Thai Diamond City...Foreigners investing can own land apparently..

[properperson]

According to the clip, Foreigners investing in "Thai Diamond City" can own land and get long term Visas and bring foreign employees and their families into Thailand:

( fast forward to 7.00 min for details )

[pinkpanther99]

I'm not saying this company have intentionally gone out to deceive but there will either be some kind of mistake/misinformation/confusion/catch about the part of foreigners being able to own land - this will never happen in Thailand imo.

Also, regarding this project, it seems they plan to build an airport in Phetchaburi, right?

Which is just about the last thing Phetchaburi needs. Hardly anyone uses Hua Hin airport which is a much larger tourist destination. And Phetchaburi doesn't have anywhere near the same amount of tourists.

[baboon]

You can shine the rules and laws up until they gleam, but no you can't own land and that is the end of it.

As for the long term visas, it says you have "The right to receive a stamped visa to stay in Thailand under the immigration law". So does anyone else.

Just weasel words from a company trying to flog off real estate. Nothing new here that I can see...

[ubonjoe]

Their are provisions for a company to own the land with approval. A person would be an investor in the company that would own the land the factory or whatever was on.

Visas and extensions would be available for the owners and employees of the company under the BOI rules. With extensions their families could get get extensions as their dependents.

[baboon]

Their are provisions for a company to own the land with approval. A person would be an investor in the company that would own the land the factory or whatever was on.

Visas and extensions would be available for the owners and employees of the company under the BOI rules. With extensions their families could get get extensions as their dependents.

So was I correct in there being nothing new in their spiel, would you say?

[Tywais]

You can shine the rules and laws up until they gleam, but no you can't own land and that is the end of it.

Not entirely accurate. But in practice probably pretty close.

2.2 Company Ownership: Thailand registered companies with majority Thai ownership are able to buy land in Thailand. In the past it has been common for foreign nationals to acquire an interest in Thailand real estate as minority shareholders in a Thai majority company. However in recent years, the Thailand Land Department has become stricter in investigating limited companies for the use of the "nominee" Thai shareholders, who do not possess a legitimate interest in the company owning the land. Nevertheless it is still possible however for a non-Thai shareholder to secure his investment in a Thai limited company through legal means.

2.3 Investment: Thai real estate law allows foreigners to buy and own a limited amount of land based on an investment of 40 million baht for five consecutive years, provided that the land is used for residential purposes.

thailand-lawyer

[baboon]

Fair enough. Probably I should have written 'but to all intents and purposes, you can't own land and that is the end of it'.

[JackThompson]

My understanding is that an investment of 10 Mil baht allows one to "buy" up to 1-Rai in some restricted areas of Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket. I put "buy" in quotes, because of the restrictions, which would not equal what most people would call "ownership." Maybe this has been raised to 40M, per the post above.

As well, condo development projects sometimes have few small houses on a bit of land which are part of the project. In this case, 51% of the entire project is foreign-owned, so a foreigner can own one of these homes.

Viewed from a wider perspective, any land where one must make regular payments to a government-entity to be "permitted" to continue being there - absent armed people showing up saying otherwise - is, essentially, the purchase of leasing-rights only; see "property taxes."

[Just1Voice]

First, they're going to totally destroy a beautiful natural environment chasing after the almighty baht.

Second, why the hell would anyone want to even risk owning anything here with the way the government changes the rules, and leadership, at whim?

[Colabamumbai]

Advertised as an "Industrial Estate" if you listen to the end of the video.

[gandalf12]

Looks like mosquito paradise

[Ducking and]

This is to own land ONLY IF it is used for industrial purposes. And those purposes will be regulated. There is nothing in this video to suggest that a person will be entitled to own his retirement home, or any home, under this Vision.

Knowing how good Thais are at planning, and how they do business, one might ask: is this a joke, or a Great Leap Forward? Probably neither. I would like to be around in 20 years to see its result, if any. The truth is, until Thai culture changes through education and the corruption which exists at every level of society, and is generally considered to be acceptable, ceases, every business which is not willing to take a big big gamble will not be attracted to this place. Lovely as it is.

[JackThompson]

First, they're going to totally destroy a beautiful natural environment chasing after the almighty baht.

Second, why the hell would anyone want to even risk owning anything here with the way the government changes the rules, and leadership, at whim?

Are you aware of any cases where the Thai government has taken legal foreign-capital investments from their owners? I am not.

The recent change in government stabilized the situation, so that foreign-investment would continue. If anything, those events demonstrated that no mater what happens in domestic politics, investments here will be respected and protected.

Whether this project will be successful is another matter - not like in some nations where "bailouts" are taken, as a transfer to investors from taxpayers.

[KamalaRider]

You can shine the rules and laws up until they gleam, but no you can't own land and that is the end of it.

As for the long term visas, it says you have "The right to receive a stamped visa to stay in Thailand under the immigration law". So does anyone else.

Just weasel words from a company trying to flog off real estate. Nothing new here that I can see...

Well, you can't own land in your personal name but in the commercial add, they did mention BOI, business of investment, which allow you to own your land and house 100% in your BOI business as you can own a BOI company almost 100%, I think you need two more shareholders and two people on the board with minor amount of shares.

Depending on what you will use the BOI company for, you only need to have from 1 million THB as share capital and up.

This solution in my opinion won't be for everyone as it requires a LOT of administration and reports to the tax revenue department of Thailand, even if some BOI's are tax exempt up to 8 years.

You can also employ as many westerners you want without any Thai employees to cover up for any of them.

It seems the DC will have pre approved BOI's and I guess the price tag will be HUGE.

[Happy Grumpy]

You can shine the rules and laws up until they gleam, but no you can't own land and that is the end of it.

Yes you can.

You can own up to 1 Rai in your own name, should you invest 40m baht in Thailand.

It was done so Embassies could own the land that they sit on. And is open to foreign individuals too.

[baboon]

You can shine the rules and laws up until they gleam, but no you can't own land and that is the end of it.

Yes you can.

You can own up to 1 Rai in your own name, should you invest 40m baht in Thailand.

It was done so Embassies could own the land that they sit on. And is open to foreign individuals too.

40M Baht might be chump change to your good self but I have a feeling there may be one or two people like me who don't have that kind of money sloshing around.

There's always one...

[ggt]

It has been my experience that real estate developers and agents...along with political candidates...will tell you whatever they think you want to hear in order to get you to send them money...

nuf said...

[HerbalEd]

I'd not bet on this project ever getting much further than it is now. I'd say, most likely it won't.

Remember the similar project that was supposed to be built in Chiang Mai based around the movie industry. It was a total flop.

I've seen a lot of supposed projects like this one come and go. Most went nowhere ... except away with other people's money ... and the ones that did actually happen were far less than they said they'd be.

[HerbalEd]

You can shine the rules and laws up until they gleam, but no you can't own land and that is the end of it.

Yes you can.

You can own up to 1 Rai in your own name, should you invest 40m baht in Thailand.

It was done so Embassies could own the land that they sit on. And is open to foreign individuals too.

You are very misinformed. Individual deals that the Thai government makes with the countries of various embassies in Thailand is one thing, but individual foreigners owing land is far far different. Bottom line is: foreigners cannot legally buy or own land in Thailand.

Edited November 14, 2015 by HerbalEd

[everett kendall]

All it says is"the Right to do or bring in" we all have the right to do these things, but they didnt say the qualifications would be any different than what we now have......thats the fine print.

[ratcatcher]

Some interesting reading:

http://www.thaidiamondcity.com/thaidiamondcity/?q=en/about

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2009/07/29/business/business_30108582.php

http://www.vietnambreakingnews.com/tag/petch-thai-patana-company-of-thailand-and-singapore/

[USNret]

Listen to the video carefully. They do not say individuals can own land. They say companies can (they call it a "business benefit"). This is already the rule; nothing new. The bit about long-term visas does sound new, and also about freely moving money in & out of country, including profits.

Certainly you need to get beyond the marketing materials, do some hard research into the reality of this. Is it nothing but a pipe dream at the moment, or is thing a reality? You need info from outside sources; not from the developer/marketer.

[oncearugge]

Listen to the video carefully. They do not say individuals can own land. They say companies can (they call it a "business benefit"). This is already the rule; nothing new. The bit about long-term visas does sound new, and also about freely moving money in & out of country, including profits.

Certainly you need to get beyond the marketing materials, do some hard research into the reality of this. Is it nothing but a pipe dream at the moment, or is thing a reality? You need info from outside sources; not from the developer/marketer.

As always ..........Caveat Emptor (buyer beware) !

There is no substitute or short cuts to conducting adequate "Due Diligence".

[Berty100]

If I understand the video correctly, the estate is located in the middle of a national park. I thought nobody, even Thais, could own land to develop inside a national park

[Malise]

Looks like mosquito paradise

that and flood plains sell it 100% mark up value for those rich falang... and amazingly there are still some that have a lot to throw around.

[Malise]

You can shine the rules and laws up until they gleam, but no you can't own land and that is the end of it.

Yes you can.

You can own up to 1 Rai in your own name, should you invest 40m baht in Thailand.

It was done so Embassies could own the land that they sit on. And is open to foreign individuals too.

You are very misinformed. Individual deals that the Thai government makes with the countries of various embassies in Thailand is one thing, but individual foreigners owing land is far far different. Bottom line is: foreigners cannot legally buy or own land in Thailand.

So did i get that right? invest 40m Thb for 1rai - thats 1113,509 usd... seems like a rough deal to me.

[akentryan]

Rent, don't buy would have been a much wiser move in my case. We (meaning my wife) own a house in Bangkok and a house in Pattaya. My wife died after a 9-day illness on January 2 without a will. The Cobbler's son has no shoes - she was a lawyer. Both her parents are alive so I must buy one-third of the Fair Market Value of the houses, the car, etc from the Administrator in Liquidation (her brother). In addition, I must pay Thai income tax on the two-thirds share that I inherit from my wife. The numbers on the Pattaya house are as follows. The original cost was 3.8 million and add in another 600,000 for new windows, doors, screens, khamoy bars, air cons, etc.The FMV is now about 3.6 million so I must pay 1.2 miilion to buy it plus income tax on some amount yet to be determined which may be 300,000 or more which means I will have "invested" about 6 million in the property. Rental a of nice condo in Jomtien runs about 30,000 to 40,000 a month or about 400,000 thousand a year. Over the six years of I ownership I could have rented and still have 3 or 4 million baht in my pocket. Regardless of the age of the wife, get her to execute a will naming you as sole heir and executor of all assets in her name. Better yet Rent Rent Rent.

[jacko45k]

Rent, don't buy would have been a much wiser move in my case. We (meaning my wife) own a house in Bangkok and a house in Pattaya. My wife died after a 9-day illness on January 2 without a will. The Cobbler's son has no shoes - she was a lawyer. Both her parents are alive so I must buy one-third of the Fair Market Value of the houses, the car, etc from the Administrator in Liquidation (her brother). In addition, I must pay Thai income tax on the two-thirds share that I inherit from my wife. The numbers on the Pattaya house are as follows. The original cost was 3.8 million and add in another 600,000 for new windows, doors, screens, khamoy bars, air cons, etc.The FMV is now about 3.6 million so I must pay 1.2 miilion to buy it plus income tax on some amount yet to be determined which may be 300,000 or more which means I will have "invested" about 6 million in the property. Rental a of nice condo in Jomtien runs about 30,000 to 40,000 a month or about 400,000 thousand a year. Over the six years of I ownership I could have rented and still have 3 or 4 million baht in my pocket. Regardless of the age of the wife, get her to execute a will naming you as sole heir and executor of all assets in her name. Better yet Rent Rent Rent.

Sorry for your loss but it sounds the error(s) was of your/her making. For a lawyer to die intestate is inexcusable, and for you to permit everything to be in her name was an error Your estimate of Jomtiem rental is really top-end....

BUT, I agree with your sentiment of renting whole heartedly. .

[pisico]

Rent, don't buy would have been a much wiser move in my case. We (meaning my wife) own a house in Bangkok and a house in Pattaya. My wife died after a 9-day illness on January 2 without a will. The Cobbler's son has no shoes - she was a lawyer. Both her parents are alive so I must buy one-third of the Fair Market Value of the houses, the car, etc from the Administrator in Liquidation (her brother). In addition, I must pay Thai income tax on the two-thirds share that I inherit from my wife. The numbers on the Pattaya house are as follows. The original cost was 3.8 million and add in another 600,000 for new windows, doors, screens, khamoy bars, air cons, etc.The FMV is now about 3.6 million so I must pay 1.2 miilion to buy it plus income tax on some amount yet to be determined which may be 300,000 or more which means I will have "invested" about 6 million in the property. Rental a of nice condo in Jomtien runs about 30,000 to 40,000 a month or about 400,000 thousand a year. Over the six years of I ownership I could have rented and still have 3 or 4 million baht in my pocket. Regardless of the age of the wife, get her to execute a will naming you as sole heir and executor of all assets in her name. Better yet Rent Rent Rent.

Sorry for your loss but it sounds the error(s) was of your/her making. For a lawyer to die intestate is inexcusable, and for you to permit everything to be in her name was an error Your estimate of Jomtiem rental is really top-end....

BUT, I agree with your sentiment of renting whole heartedly. .

To know Thai traditions and MOs is essential even when marrying a Thai. She named her brother as the executor because to do otherwise would go against the interest of the "country".

There are such cases where the Thai wife went to the Ampur and the clerk told her so point blank. There is such a case involving one TV member (do your own search as I did, please).

The wife could not name him as the beneficiary in her will nor could it be registered or notarized. This Thai woman of exceptional ethical values, went back and tried to relinquish her ownership arguing that the house was bought with the husband's money. An American man.

Not even then would the local office accept her decision. Thainess, Thainess uber ales.

Edited November 15, 2015 by pisico

[No Name]

my guess:

Some people will have a bright future with / because of this project.

But the buyers will assumingly sit in a x-xx% developed area, later.

Btw: It's maybe only 70km to the andaman sea, but thers still a myanmar border to cross

Edited November 15, 2015 by No Name