Thailand in ASEAN - Will we be able to buy land?

[jimbeam1]

In which ASEAN country can you buy any land where you want to? According to my knowledge everyone of these countries have some or other limitation on foreign land ownership.

You as a foreigner can buy land in Thailand, any land that a Thai can buy - ie, not national park land or beaches. Up to one rai.

You just have to invest 40m.

40 million is what I was going to post. I seem to remember reading that somewhere, some time back.

jb1

[samran]

I can't think of anywhere in ASEAN where non nationals have rights to buy land.

This is from one of the documents I posted above.

THAILAND

Page 18 of 25

18.

Sector

Sub-Sector

Industry Classification

Level of Government

Type of Obligation

Description of Measure

Source of Measure

:

:

All sectors

-

-

Central

National Treatment

Foreigner18 is permitted to own land according to Investment

Promotion Act B.E. 2520 (1977), Industrial Estate Authority of

Thailand Act B.E. 2522 (1979), and the Petroleum Act B.E. 2514

(1971).

Foreigner, who brings money at least 40 million Baht for

investment, is allowed to own land for residential purpose not

exceeding 1 rai (1 rai = 1,600 square meters) with a permission by

the Ministry of Interior.

In the case of hiring the land more than 100 rai for commercial or

industrial purposes, where a foreigner or a juridical person

according to Section 97 of Land Code is a hirer, sub-hirer or

transferee of the right of hirer, its investment in an operation of

such commerce or industry shall not be less than 100 million Baht,

excluding the cost of hire. Also, the total amount of money invested

shall be foreign exchange brought into the Kingdom or withdrawn

from the foreign currency deposit account or withdrawn from the

non-resident Baht account.

- Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 (1999), as amended.

- Hire of Immovable Property for Commerce and Industry Act B.E.

2542 (1999), as amended.

- Land Code, as amended.

- Act Promulgating the Land Code B.E. 2497 (1954), as amended

- Land Code Amendment Act (No.8) B.E. 2542 (1999), as

amended.

- Ministerial regulations.

- Administrative guidelines.

One small hitch. No minister has ever approved a purchase for residential purposes.

Under BOI it is a different story.

Edited May 17, 2014 by samran

[Water Buffalo]

Bearing in mind, ASEAN, unlike the EU, does not have a president calling the shots for everyone. ASEAN is more democratic than that. Each country gets an individual vote and i believe the decision must be unanimous.

Edited May 19, 2014 by Water Buffalo

[tomwct]

Lets wait and see if Free Trade occurs on 1/1/15! I would love to drink Lao Beer and Anchor Beer with no taxes! Also,

how about wine? I just can't see Rich Thai's giving up their monopolies!!!!

PS: Good Malaysian Beef!!!

[Water Buffalo]

Lets wait and see if Free Trade occurs on 1/1/15! I would love to drink Lao Beer and Anchor Beer with no taxes! Also,

how about wine? I just can't see Rich Thai's giving up their monopolies!!!!

PS: Good Malaysian Beef!!!

And some Vietnamese and Indonesian coffee!

[Senechal]

Unfortunately that's too much reading for a bloke sitting in a bar by himself.

So might be wasted on here.

And those documents will also be wasted on Thai government officials who will honor them on a per-item basis according to what they had for lunch, what day of the week it is, how much money has been slipped under the table and who's asking. If you think that ASEAN will be any more transparent or efficient than the sum of it's individual, inefficient bureaucracies you have a nasty surprise coming. There's the written word, and then there's practice.

tomwct, on 19 May 2014 - 15:44, said:

I just can't see Rich Thai's giving up their monopolies!!!!

Exactly.

[thamteak]

Lets wait and see if Free Trade occurs on 1/1/15!

Er, the AEC was postponed until Dec 31st 2015.

They realized they didn't have a hope in hell of getting it done by Jan 1st... but already had all the '2015' t-shirts and stickers printed.

[Swelters]

Unlikely to happen and should not happen. We fahlang tend to think that the property restriction laws are cruelly aimed at us, but in fact if you think about it the Thai have had a millenium of experience with other Asians who would like to own Thai land-- Indians, Vietnamese, Chinese, and now Middle Easterners. They have wisely said "no" and that refusal is a core character of the country. Who would want it otherwise?

Swelters

[thamteak]

Thailand in ASEAN - Will we be able to buy land?

No.

Come December 2015 the army will be the owners of all the land.

[maurerpablo11111]

People overrate the importance of buying land because they consider this a necessity for owning a house. For the same reason, land prices in Thailand are inflated, often amounting to rent costs of 30 or more years. Think of a movable house, like a trailed, and owning land becomes much less important.

[teatree]

Unlikely to happen and should not happen. We fahlang tend to think that the property restriction laws are cruelly aimed at us, but in fact if you think about it the Thai have had a millenium of experience with other Asians who would like to own Thai land-- Indians, Vietnamese, Chinese, and now Middle Easterners. They have wisely said "no" and that refusal is a core character of the country. Who would want it otherwise?

Swelters

They let the Chinese come in and buy everything they wanted.

[shirtless]

I doubt we will ever be able to legally own land in se asia so why dont our stupid pollies reciprocate these rights to se asian countries , When dealing with Asia our political leaders are sadly lacking the stones to make it an even playing field.

[kian246]

I prefer to buy other things rather than land. Cars for example. Land ownership has a negative impact on one's freedom.