Guest Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Actually, if a Farang marries a Thai woman and the Land Department knows she is married to a Farang (a registered lease back to the Farang would be enough in most places to trigger Land Deparment inquiry), the Farang husband is required to sign a document in the presence of Land Department officials disavowing any interest in the land and stating that he did not provide the funds for the acquistion. Further, any lease with a term of three years or more must be registered to be vaild for that period of the lease exceeding three years. You have to pay a tax based on a percentage of the lease amount (can't remember the %). The maximum period of any lease is 30 years, and provisions providing for another 30 year renewal are more aspirational than anything else. In other words, they are based on the hope that the law might change in the future to allow longer leases. A Farang can own the building on the land, but you need to register ownership of the building. Otherwise, the building automatically belongs to the landowner. If you don't take this step, this can create the rather bizzare situation where your Thai wife owns the land and the building, but you have a 30 year lease against the land only. I know a guy that got into this predicament, and only realized what a problem it was when his marriage fell apart a few years after he funded her property acquisition and built the house. On a more sensitive issue, I think it is quite reasonable for Farangs to take precautionary measures if they are providing the money. I know Thai woman can be insulted by these measures, but even when parties enter into a marriage with the best of intentions, it doesn't always last. When there is a substantial difference in terms of age, language and culture, etc., the strains on a marriage are even greater. And let's be honest, many Thai girls don't enter into relationships with Farangs with the best of intentions. Scams are common. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Cow Jai Posted February 22, 2006 Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Why not set up a company and buy the property in the company's name? Even if you are a minority shareholder in your own company but you appoint yourself the Gammagaan and Boorihaan you have all the control of the company and your wife will have none. If you also make the wife pre-sign a undated NangSuuOnHuun (sharetransfer form) that will effectively terminate any claims she has over the said company and its assets (house). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Why not set up a company and buy the property in the company's name? Even if you are a minority shareholder in your own company but you appoint yourself the Gammagaan and Boorihaan you have all the control of the company and your wife will have none. There are risks with every structure. I actually prefer this method, but here are the problems: 1. Thai property law provides that if a Thai acts as a nominee to allow a foreignor, both the Thai and foreignor have committed a criminal act subject to imprisonement and the Land Department can force a sale of the property. If the Thai holder of preference shares - presumably with reduced voting rights - doesn't pay for her shares and you are the subject of a Land Department investigation, you could have problems. There are reports that several Farangs were givin the choice of going to prison or allowing themselves to be deported for violating these restrictions on land ownership and they lost their land. In at least one manner where I know the Farang, we are talking about an invesment in the area of US$500,000. Not fun. 2. Pre-signing a share transfer deed in blank is illegal. In his first round with the Constitutional Court, Thaksin got called on this. He got away with it, but will you? 3. If you have a company, you have the hassle of company filings. This is the land of red-tape. 4. But it doesn't stop with the Ministry of Commerce. If you have a company, the Revenue Department will insist that you start paying taxes after several years. There is no ideal solution. Just less worse solutions until Thailand adopts more realistic rules on land ownership. Don't hold your breathe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasman Posted February 23, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 One possibility that may be worth pursuing is the division of the sale into two or even three parts. The first is the land, into your wife's name. The second is the house into your name - foreigners can own property, just not land. Then finally if you really want to, take out a lease on the land - though that may draw attention to a foreigner being involved in the purchase of land (indirectly). What I still can't get my head around is the form that needs to be signed at the Land Registry office that says something like 'you both agree that the funds used to purchase the land were the separate property of the wife'. I can't see how this works if you have a mortgage or something that can be directly traced back to the 'non-Thai' partner. This could surely null and void any other legal agreement such as a prenup. Still looking into all this..... Cheers, Tas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted February 23, 2006 Report Share Posted February 23, 2006 Exactly, the money for buying land you're giving away, if you divorce it's hers (and you must still pay the mortgage) and if she dies it goes to her thai family. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longwoodguy74 Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Tasman said:....the fact that I am buying in a country that is essentially unknown to me. As a general rule of thumb, probably not a good idea. Just my 0.02 satang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasman Posted February 24, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Elef said: "Exactly, the money for buying land you're giving away, if you divorce it's hers (and you must still pay the mortgage) and if she dies it goes to her thai family. " But if you own the house and have it registered in your name AND you have a 30 year lease on the land - is that not a 'fairly' safe situation? I agree that there is no complete answer to this but this does seem to be one approach that provides what i want. I am not dwelling on trust/relationship aspects just what, from a legal point of view, provides more ownership in my name to secure the money. Not an easy one.... Cheers, Tas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted February 24, 2006 Report Share Posted February 24, 2006 Hi, yes but be sure that the lease contract is legal and registered, if not it's valid not more than 3 years. You can also have a option to prolong the lease contract with 30 years more. The best way is of course if you have child(ren) who are thai citizens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted February 25, 2006 Report Share Posted February 25, 2006 If you are wealthy and have gobs of money, then ignore the following: Why any farang would want to "purchase" a home is beyond my comprehension. The divorce rate in North America is 50%. Is it different in LOS? Put your money in the Cayman Islands and rent a palace. Your interest on your principal will probably pay the rent. Love is forever - but not necessarily with the same person. If you want to give a gift to your wife and her family, then purchase a house. Better keep an apartment/condo nearby, though, . . . as it will save on hotel bills later . . . . Too cynical . . . . . well . . . maybe . . . . But I have seen so many assets transferred to the woman over the years. And the guy gets jack shit. Good Luck ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frozenfarang Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 my to cents .. 1) if a thai buys land he has to assure that the mony is his/hers. no problem if you give them a loan, and as a security you have a contract that the land has to be sold to repay the loan if the rates are not coming. 2) make a 30 year lease of the land, officially registered with option for 30 years more.... 3) while as farang you cant own the land but everything on it. dont forget to register your buildings ... (and if some mony left an insurance would be nice) otherwise you can, if the boi agrees, run a company asean headquarter for your home company. dont know how the law is outside germany for this but i can easily register a business for 20 euro, to make it look more officialy change ist to a ldt with just 25.000 euro in bank deposit. (this will still be a nice deposit if you have to leave LOS) and for this company you run in thailand the offshore headquarter. normally the boi is fine with that and the company can be 100% alien ownership. ok you have to spend some mony (1 million min.), but you can spend the mony for building up an nice house. (land does not count into this) and if you do some market research for you home company everything is fine. the only step back is what happens if the company quits business. still cant figure out what would happen to the land ... cause it is registered to an alien ... or if the company changes their business to export ? would be nice if someone can give some advice on this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.