Buying my mates house

[BEDBANDIT]

Ive decided to buy my friends house. he wants me to pay him in UK sterling which suits me fine .

the house is in a thai company name ,

If my friends signs his 49% directorship over to me, is that it ? are we done or is there other factors that I'm not thinking about.

thanks for any input or advice

[taninthai]

yep thats it then your done ,the 51% thai shareholders own half your house and land..... ,many buy house and land this way but its not how i would like to own property over here...jmo

[Donnie Brasco]

yep thats it then your done ,the 51% thai shareholders own half your house and land..... ,many buy house and land this way but its not how i would like to own property over here...jmo

The mind fairly REELS, does it not ;-?

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

[swissie]

Your "friend" has discovered that those 51/49 % deals do not hold water in a Thai-Court of law. Crackdown by Thai-Authorities on the increase.

Tell your friend to go "suck a lemon" and buy yourself a lavish condominium for the same money IN YOUR NAME.

Cheers.

[simple1]

OP: Have a read of the content at URL below

http://www.samuiforsale.com/real-estate/nominee-structured-companies-and-transfer-of-land.html

[whoisyourdaddy]

Seriously some of you guys are just incredible . There are thousands of foreigners who own ( sort of speak ) houses. OP , when buying the house, make sure to buy/transfer the company. So the company owns the house.

Initially , you would not be able to be a director to transfer the house, it would have to be a Thai ( latest as explained by my accountant and lawyer), once house is transferred the directors can be changed.

You would need an accountant or lawyer to do this for you.

Make sure to file yearly and keep up with all the taxes and you will not have any problems

[FiftyTwo]

Most people avoid buying existing companies, as it is fairly easy to hide company debts.

Once you buy the company, you owe the debt.

Safer to set up a new company, get your new company to buy the house from his old company.

There are many people looking to steal from you in Thailand, most will pretend to be your friend while doing it.

Trust No One.

PS

And then the money laundering factor. Fairly sure buying in Thailand with money in England is against the law of both countries. Not to mention if it all goes wrong, who you gonna complain to? Split country deals are a scammers delight, both countries will deny jurisdiction.

Edited March 6, 2014 by FiftyTwo

[Donnie Brasco]

Rent, don't buy. RENT !

Better yet . . . . . RUN !!!!!!

"Sometimes, 'fuggedabowdit' just means fuggedabowdit."

[Skint]

Ive decided to buy my friends house. he wants me to pay him in UK sterling which suits me fine .

the house is in a thai company name ,

If my friends signs his 49% directorship over to me, is that it ? are we done or is there other factors that I'm not thinking about.

thanks for any input or advice

When you wrote this did you not read it back and think it was actually a daft idea?

I would if I were you look into other ways of owning this property which favor you otherwise you will end up with your pants torn down and a good ole rattling.

[falkan]

what's the typical fee for setting up a new company that will own a house/land and the yearly accounting or whatever more expenses you would have?

[commie Joe]

Your "friend" has discovered that those 51/49 % deals do not hold water in a Thai-Court of law. Crackdown by Thai-Authorities on the increase.

Tell your friend to go "suck a lemon" and buy yourself a lavish condominium for the same money IN YOUR NAME.

Cheers.

Why would anybody want to buy a flat . Aplace where there is no community & the construction is the same as was done in the UK in the 70s .Filthy urine smelling holes

[johnnyk]

You won't buy a company saddled with debt etc. if the due diligence is done. Would you buy a car without a proper mechanical inspection? No whining if you do and its a lemon.

Has anyone noticed the huge number of falangs being busted for owning their property through a company?

I thought not.

[LennyW]

Providing you do due diligence on the existing company and it is free of any debt, then this is the best route to go, a simple change of directors is all that is involved.

Creating a new company from scratch, whilst it can be done, will attract more unwanted scrutiny and attention.

[Langsuan Man]

The nay sayers always jump in to these threads with their gloom and doom posts that the sky is falling and the Thai bogey man is getting ready to strike and take over you house

Unless you want to piss away a large amount of money there is no reason whatsoever to establish a new company. That is the beauty of the system that the TV warriors here don't like to accept. You buy the company and your lawyer will verify that the company has paid the requisite taxes and fees and is current. These companies do nothing except hold the property. They don't generate real income, enter into contracts with other companies, or perform any functions that could lead to liabilities

What you will be saddled with is the approximately 14-15,000 THB cost of the annual audit and filing for the company and possibly higher water bills depending upon where you are located. And if you should want to close the company later on that will cost you in the neighborhood of 25-50,000 THB depending on your lawyer

If I were the seller and you wanted to establish a new company I would increase the asking price to help me pay for closing down the company that you don't want

[dotpoom]

Your "friend" has discovered that those 51/49 % deals do not hold water in a Thai-Court of law. Crackdown by Thai-Authorities on the increase.

Tell your friend to go "suck a lemon" and buy yourself a lavish condominium for the same money IN YOUR NAME.

Cheers.

I doubt if the condo would be that "Lavish" if you paid the same money as one pays for the average house.....condos are considerably more expensive than houses taking area size etc., into consideration.

To FALKAN,..... I'v had two houses in a company name, the first one cost 25,000 Bt....the second one 15,000 Baht. ...It is really advisable to shop around. When I was looking to set up the second company I went to a Thai Lawyer....he wanted 75,000 Bt. and reckoned he was doing it at a discount for me. (I think he thought this Falang came to Thailand on the last boat). I literally went across the road and got it for 15,000 Bt.

To save the owner (a Thai government scientist) money in taxes on the money I would be paying her for the house, she suggested we value the house down, so I did and it saved me money too. The first way was in the cost of setting up the company what with the liabilities of the company being lower and the second way was in the Land Office taxes. My 50% came to 6,000 Bt. normally the Land Office wouldn't enter into it if it was just a case of changing the name on the 49%, but it my case my company was buying it from A Thai citizen.

The annual cost of accountancy again varies as you shop around. My first company was 15,000 Bt. a year, the second company was 12,000 Bt. (different Lawyer from the first company and different from the Lawyer who set up this company). You do not have to stay with the same Lawyer who sets up your company when it comes to doing the annual returns. The lawyer who set up the company assumed I would be going to her office to have the yearly returns done and quoted me 15,000 Bt.......... OK, so I saved only 3000 Bt....but the way i see it..........3000 Bt. is as good to me as it is to a Lawyer. Hope this helps and good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Edited March 7, 2014 by dotpoom

[julemanden]

The nay sayers always jump in to these threads with their gloom and doom posts that the sky is falling and the Thai bogey man is getting ready to strike and take over you house

Unless you want to piss away a large amount of money there is no reason whatsoever to establish a new company. That is the beauty of the system that the TV warriors here don't like to accept. You buy the company and your lawyer will verify that the company has paid the requisite taxes and fees and is current. These companies do nothing except hold the property. They don't generate real income, enter into contracts with other companies, or perform any functions that could lead to liabilities

What you will be saddled with is the approximately 14-15,000 THB cost of the annual audit and filing for the company and possibly higher water bills depending upon where you are located. And if you should want to close the company later on that will cost you in the neighborhood of 25-50,000 THB depending on your lawyer

If I were the seller and you wanted to establish a new company I would increase the asking price to help me pay for closing down the company that you don't want

I agree with you 100%, but also make sure that the Thai shareholders already signed their shares to/on a open date and name! That way you can't loose easy and can always get other shareholders into the company. Shareholders you know or trust more... Also make sure that no single Thai shareholders "owns" more shares than you at any time!

Good luck!

[jacko45k]

Ive decided to buy my friends house. he wants me to pay him in UK sterling which suits me fine .

the house is in a thai company name ,

If my friends signs his 49% directorship over to me, is that it ? are we done or is there other factors that I'm not thinking about.

thanks for any input or advice

When you wrote this did you not read it back and think it was actually a daft idea?

I would if I were you look into other ways of owning this property which favor you otherwise you will end up with your pants torn down and a good ole rattling.

Yeah, put it in your wife's name!

[xylophone]

You won't buy a company saddled with debt etc. if the due diligence is done. Would you buy a car without a proper mechanical inspection? No whining if you do and its a lemon.

Has anyone noticed the huge number of falangs being busted for owning their property through a company?

I thought not.

Quote: "Has anyone noticed the huge number of falangs being busted for owning their property through a company? I thought not".

Maybe not at this point, but that's not to say it won't happen, because it is ILLEGAL!!

[SOTIRIOS]

...you make it sound like you are 'getting the deal of a lifetime'.......otherwise why bother......

...my guess...there is a lot more to the story....

[taninthai]

quote from luangsuan man

" These companies do nothing except hold the property. They don't generate real income, enter into contracts with other companies, or perform any functions that could lead to liabilities"

end quote

yes and it is this that makes this illegal setting up a company just to control land.people that do this will never admit its a little dodgy and seem to think its 100% safe ,yes people seem to get away with it but it could all change one day and then you have problems.

company ownership to be 100% secure needs to be a company that is actually operating as a company ,making trades/sales etc showing income and expenditure,not just something set up with a dodgy lawyer who puts half his staff as the 51% shareholders.

op if you want the house and are over say 60 years old just get it on a 30 year lease ,good chance you will have kicked the bucket before the lease runs out ,so their you go you have a house for life.

[KittenKong]

The nay sayers always jump in to these threads with their gloom and doom posts that the sky is falling and the Thai bogey man is getting ready to strike and take over you house

Or, to put it another way, some people on here realise that current poor law enforcement is no guarantee that a better job wont be done in the future.

If you want to sleep easy at night and not run the risk of losing your money it is probably best to only buy things you can legally own.

[KittenKong]

Seriously some of you guys are just incredible . There are thousands of foreigners who own ( sort of speak ) houses.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in Thailand who take illegal drugs daily. Is that a good reason to do the same?

[Moouan]

The nay sayers always jump in to these threads with their gloom and doom posts that the sky is falling and the Thai bogey man is getting ready to strike and take over you house

Unless you want to piss away a large amount of money there is no reason whatsoever to establish a new company. That is the beauty of the system that the TV warriors here don't like to accept. You buy the company and your lawyer will verify that the company has paid the requisite taxes and fees and is current. These companies do nothing except hold the property. They don't generate real income, enter into contracts with other companies, or perform any functions that could lead to liabilities

What you will be saddled with is the approximately 14-15,000 THB cost of the annual audit and filing for the company and possibly higher water bills depending upon where you are located. And if you should want to close the company later on that will cost you in the neighborhood of 25-50,000 THB depending on your lawyer

If I were the seller and you wanted to establish a new company I would increase the asking price to help me pay for closing down the company that you don't want

I agree with most of this however there is a suggestion that setting up a company purely to own property and not trade is on the cusp of being illegal.

It has been suggested that a way round this is for the company to rent the property to you (in effect paying yourself rent) and show this a trade on which you maybe required to pay a small amount of tax.

My 5 bahts worth!

[BlackJack]

You won't buy a company saddled with debt etc. if the due diligence is done. Would you buy a car without a proper mechanical inspection? No whining if you do and its a lemon.

Has anyone noticed the huge number of falangs being busted for owning their property through a company?

I thought not.

Quote: "Has anyone noticed the huge number of falangs being busted for owning their property through a company? I thought not".

Maybe not at this point, but that's not to say it won't happen, because it is ILLEGAL!!

no

i havent noticed

can you provide some stats please

[stickylies]

Rent, don't buy. RENT !

so very true...

[HooHaa]

yep thats it then your done ,the 51% thai shareholders own half your house and land..... ,many buy house and land this way but its not how i would like to own property over here...jmo

indeed, much better to sign it over to the wife

[crazykopite]

Your "friend" has discovered that those 51/49 % deals do not hold water in a Thai-Court of law. Crackdown by Thai-Authorities on the increase.

Tell your friend to go "suck a lemon" and buy yourself a lavish condominium for the same money IN YOUR NAME.

Cheers.

Please enlighten me with the proof you hold after 8 years I have yet to read that a court case regarding this practice has taken place or maybe you have experienced it yourself . I would much prepare to go down this route than to put it in some Thai wife / GFs name only to see her run off with it

[ttthailand]

I highly suggest not buying a house. First off you are stuck in one place if neighbors get noisy or make problems.

Second, it is very difficult to sell as most people want a condo and are aware of all the problems with home ownership in Thailand.

Third, no matter what others say, it is not in the spirit of the law and if a Thai ever wanted to make an issue you would loose.

Forth, you have to bother every year with the company dealings, lawyer and accountant.

Fifth, with a condo you normally get a nice pool, gym and security. Security at the housing developments are normally not so great and houses get broken into all the time. Almost never hear of condos having same problem.

Also, pay only in Baht with receipts and bank wire info or you will have problem getting money back out of country if in future you decide to do so. Also if later you get married and divorced you need to prove you own the house and show where the money came from.

It is never too late to back out of a deal unless the money is already paid.

If your friend gets angry he is not really your friend anyhow....

Just saying ....

Sent from my iPhone using ThaiVisa app

[crazykopite]

The nay sayers always jump in to these threads with their gloom and doom posts that the sky is falling and the Thai bogey man is getting ready to strike and take over you house

Unless you want to piss away a large amount of money there is no reason whatsoever to establish a new company. That is the beauty of the system that the TV warriors here don't like to accept. You buy the company and your lawyer will verify that the company has paid the requisite taxes and fees and is current. These companies do nothing except hold the property. They don't generate real income, enter into contracts with other companies, or perform any functions that could lead to liabilities

What you will be saddled with is the approximately 14-15,000 THB cost of the annual audit and filing for the company and possibly higher water bills depending upon where you are located. And if you should want to close the company later on that will cost you in the neighborhood of 25-50,000 THB depending on your lawyer

If I were the seller and you wanted to establish a new company I would increase the asking price to help me pay for closing down the company that you don't want

Well said well presented most of these ops who speak of gloom and doom I would suggest do not even own a property and never will due to the lack of funding what I would suggest is before taking the plunge live in the Kingdom for a number of years before buying a property

[whoisyourdaddy]

Seriously some of you guys are just incredible . There are thousands of foreigners who own ( sort of speak ) houses.

There are hundreds of thousands of people in Thailand who take illegal drugs daily. Is that a good reason to do the same?

Apples and oranges