Buying a townhouse not a condo.

[jonboy]

Hi all. This is my first post so please go easy on me.

I'm very interested in buying a townhouse and NOT a condo.Now i've looked on the internet for a long long time and most things point to me not being able to so..... or so I thought! I have just got back from talking to property/lawyer company who can arrange for me to buy a home under a business name(my business name) which they will arrange for me at a cost. They are situated in a very nice(expensive) place and they do not seem to be the type of people wanting to rip me off..?

This is what they sugest(very basic as I chatted to them for about 2 hours)......what do you think?.. :-

1) Set up my own company under my name- 40% mine and 60% thai (to 6 other people each only owning 10% each), leaving me the majority share holder(the other 6 people are needed to create a thai company...so im told)

2) The 6 people then sign the shares over to me again so they have nothing to do with the company but i don't register them in my name just keep them safe somewhere.

3) Buy the property under the thai company and get my girlfriend / friend to pay me rent for either the house or the ground floor(thus being the purpose of my company...to collect the rent)

4) etc etc

or so im told..

Like I said I'm keeping it brief!

What do you make of this and have you ever heard of this happening before.If yes do you know of anybody who can do it for me at a competative rate.If no do you have any more suggestions on how to own my own property?

Many thanks in advance.

[wolf5370]

Hi Jonboy,

:blues:

yep you can do this - I know personally of people that have done this. Don't just trust the shares being in your safe and not their hands though - it will still be registered in their name's (and must be to own land in the Co's name) - best to also have a contract that makes it clear that you must be sole signatory to all actions, transactions, contracts, agreements etc in the company's name for it to be valid - in effect stopping them making any legal use of the fact that they are registered shareholders. Just make sure you check out the Company.

One question though: Is this a second hand/ready built townhouse or are you going to get one built? - If the latter, then you realy must supervise yourself otherwise time and costs will sky-rocket and work will probably be shabby - trust me on this.

Good luck.

[lopburi3]

They are situated in a very nice(expensive) place and they do not seem to be the type of people wanting to rip me off..?

  Am sure they are just there to perform a public service for you!  And also suspect that any property bought by a company formed for the purpose of avoiding foreign ownership laws would not last long in court.  It is done but I would not do it myself.

[stevebkk]

They are situated in a very nice(expensive) place and they do not seem to be the type of people wanting to rip me off..?

I had a book called How To Be A Professional Con Artist which covers nice expensive offices.  Lent it to someone and didn't get it back.

[jonboy]

Hi and thanks for the replies. The value of the house is between 1 and 1.5 million baht(to be discussed) and includes 12 computers as the groung floor is an established internet cafe down a quiet soi. I think this is so cheap that I dont want to miss out! I'm from England and I know the advice about buying in my own country is good but the 1.5 million baht is all that I have. Also the chances of me getting more than a pile of bricks on an old council estate in England for this money are very slim. Also the internet cafe would provide me with a small income aswell. If there is any more advice out there I would appreciate it.

Hey wolf5370...... if you could give me some more info from the people you know who have done this or maybe put me in touch with them I would realy appreiate it.....and the property is second hand.