buy house in company name

[Tom Cahill]

Unquestionably it is illegal to buy a house via a company.

Its also illegal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet and prostitution is illegal... that people appear to get away with it does not make it OK.

The Thailand Alien Business act is quite specific, and there is a blanket offence of circumventing land ownership laws that means anything the appears to allow foreigners to own houses is actually illegal.

There are two ways a foreigner can own land in Thailand, both require someone to die.

1/ You can buy a burial plot for yourself.

2/ Your wife can leave you a house in her will, but you must sell it within a reasonable period which is considered by most land offices to be 12 months.

So, unless you intend to die you had better stick to a condo or just get a lease or usufruct which is legal and as close to ownership as most people need.

Very concise. Note, people who're happy to give "advice" based on what they've heard are unreliable in two ways. Obviously that's inherently unreliable, and two, they're telegraphing that they have no concept of self worth as they're happy to throw hear say out there on permanent public record, so have no credibility. You may be aware that the laws here are actually not that dissimilar to other countries, as you can't own the land in actual terms in very many places, as you don't have aloital title, and as it's a monarchy here, like the UK, the Colonies, they can take the land off you at any time they want.

[technologybytes]

I keep hearing people mistakenly assuming they can buy the house but not the land under the house, this is wrong in most instances.

The ONLY way to do that legally is for the forigner to lease the land first, apply for building permits in the foreigner name, then build the house. That way the foreigner owns the house on leased land, of course he loses the house when the lease expires.

Its NOT possible for a foreigner to buy an existing house and own that house.

Lawyers ! Give me a break, most Thai lawyers will say anything to get your money. Most are not even legally qualified.

[bangkoklawyer24]

I keep hearing people mistakenly assuming they can buy the house but not the land under the house, this is wrong in most instances.

The ONLY way to do that legally is for the forigner to lease the land first, apply for building permits in the foreigner name, then build the house. That way the foreigner owns the house on leased land, of course he loses the house when the lease expires.

Its NOT possible for a foreigner to buy an existing house and own that house.

Lawyers ! Give me a break, most Thai lawyers will say anything to get your money. Most are not even legally qualified.

There is nothing in the law books or land office regulations which supports your weird opinion.

[Nomyai]

What I would add. Never list a gf or wife as a director or shareholder. I also never let anyone wife or gf list themselves on the tabian ban.

But wo the GURL there would be no need to buy a house....................theres a joke here somewhere..............hahahaha.

[xylophone]

Quote Swiss1960: "@ Marino28: It is NOT illegal for a Thai ltd company to own land and house. It is also NOT illegal, if the company is inactive (i.e. does not do anymore business), as long as the company is still registered and pays the minimum taxes".

OP, be careful here because it is illegal for a company to be formed with the sole purpose of owning a property. If the company is a trading/working entity employing the minimum number of Thai workers, paying taxes etc then a house can be purchased, but then again the company has to also have a majority Thai ownership.

[Mr Money Bags]

What I would add. Never list a gf or wife as a director or shareholder. I also never let anyone wife or gf list themselves on the tabian ban.

But wo the GURL there would be no need to buy a house....................theres a joke here somewhere..............hahahaha.

Are you drunk?

You rather sound like you are......

You're Welcome!!

[jinners]

Hi Marino, I bought a house in company name many years ago. I also have friends done the same. Things may have changed in the passing years, they do quite often, but to my knowledge the use of a company was always a bit of a grey area. I have the names/numbers of 2 lawyers I have used and trust if you want to PM me. It is very important, particularly if buying the company too, that there are proper checks carried out and you use somebody honest and knowledgeable.

The only problem with asking such things on here is there are so many negative bastards who know it all but do nothing because they are so smart and the other type of sarcastic <deleted> that seems to relish being on this site hoping for people to fail. Probably because they personally have <deleted> all.

I wish you well and let me know if you need those contacts.

[NickJ]

Things change thats true. When I first moved here a Thai women married to a farang could not own property. That law was a mess. They scrapped it. People circumvented that legaly by going outside of Thailand to get married and keeping the maiden name. Immigration still gave out extensions of stay based on marriage. In the case of Thai companies buying land in order to build a house has never concerned the Thai Govt. They are way more concerned with large companies buying premium land for commercial use. They are not going to come after retired or married people and confiscate land. It's the people that have no idea or clue and have never owned anything here that make all the noise. The fact is that not many people living here can afford to spend cash on a house. So shoot there mouths off. What is a problem are guys putting anything in there girls name and then loosing it. That happens due to stupidity. Another tid bit. Do all this before being married or be able to prove pre marital money was used in the deal.

[Swiss1960]

Quote Swiss1960: "@ Marino28: It is NOT illegal for a Thai ltd company to own land and house. It is also NOT illegal, if the company is inactive (i.e. does not do anymore business), as long as the company is still registered and pays the minimum taxes".

OP, be careful here because it is illegal for a company to be formed with the sole purpose of owning a property. If the company is a trading/working entity employing the minimum number of Thai workers, paying taxes etc then a house can be purchased, but then again the company has to also have a majority Thai ownership.

There is no law that says that a Thai company needs to have a minimum number of Thai employees. That is only for work permits for foreigners. An inactive Thai company can buy property. Illegal is, if all funds come from the foreigner and the Thai shareholders are just a front.

[properperson]

@ Marino28: It is NOT illegal for a Thai ltd company to own land and house. It is also NOT illegal, if the company is inactive (i.e. does not do anymore business), as long as the company is still registered and pays the minimum taxes. Why should it be illegal? Thousands of companies (also with Thai only ownership) have ceiced business and are still registered, that is not at all illegal. Illegal would be if the Thai shareholders would be purely nominees without any money and therefore, the foreign shareholder (and mostly also the sole director of the company) has provided all funds. Then the company would be seen as a pure front for circumventing the land ownership laws of Thailand.

Yes, you DO need a lawyer for either creating a new company or buying an existing company. He will do the due dilligence as

- has the company submitted all accounts to the company office and paid the taxes to the revenue department, at least 5y back (if the company is that old)?

- is the land title deed (sales contract for the land) also in the company name, not only the house?

- are all the land markers (boarder stones) available and correct on the chanote?

- are there any outstanding debts or obligations on house, company or land?

- are all documents (company document, Chanote, blue book etc) in sync with each other?

- is the sales contract correct (you buy the company, the assets are listed, debt free is confirmed etc.)?

- do you have all necessary shareholder transfer forms for the OLD shareholders to the new ones you will choose?

- does the company stamp you receive match the one that was used in previous company office entries?

It would be much more difficult (and much more expensive) to create a NEW company. You would not only pay for the company creation, but the commercial departments (company office) would look into the financial flows for the shareholders in much more depth, as soon as they see a foreigner as the major 49% shareholder. Transferring the title deeds at the land office would also be quite costly and time consuming. My lawyer told me that nowadays, he would recommend to set up a company with purely Thai shareholders, then buy the house and transfer the titles at the land office and only then change the shareholder structure and directors of the company over the the foreign shareholder and director. Otherwise the Thai shareholders would have to prove that the money they use for buying the land / house did NOT come from a foreigner.

So it IS possible to buy a house in Thai name with you as the director and 49% shareholder, the question is of course the trust you put in the Thai shareholders and the lawyer and the due dilligence you did upfront.

I do not think that there will be a crackdown on such companies, the only one's I heard of is the companies that also did illegal business like travel agencies and real estate companies that had mostly foreigners with illegal work-permits working for them. If such a crackdown would ever occur, 10's of thousands of houses would suddenly be on the sales market and the Thai revenue department would probably loose few billion Baht in annual taxes from these companies. That seems highly unlikely to happen, but of course, nobody knows.

That is my 5 cent on this after long and intensive digging and investigation and talking with many people (different lawyers, people in government offices etc).

Why shoud it be illegal ?? - Well the two Thais who will jointly own the other 51% (max a ferrang can own is 49%) will be nominee shareholders - ie they haven't chipped in a single Baht into the house buying proceess....

Nominee companies are illegal.....

[dandythai]

A Thai company can buy (or build) an office for the compan's activity, anex living quarters for the management. The Immigration police as well as the Revenue Department regularly check the building. The same with the land. The Thai company must have a minimum of 7 share holders, in which 5 must have the Thai nationality. They will have a minimum of 51% of the company's shares. You, as a foreigner (eventually with your foreign partner) will have 49% of the shares (company'sassets) wich it means you own only 49% of the house and land. More than this, if the company has no activity (yearly revenues), it is considered a a non-active company and it can (in time) be forced to close.

Think twice when buying a house in the name of a company. Tolerated in the past, very under observation today !

[GAZZPA]

Buying a house through a company is illegal but if you afford to lose the money go ahead.

it is not illegal, if it is legitimate. In other words the company is real and the investment is for the employees for the limited company to live in. Unfortunately there are many people who have bought houses by setting up a company that simply doesn't trade, just so they can buy a house.

This to me is crazy, you just never know when Thai law catches up with you and they can simply take the house back and you lose everything,, so I would never do this. Buying a house is not to be taken lightly and people would not take these risks back home so why they do it here I cannot fathom.

I would not be surprised if one day soon the Thai Government looked into this because of course they know it goes on.. One of the "big" law firms in Thailand has stopped offering this service as it is technically illegal.

Also remember that the person does not actually own the house, the company does (assuming it is a limited company which it will be).

my advice, if you are going to buy, then buy a condo. It is legal, safe and you own it..

[GAZZPA]

I keep hearing people mistakenly assuming they can buy the house but not the land under the house, this is wrong in most instances.

The ONLY way to do that legally is for the forigner to lease the land first, apply for building permits in the foreigner name, then build the house. That way the foreigner owns the house on leased land, of course he loses the house when the lease expires.

Its NOT possible for a foreigner to buy an existing house and own that house.

Lawyers ! Give me a break, most Thai lawyers will say anything to get your money. Most are not even legally qualified.

There is nothing in the law books or land office regulations which supports your weird opinion.

Not sure about that. I have heard, (but confess to not knowing for sure) that it is perfectly legal for a foreigner to lease the land and build or buy a house on it. The foreigner would own the bricks and mortar but the land is leasehold, for say 30 years.

If the house is a good price it could make sense to do this, especially if you have an option to extend another 30 years,, by then most of us will be long gone.

[properperson]

I keep hearing people mistakenly assuming they can buy the house but not the land under the house, this is wrong in most instances.

The ONLY way to do that legally is for the forigner to lease the land first, apply for building permits in the foreigner name, then build the house. That way the foreigner owns the house on leased land, of course he loses the house when the lease expires.

Its NOT possible for a foreigner to buy an existing house and own that house.

Lawyers ! Give me a break, most Thai lawyers will say anything to get your money. Most are not even legally qualified.

There is nothing in the law books or land office regulations which supports your weird opinion.

Not sure about that. I have heard, (but confess to not knowing for sure) that it is perfectly legal for a foreigner to lease the land and build or buy a house on it. The foreigner would own the bricks and mortar but the land is leasehold, for say 30 years.

If the house is a good price it could make sense to do this, especially if you have an option to extend another 30 years,, by then most of us will be long gone.

you cannot legally extend a 30 year lease - the maxium you can lease land for is 30 years - Anyone with a 30 + 30 + 30 lease is deluding themselves.....

See here:

http://www.thephuketnews.com/phuket-court-rules-secured-or-collective-leases-are-void-51183.php

Edited January 29, 2016 by properperson

[xylophone]

Quote Swiss1960: "@ Marino28: It is NOT illegal for a Thai ltd company to own land and house. It is also NOT illegal, if the company is inactive (i.e. does not do anymore business), as long as the company is still registered and pays the minimum taxes".

OP, be careful here because it is illegal for a company to be formed with the sole purpose of owning a property. If the company is a trading/working entity employing the minimum number of Thai workers, paying taxes etc then a house can be purchased, but then again the company has to also have a majority Thai ownership.

There is no law that says that a Thai company needs to have a minimum number of Thai employees. That is only for work permits for foreigners. An inactive Thai company can buy property. Illegal is, if all funds come from the foreigner and the Thai shareholders are just a front.

So the Thai shareholders are going to front up with the funds as part owners.........don't think so.

And if you start a company; "You must maintain a ratio of Thais to foreigners in terms of fulltime employment (usually 4:1 but depends on your business), pay their and your own taxes, and be able to show sufficient capital investment".

[blackcab]

A Thai company can buy (or build) an office for the compan's activity, anex living quarters for the management. The Immigration police as well as the Revenue Department regularly check the building. The same with the land. The Thai company must have a minimum of 7 share holders, in which 5 must have the Thai nationality. They will have a minimum of 51% of the company's shares. You, as a foreigner (eventually with your foreign partner) will have 49% of the shares (company'sassets) wich it means you own only 49% of the house and land. More than this, if the company has no activity (yearly revenues), it is considered a a non-active company and it can (in time) be forced to close.

Think twice when buying a house in the name of a company. Tolerated in the past, very under observation today !

The rules have changed. It's a minimum of 3 shareholders now.

[technologybytes]

I keep hearing people mistakenly assuming they can buy the house but not the land under the house, this is wrong in most instances.

The ONLY way to do that legally is for the forigner to lease the land first, apply for building permits in the foreigner name, then build the house. That way the foreigner owns the house on leased land, of course he loses the house when the lease expires.

Its NOT possible for a foreigner to buy an existing house and own that house.

Lawyers ! Give me a break, most Thai lawyers will say anything to get your money. Most are not even legally qualified.

There is nothing in the law books or land office regulations which supports your weird opinion.

That fact that you are ignorant of the rules does not change the rules.

If you do not believe me just go to the district office and ask, you will learn that the method I described is the ONLY way to get legal ownership of a house.

Of course people do use companies and they get to live in the house and then sell the house, this gives an illusion of ownership and for many it works well, however its is NOT legal. For many people legality does not matter, just like riding a motorbike without a helmet. But you are theoretically in danger of losing it all.

Edited January 30, 2016 by technologybytes

[MyFriend You]

A foreigner setting up a company for the purpose of buying a house is illegal. No two ways about it.

So just setup a real company for some real online business and everything is going to be legal.

For a 'Real Company' They are going to ask how many Thai's you intend to employ, approximate what you expect to make so they can come up with an approximate tax liability..............I accompanied a female friend that wanted to set up an on-line export business, they asked these exact questions. Be prepared to provide lots of documentation.

[MyFriend You]

@ Marino28: It is NOT illegal for a Thai ltd company to own land and house. It is also NOT illegal, if the company is inactive (i.e. does not do anymore business), as long as the company is still registered and pays the minimum taxes. Why should it be illegal? Thousands of companies (also with Thai only ownership) have ceiced business and are still registered, that is not at all illegal. Illegal would be if the Thai shareholders would be purely nominees without any money and therefore, the foreign shareholder (and mostly also the sole director of the company) has provided all funds. Then the company would be seen as a pure front for circumventing the land ownership laws of Thailand.

Yes, you DO need a lawyer for either creating a new company or buying an existing company. He will do the due dilligence as

- has the company submitted all accounts to the company office and paid the taxes to the revenue department, at least 5y back (if the company is that old)?

- is the land title deed (sales contract for the land) also in the company name, not only the house?

- are all the land markers (boarder stones) available and correct on the chanote?

- are there any outstanding debts or obligations on house, company or land?

- are all documents (company document, Chanote, blue book etc) in sync with each other?

- is the sales contract correct (you buy the company, the assets are listed, debt free is confirmed etc.)?

- do you have all necessary shareholder transfer forms for the OLD shareholders to the new ones you will choose?

- does the company stamp you receive match the one that was used in previous company office entries?

It would be much more difficult (and much more expensive) to create a NEW company. You would not only pay for the company creation, but the commercial departments (company office) would look into the financial flows for the shareholders in much more depth, as soon as they see a foreigner as the major 49% shareholder. Transferring the title deeds at the land office would also be quite costly and time consuming. My lawyer told me that nowadays, he would recommend to set up a company with purely Thai shareholders, then buy the house and transfer the titles at the land office and only then change the shareholder structure and directors of the company over the the foreign shareholder and director. Otherwise the Thai shareholders would have to prove that the money they use for buying the land / house did NOT come from a foreigner.

So it IS possible to buy a house in Thai name with you as the director and 49% shareholder, the question is of course the trust you put in the Thai shareholders and the lawyer and the due dilligence you did upfront.

I do not think that there will be a crackdown on such companies, the only one's I heard of is the companies that also did illegal business like travel agencies and real estate companies that had mostly foreigners with illegal work-permits working for them. If such a crackdown would ever occur, 10's of thousands of houses would suddenly be on the sales market and the Thai revenue department would probably loose few billion Baht in annual taxes from these companies. That seems highly unlikely to happen, but of course, nobody knows.

That is my 5 cent on this after long and intensive digging and investigation and talking with many people (different lawyers, people in government offices etc).

Your '5 cents worth' makes sense to us Fuhlang, but is flawed in many ways, we simply cannot 'own' the land the house sits on, plain & simple - if you have written case law or a new regulatory amendments - please share with the community - your talks with 'different lawyers and people in government offices' will not hold water or air for that matter when they decide to crack down on the 'little guys' - remember, we are still under martial law and anything can happen. Mi Dos Centavos

[allanos]

^{Marino28 has never stated the reasons for buying a house in a company name, but one presumes}

^{he sees some security in doing that, and perhaps hopes to turn a profit one day.}

^{I would say to the OP "caveat emptor", not only as regards due diligence concerning the present}

^{valuation and legalities of the intended property purchase, nor also with Thai law as it currently stands}

^{on the statute books, but also to take a hard look at what the future may hold for him and his investment}

^{in Thailand.}

^{Wishful thinking will have no place in such a thought process. Nothing is written in stone; the prospects}

^{of future (and frequent) changes of government, and, perhaps, the fickle nature of their governance,}

^{may make today's "sound investment" a future liability.}

^{Proceed with the end in mind!}

[Nomyai]

I just closed on a condo in SIN CITY- las vegas that is. its mine all mine, no need to involve thais at all!

[marino28]

at the end i decided to not go ahead with the purchase of the house. Thanks for all the advice.

I am looking now for a bigger condo then mine in Pattaya, in Foreign name, but only if the price is really interesting.

in my opinion nothing will happen to buy a house in company name, and there are really a lot of people that have this type of setup, but you never know the future... so i decide to forget the idea. Also I was very concerned about security risk in a house...

Edited February 13, 2016 by marino28