Condo Ownership

[Top Cat]

I am seriously considering buying a condo in Jomtien. I haven’t got anything specific lined up as yet.

Looking at the boards all the advice says always buy a condo in your own name.

That’s fair enough but has anyone bought a condo in the name of a Thai Limited Company?

Obviously each condo block has to be 51% “Thai owned “ but I doubt this would see many condo blocks being sold out, so surely the Thai Limited Company route must be followed by many Falangs?

Are there any BM’s who went down this route willing to share their experiences/opinions?

More specifically did you suffer any major trauma when there was the scare in June about Falang Thai Limited shell Companies owning land?

Or I am missing something whereby the Falang/Thai Limited Company route ownership of a condo is more straightforward and less likely to suffer problems from the Land Office?

Look forward to your comments.

Top_Cat

[thaigene2]

Have you already formed a Thai company? If not, you're in the same boat as anyone forming one to buy a house. The Govt will want to investigate the Thai shareholders, where they got their money, etc.

I suspect this crackdown has stopped house/land sales to foreigners dead in its tracks - as for a condo why do you want to complicate things? You should be able to buy a condo in your name without this hassle. I doubt they're all sold out. Many were overpriced though deliberately because (as you point out) it's highly unlikely the other 51% will be bought by Thais. In other words, the farangs pay over-the-odds as developers need to compensate for the units sitting empty (for years often).

Stickman did a good interview with the guy from Sunbelt (Roland something?). You should read it. Even he says it's better to rent than buy.

[billaaa777]

I bought, renovated and sold over 20 condos last year. I used to deal in companies, but will not do it anymore. There is just way to much negative publicity regarding this subject and are very difficult to sell now.

Companies were hard sells before, but now it is next to impossible. DO NOT buy a condo in a company name unless you intend on living there for an extended period. A conservative estimate on a condo in a company name verse a foreign name is a 20% reduction in its value. So, if you have seen a condo at a really good price and it is in a company name that is the reason, the owners have not been able to sell it and keep reducing the price hoping if they get low enough somebody will bite.

All that being said, the land department in Pattaya is registering condos in companies names, just as they were doing before the altered enforcement of the land law regulations.

[Top Cat]

Thanks for the replies.

I have not formed a Company but did like an apartment that has now sold out the foreign allocation. Therefore the Limited Company route was the only way open for me to purchase in this particular development.

However I am going to forget this Limited Company idea all together as it leaves the foriegn purchaser out dangling on a limb.

Chok dee kap.

Top_Cat