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Govt Floats Long-Term Land Leases For Foreigners


Flashermac
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BANGKOK — Foreigners may be able to actually own land in Thailand – even if it’s just temporary.

 

Speaking on Thursday night at an estate trade event, finance minister Apisak Tantivorawong said his ministry is studying a way to grant foreigners 50-year leases to Thai land, though the actual plot owners would still need to be Thai nationals.

 

Under Thai law, foreigners cannot own land. In practice, many foreigners resort to using Thai proxies, often established through private companies, to own land or homes on their behalf, which can prove legally precarious when disputes arise.

 

Atip Bhijanonda, chairman of the developers association which hosted Thursday’s event, praised the finance ministry’s proposal. He urged the government to go a big step farther and allow foreigners to actually buy and own lands in their own name.

 

“Thai people are strange. When they send their children to study abroad, they buy houses for their kids,†Atip said. “But when foreigners come here, invest here and give their money to us, we don’t let them have their own homes. This is selfish thinking.â€

 

Thursday’s proposal, if implemented, would allow foreigners to lease land in their own name for half a century.

 

Apisak hoped the policy would rekindle the kingdom’s real estate boom, as demand for land would potentially pour in from around the world.

 

Atip, the housing association chairman, said the proposal is a “correct idea.†Thai law allows foreigners to lease factories and commercial buildings for 50 years, yet they can only lease houses and residential buildings for 30 years, and the discrepancy doesn’t make sense, Atip said.

 

 

http://www.khaosoden...ses-foreigners/

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Dean,

 

At last someone who sees it like I do, I have been saying this for years now, if a Foreigner has invested in property then why cannot such an investment, and value of be used as assets to support visa application.

 

I can offer an example, an old friend of mine has a 1X,000,000 THB property on the Eastern Seaboard, he was happy in retirement driving his tractor around his plot and living life on 50,000 THB / Month (600K per year, well above the 400K needed for visa). Unfortunately his wife passed away a couple of years ago and he is now required to show 66.666 THB / Month since he was now Retired and not Married.

 

Why, he is alone now, outgoings are less now there is only one of him ... Go Figure!

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if we acted like this we'd be called racists and wicked

 

Scobby

 

If the UK did act like that then there would be less problems with immigrants.

 

Yes, I am an immigrant in Thailand and as such have to "Jump through hoops" in order to obtain an "Extension of Permission to Stay" where as in the UK they invite any Tom, Dick or Harry in and give them benefits to boot.

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When the retirement visa first came out, it required you to have the money in the bank or an income of whatever ... but you could also count a condo or Thai stocks and bonds towards the required amount. Somehow under PM Thaksin (no idea who did it) the condo and or bonds option went out the window. Now it's all about money. You might have a 5 million baht ridiculously overpriced condo, but you still have to show that 800,000 in the bank or the 65,000 a month income.

 

As to the marriage visa, years ago I knew a retired USAF NCO who had made tons of money in the ME to supplement his pension and settled in with his Thai wife in Hua Hin. One day she just keeled over from a heart attack, though she was only in her late 40s. That meant his marriage visa was gone. He looked around and found himself a new wife, which is a bit drastic just to get a visa. :surprised:

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