I do...

I have a better idea, setup a Thai company that will offer that service for just 25% of the commission. Come report your friends, family or neighbour, we guarantee you will stay anonymous and get 75% of the reward :-)

[Chua]

Its understandable and reasonable that Thailand should protect its largest natural resource; agricultural land.... but there are already severe restrictions on the sale of this type of land. Anecdotal stories such as "I heard there was a broker who..." (fill in the blank) as the basis for a draconian new laws affecting investment are a very , very bad idea.

"Think of the children..." -- what's the difference if a wealthy Thai with no children person or big Thai conglomerate buys up farm land vs. any other entity? Any Thai individual who wants to keep the land they own, or wants to buy land is perfectly free to do so and pass it down to their children. So this "think of the children" argument is a hallow emotional plea with no substance or basis in fact.

Such a draconian anti-foreign law would scare away BILLIONS of baht in perfectly legal foreign investment in Thai companies which have legitimate Thai partners and operate real business producing products. When its so easy for foreigners to invest in other Asian countries, why do some in Thailand want to remain an isolated 3rd world county forever? Apparently they want to drive this huge amount of revenue to other Asean countries -- because that's exactly what it will do! The xenophobes need to wake up, get over their unfounded fear, and realize that the modern world is all about globalization and that in order to have a thriving economy countries, especially Thailand, need to ease restrictions on foreign investment and *attract* capital into the country, not scare it away!

[tragickingdom]

The virtues of PAD and the the Democrat Party I suppose. Anyone who read the masterpiece of the Bangkok Pundit yesterday must have fallen from his chair. The PAD accuses the US of wanting to use U-tapao to carry out biological warfare and this is another piece in the process to please the xenophobic neo nazi elite. When do Western countries wake up and enforce pay the Thai elite back in the same currency.

[mussen]

Foreign press critisise Thai. govt for not doing thier job during investigations of foreigners deaths, or whatever other reason. Thai govt., like a bunch of spoilt 2 year old kindergarten kids say "ooh, ooh, ok don't come play here then!"

[fredKroket]

I notice they say about land being held in a nominee company, but there is no mention about condos being owned the same way? It's not like a condo owner is going to set up a paddy field in his front room is it?

Because a foreigner already CAN own a condo 100% . . . that's easy and not illegal.

You will see I said 'condos being owned the same way', which means that foreigners also buy condos in company name when foreign quota is no longer available. Please don't try an be clever.

[Stjohnm]

Sod this for a lark LOS, there's always Laos

Sent from my iPad using ThaiVisa app

[Keesters]

What about a similar law for Thai living abroad ,in the interest of FairPlay !

Agree ... there should be a Thai law forbidding its people to own land overseas. Anything less is double standard and two-faced.

[LennyW]

I think you will find that this is targeted at those huge foreign corporations who are buying up large tracts of rice growing land for Hom Mali rice production.

The governments "rice pledging" scheme was an absolute disaster so rather than accepting the blame and doing something constructive about it......nah.....blame the foreigners again!!

[Dibbler]

What is this country coming to when a law provides financial incentives for people (e.g. neighbours, relatives, friends, failed business partners, politicians and their families) to snitch on foreigners that hold land in the names of others? Instead of making it difficult for foreigners to own land, why not make it attractive for foreigners to bring their foreign currency and invest in property in Thailand, thus holding up what is otherwise a fickle and unstable residential property market? If this law is put through, there will be more of us considering a move to Cambodia, Malaysia, even Myanmar, where investors are treated equal, no matter what the colour of their skin. Wake up lawmakers, imagine what will happen to the property market if foreigners are forced to sell their property at below market prices!

[sausageandmash]

The most senseless comment yet - unless you are joking of course.

Can you please explain to me why a Thai can buy land in the UK, but UK citizens can't buy land here?

This should not be illegal in the first place. Allow foreigners to buy land in Thailand, but put a limit on how muuch they can buy. Then everybody's happy.

This is the one instance that I wish I had some kind of influence over David Cameron. I would love to see the look on Hi-so Thais' faces if the a UK law came in to stop Thais buying ouur land, unless they change their laws. Som-num-naa!!

"Will there be any land left for our Thai children?"

Definitely not if the foreigners are allowed to take the land back to their countries. More laws are badly needed and rewards should be as big as half of the land being taken away!

[sausageandmash]

I admire your stance, but think about it. How can a Thai law have any effect abroad? It's up to the foreign governments to put that law in place.

What about a similar law for Thai living abroad ,in the interest of FairPlay !

Agree ... there should be a Thai law forbidding its people to own land overseas. Anything less is double standard and two-faced.

[thaigold]

The Thais are right and proper in protecting their land rights for their own, their children's posterity. Thailand is not alone in this endeavor. Mexico has stringent controls on foreign possession. In part:

Under the Mexican Constitution, only Mexicans have the right to own land or receive mineral or water rights. Foreigners have the right to own real property, provided they do not invoke the protection of their government. That sounds reasonable enough, doesn't it? All this means is that any dispute concerning land ownership will be decided by Mexican courts, treating foreign landowners the same as Mexican nationals. Foreigners have no legal recourse in the legal system of their homelands. This is done to prevent the historic recurrence, prevalent in Latin America in the past 200 years, of a capital-exporting country meddling in the sovereign affairs of another nation to protect a private party's economic interests.

Foreigners are prohibited from directly owning real estate within the "Forbidden Zones" of 100 kilometers of the Mexican border and 50 kilometers of its coasts. Within these restricted areas, foreign ownership is only possible under a bank trust.

Edited June 29, 2012 by thaigold

[bapak]

More of the same top-down, nobody really cares, moralizing by a few holier-than-thou hateful elitist politicians. In the meantime, they will be happy to take your tourism and sex-trade money.

Ask all those Thai politicians and others who have purchased property in U.K/USA/Australia/etc., with no restrictions whatsoever, to agree that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.

[Mitker]

"The new law includes a reward to anyone providing information about foreigners owning land through nominees. They will get 20% of the market price of that piece of land as a reward after the plot is sold,"

Great mentality: promote tattling, a great step ahead. Some courts abroad even reject this kind of leads since they consider the process to do more harm than good (bad memories of nasty behaviors during past conflicts)

"Will there be any land left for our Thai children?"

Will there be any land left for Brazilian, Austrian, Hawaiian.. Hey! The world is changing. We are not leaving in cans anymore.

"I've heard there was a broker buying land plots throughout (...)"

Wow! So, policies are designed according to "I've heard's" ?? Great again.

"She suggested clarity in regulations"

She's totally right but anyone knowing how things work here realizes what at stake for high position officials if they don't have a wide margin of manoeuvre anymore to decide what's right and what's wrong. The current lack of clarity is probably not fully accidental.

"Thailand may charge higher taxes on foreigner property transactions than on those of Thais"

Closeted mentality again but unfortunately they wouldn't be the only ones on this.

"while still welcoming foreign investment"

The word "welcome" implies a certain state of mind badly missing here (except for the primitive ATM vision, see below).

"Foreigners are permitted to buy land in industrial estates because they generate income and employment"

Edited June 29, 2012 by Mitker

[Arkady]

"When laws are clarified, she accepted Thailand may charge higher taxes on foreigner property transactions than on those of Thais."

Why?

[Unkomoncents]

"Anyone related to the property business may be unhappy with this bill as it will make the market rigid. But this law can help protect the land for the next generation of Thais," he said

The ominous thumping of the nationalism drum. Mr. Siracha Charoenpanij wants to make sure that only wealthy, connected, landed Thais are able to exploit the Thai masses.

[sausageandmash]

That's because, much as I love Thai people, their culture and politics are so flawed and full of holes. I think you will find that foreigners who complain are mainly justified and have been living here a long time - which makes their observations relevant. Next time, present a better argument. 1 out of ten for a bad effort.

No use trying to apply logic in anything that the Thai government does when it comes to foreigners, their xenophobic ways will never change.

And foreigners who does not know anything about anything, and who always just want to complain about thai culture and thai politics will never change either...

[pkspeaker]

probably the reason for the double-standard is that Thailand is worried that since foreigners have more money than the average Thai, foreigners will wind up buying most of the countries land and most Thai's will end up having to rent from foreigners at higher rent prices than if the land was protected against foreign ownership, or buying land at higher prices.

Can you please explain to me why a Thai can buy land in the UK, but UK citizens can't buy land here?

"Will there be any land left for our Thai children?"

[Spalpeen]

What about a similar law for Thai living abroad ,in the interest of FairPlay !

My thoughts exactly. Just to even things up they could ban Thai nationals from owning property abroad. But that's not very likely, is it?

[Mitker]

I still have a big doubt: How can possibly any foreigner "own" land throught nominees??? In any case they are renting that land, cuz the real owner is the nominee.

Imagine Company A.

It has a number of shareholders, all Thai - but they only amount to 49% of the shares.

Company A also have a Thai director.

Company B holds 51% of the shares in Company A and can thus control Company A.

Company B does not own any land, and have a foreign director.

In Company B, foreigners own at least 51% of the shares.

In above example, no foreigners own any land, however a foreigner is in control of a piece of land.

Uhh scary stuff this.. God forbit such nasty business.

Lets deport the foreigner straight away.. Bad foreigner !!

In this example, Company B would be considered "foreign owned"

Since it owns a majority stake in Cy A, this would be considered the same => a foreigner would be owning the land.

... if I'm not wrong and not too pragmatic

[HuaHinHim]

A law that says a foreigner married to a Thai can own one property (home) as a limit would be nice. Every day it seems I'm seeing more ways for Thailand to take my money and give nothing for it. I live in Thailand because my parents have passed and my wife's are still alive, once that changes we are likely going to sell up if anyone wants to buy by then and leave. It may be more expensive to live in western countries but at least most of the time you have some recourse if you feel you have been the victim of discrimination or deception but in Thailand it seems to be an unwritten law that farang's are to be taken at every opportunity.

It's not my intention to slag off Thailand and Thai's but you need to take a good look at the people running this country because your going to be left behind amongst the Asian community let alone the rest of the world.

I hope your younger generation can work it out but I have my doubts

[apetley]

The virtues of PAD and the the Democrat Party I suppose. Anyone who read the masterpiece of the Bangkok Pundit yesterday must have fallen from his chair. The PAD accuses the US of wanting to use U-tapao to carry out biological warfare and this is another piece in the process to please the xenophobic neo nazi elite. When do Western countries wake up and enforce pay the Thai elite back in the same currency.

Who is the party in power right now proposing this legislation?

Sent from my GT-I9003 using Thaivisa Connect App

[sirchai]

When laws are clarified, she accepted Thailand may charge higher taxes on foreigner property transactions than on those of Thais.

It's time for many of us to move on. What would this country be without foreigners, better said their invested money?

Like Myanmar now.......................

You can see the always changing procedures when teaching in this country. Even after ten years you'll have to go through the same procedure every year..........

We do a Thai culture test, while Thais should make a "knowing other cultures test".

.Foreign women marry a superficial Thai man get their Thai passport immediately.

Why not foreign men, married to a Thai woman, supporting the whole clan?

Something smells VERY fishy here.....................

Foreigners are obviously not really welcome in the land of WHYS..........................

.Sent via Chin. Super tablet, bought by tax payers money.

Edited June 29, 2012 by sirchai

[gamini]

No use trying to apply logic in anything that the Thai government does when it comes to foreigners, their xenophobic ways will never change.

And foreigners who does not know anything about anything, and who always just want to complain about thai culture and thai politics will never change either...

And Thais can't really own (take "possession" of) land in the UK because they are not allowed to live there. Comes to the same thing as barring Brits from owning land here. They are at least allowed to live here!!

[Tatsujin]

I notice they say about land being held in a nominee company, but there is no mention about condos being owned the same way? It's not like a condo owner is going to set up a paddy field in his front room is it?

Because a foreigner already CAN own a condo 100% . . . that's easy and not illegal.

You will see I said 'condos being owned the same way', which means that foreigners also buy condos in company name when foreign quota is no longer available. Please don't try an be clever.

That's their lookout then . . . skirt the law here and you'll (eventually) pay the price.

[bangkokheat]

20% reward ! I can see who will be getting that, it will be mostly from internal investigations considering the spoils to be got, they will be busting their guts to turn companies inside out, like pigs at a feeding trough