Residence outside the Kingdom should be enough for condo ownership

[WorkingTourist]

Was looking over the Thai Condominium Act and noticed the following about the right to own:

Section 19 (5): “Aliens or juristic persons regarded by law as aliens who have brought in foreign currency into the Kingdom or withdraw money from Thai baht account of the person who have residence outside the Kingdom or withdraw money from a foreign currency account.”

Section 19/3: “[…] shall present the following evidence to the Competent Official […] evidence of withdrawal of money from Thai Baht account of the person who have residence outside the Kingdom […]”

So to me it sounds like if you have residence in Thailand, you must either bring in foreign currency (FET-form) or withdraw from a foreign currency account (basically the same).

But if you have residence outside Thailand, you only need to show that the money was withdraw from a Thai Baht account (i.e. Thai bank account), no need to also prove the money was brought in from abroad. Of course you would also need to prove your residency outside Thailand.

Maybe the Land Office does not support this interpretation of the law, but in the English version, it seems clear.

Edited May 22, 2016 by WorkingTourist

[blackcab]

It would be interesting to know the official stance on this.

[coxo]

If you use Thai baht from your Thai bank you have to show where the money came from, work permit, income statements and paid tax certificates, once that is done you can use local currency as I had to do.

[AlQaholic]

Residence in Thailand is not simply residing in Thailand, you need to have a special residency permit which takes a lot of effort time and money to get. Then you can use any money you want to pay for the condo. Same goes for BOI visa with accompanying work permit, no need to get the money from abroad. Any other case i.e. if you do not have the residency permit and you are not here under the BOI law, then you need to provide evidence of money coming from abroad.

There are a number of translations circulating on the web the condominium act, but remember there is only one version which is correct, and that is the Thai version.

As to the translation section 19(5) "person who have residence outside the kingdom" I think should be changed to "non-resident" which is basically any other person who is not mentioned in 19(1) and 19(2). A non-resident bank account is automatically assumed to be funded by currency coming from abroad, and if used to buy a condo must have evidence that is the case.

Summary:

19(1), 19(2) buy for any money you want, any other case money must be from abroad, period.

Edited May 23, 2016 by AlQaholic

[KittenKong]

Section 19 (5): “Aliens or juristic persons regarded by law as aliens who have brought in foreign currency into the Kingdom or withdraw money from Thai baht account of the person who have residence outside the Kingdom or withdraw money from a foreign currency account.”

Section 19/3: “[…] shall present the following evidence to the Competent Official […] evidence of withdrawal of money from Thai Baht account of the person who have residence outside the Kingdom […]”

So to me it sounds like if you have residence in Thailand, you must either bring in foreign currency (FET-form) or withdraw from a foreign currency account (basically the same).

But if you have residence outside Thailand, you only need to show that the money was withdraw from a Thai Baht account (i.e. Thai bank account), no need to also prove the money was brought in from abroad. Of course you would also need to prove your residency outside Thailand.

This is just the usual abysmal translation from Thai.

Where they talk about "account of the person who have residence outside the kingdom" they actually mean a non-resident Baht account. The residence situation of the person is totally irrelevant. Non-resident accounts can only be funded from abroad (or from another non-resident account), so it amounts to exactly the same thing as the more common procedure of importing the money to a resident account.

See the bottom of this page: http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/PersonalBanking/SpecialServices/ForeignCustomers/Pages/Openinganaccountnew.aspx

[Crossy]

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