Pianoman Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Under former Land Office policy, Thai nationals who married foreigners were prohibited from ownership of land in Thailand. This prohibition was based on principles of community property law and a general presumption that the Thai spouse was holding the land for the benefit of the foreigner. However, under current Land Office policy the Thai spouse can own land in Thailand, provided that the foreign spouse signs a letter declaring the property to be the separate property of the Thai spouse and waiving any interest in the property. How is he going to get around this? According to his lawyer, the fact that they were not "Officially Married" enters into it... Again, the lawyers are saying that at minimum he should get 50% of the value of the house and land.. Pianoman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torneyboy Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Hope he gets it all back.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Maybe the lawyer will end up with the land by having the land deal declared illegal and void, since a foreigner can not own land. Section 86: 'Aliens may acquire land by virtue of the provisions of a treaty giving the right to own immovable properties and subject to the provisions of this Code' . Since 1970, Thailand has no longer made any treaty with any country to allow a foreigner to acquire land in Thailand by virtue of a treaty'. The Thai attitude, buried deep in the official mind, is still that foreigners have no right to own land (direct or indirect). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damen Posted October 8, 2007 Report Share Posted October 8, 2007 Yeah, this guy is lucky he didn't buy a 10th story condo in Pattaya - at least he is still alive. For the time being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Yeah anyway you cut it, it is always very risky to buy in LOS because we just don't have the rights that thais have.Okay incorpaorate, blah, blah.. One needs to adopt a philosophy that this is money one can lose and not impact your lifestyle at least...same thinking with playing the stock market (my opinion). I bought a house with 50% down and put in the GF name. So she owns it but has the mortgae that I pay as long as the relationaship if good. I got a three year lease on the place so she can't sell itunder my nose but could not get a 30 year lease due to the 30 year mortgage. Mortgage paid off, then 30 year lease I can obtain but I didn't want to put more money at risk if the relationship goes bad. The I have a long-term mortgage, she owns the property meaning I would never see me my investment again... What I did do was had the gf via a Thai lawyer do a will (englsih and thai) where if something happens to her or both of us, the house or the sale of the land/house (since I can't own it) goes into my estate or to me if I am alive and not by default to her family members. She was okay with this as long as her family members don't bump me off... Total vale of house and land equates to 6 million baht. Any thoughts? CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted October 9, 2007 Report Share Posted October 9, 2007 Cardinalblue One needs to adopt a philosophy that this is money one can lose and not impact your lifestyle at least...same thinking with playing the stock market (my opinion). CB, That is very similar to my philosophy "Thailand is like a Casino, only play what you can afford to loose" My wife and I bought 2 apartments before we were married, well actually 2 converted into 1 we paid 50-50% each, one of the house books is in my name the other one hers. Over the years the money I would have paid in rent would have been more than my initial investment in the apartment, so in my case it has worked out well. I have also invested in a couple of building projects, via my wife and her contacts, buy a 25% share in a condo whilst the design for the whole complex is still on the drawing board, double your money in 3 years when it is built and the units can be sold. Eventually some of the profits from these deals will be used to finance building a house on some land the wife has near Rangsit, but that is many years down the line. IMHO There seems to be 2 types of expat, well I use that term loosely, should I say expats and dreamers. The dreamers run in head first eyes closed and risk their life savings chasing the dream, whereas an experienced expat will have a long term strategic plan, and if the plan was to go wrong also have alternatives to back them up. I won't talk figures, just percentages, over the last 6-7 years maybe 25% of my Income has been invested in "My Thai Life" and the rest is outside the country, investing here slowly slowly is everyday cost of living expenses, I am damn sure my expenditure would be far more if I was living in EU Aus or USA. Maybe I was lucky meeting my wife (no maybe about it I was), but she understands the importance of next week, month, year, decade etc. At the end of the day the only person who gets ripped off is the person allows themselves to be ripped off. I often question the saying "A Fool and his Money are soon parted" How did the Fool get his money? I'd have as a guess that the higher rates of divorce / rip offs in Farang-Thai Marriages occur between couples where the Farang has shown the Baht up front (dreamer), whereas long term relationships with planning for the future probably have a better chance of success. My worth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jitagawn Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 "I bought a house with 50% down and put in the GF name. So she owns it but has the mortgae that I pay" Not sure the above makes any sense at all (since you asked) but good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cardinalblue Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 I didn't write this clearly as i was rushing it... The worst thing to do is to but something completely for the GF meaning pay in full. She owns it outright..You have no recourse and you basically represent charity.. I didn't want to do that so the house is in her name and I paid 50% down and she has a mortgage for the rest of it. well.... The bank wanted to see my financial situation, not hers, even though the hosue and mortgage is in her name. Makes practical sense to me. We all know where the monthly motgage payments are/will be coming from, right? This way she can't afford one monthly mortgage payment on her own so the banks really owns the house and she would not be able to be free and clear (when guys give it all to the girl). She would have to sell the house to see any of money if she told me to get lost, rel goes south, whatever, and we know Thai real estate is not a hot market right now or anytime soon. I was just leveraging the worst case scenario for me. Having a lease and a will (hers) helps off-set a little of the financial risk one takes in this country... Without having a condition like "this is money to lose or afford to lose", one would never invest in thailand strictly from a pure buisness standpoint.The laws or circumstanes don't favor us let alone make it fair and equitable.. CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bibblies Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 I've got nothing against BGs and know some guys who are happily married to them. Still, I'm puzzled by the guys who ONLY want to marry a BG. There are about 32 million women in LOS, and just a couple of thousand are BGs. So what's wrong with gals who don't work in bars??? You haven't seen them naked before you get to know them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jitagawn Posted October 10, 2007 Report Share Posted October 10, 2007 Understood :thumbup: Cautious is the key word here and it seems you are being such...they really are so very short sighted here in their laws regarding us farang Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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