Land lease for foreign limited company

[DannyDakota]

Is it possible for a foreign (UK) limited company to lease land ?

The house already has a house on it.

This is not an attempt to try to avoid land ownership restrictions, but due to my personal situation it would be advantageous to me if my company could lease the land here.

[KittenKong]

I dont see why not. Leasing is just a form of renting; the only requirement is to have the money to pay for it.

[richardt1808]

Well really you would be leasing the house, not the land; and that's certainly possible. Once you have a valid lease for the house, and assuming it's on a residential plot - not a farm or something like that, then of course you can use the property as well. Exactly what you are allowed or not allowed to do on the property, depends on the deal you reach with your landlord.

One thing to be aware of, is that if you wish to register the house as your business address, you must have the owner's permission and the owner will be required to declare the income and pay VAT on it as well as income tax - which many Thai landlords are reluctant to do because, like most of us, they hate giving anything to the tax-man and it is far nicer to have the income as un-declared cash. Therefore the golden rule is to make sure that your Landlord is abrest with these regulations and has no objections to giving you a business lease. Of course contracts are essential, but even more important, is the fact that you must be 100% sure that your Landlord clearly understands the whole deal and all the requirements upfront. It's amazing how many contracts unravel when your Thai Landlord suddenly realises he has an obligation to fulfill which he was not planning on filling.

[KittenKong]

Well really you would be leasing the house, not the land;

You can lease land if you want to and if I was paying then I would indeed want to. Many people lease bare land here and build their own house on it.

[Arkady]

There is no law that prevents foreign companies from leasing land but you need to be careful that the company is not deemed to be doing business in Thailand. By having an office or even an agent it could be considered taxable in Thailand by the Revenue Department under the permanent establishment rule. UK cos can benefit from the double taxation treaty but some documentation might need to be filed. It could also be deemed as operating without an alien business licence under the Foreign Business Act. The company's documents will need to be translated into Thai for the registration of the lease at the Land Dept.

The question is whether it's worth the additional hassle and potential liabilities, compared to registering the lease in the name of an individual.