ThaiHome Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Scary? I don't understand your fear. Didn’t know the owner. But it never occurred to me that he would do a runner. He was a normal middle class guy with a job, family, etc. Why would I even think he would take the cash we handed him in the parking lot and run away with it instead of going inside and do the transfer? Because he was Thai? We didn’t have a lawyer and for our transaction it would have been senseless. We did have a friend that was familiar with the land office and the people working there. The process is somewhat complicated (Thai bureaucracy at it worst) and sure helps to have someone you trust helping you through it. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted August 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Scary? I don't understand your fear. Didn’t know the owner. But it never occurred to me that he would do a runner. He was a normal middle class guy with a job, family, etc. Why would I even think he would take the cash we handed him in the parking lot and run away with it instead of going inside and do the transfer? Because he was Thai? Not in the least--the guy selling this property is a Farang actually (though the property is in his wife's name), so Thai-ness didn't even cross my mind--I'm just extremely cautious by nature (perhaps overly so). We didn’t have a lawyer and for our transaction it would have been senseless. We did have a friend that was familiar with the land office and the people working there. The process is somewhat complicated (Thai bureaucracy at it worst) and sure helps to have someone you trust helping you through it.TH Makes sense. I'll see what the procedure is like and if it looks too scary, I'll try to find a decent lawyer to make sure things are smooth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage_Kwai Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 .... then went inside and transferred title into wife’s name, I signed letter of confirmation the property was not matrimonial property. If you are legally married you have to sign this. Thai women married to foreigners can now own landed property, but I think the maximum size of the property is limited to one rai. VK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 .... then went inside and transferred title into wife’s name' date=' I signed letter of confirmation the property was not matrimonial property.[/quote'] If you are legally married you have to sign this. Thai women married to foreigners can now own landed property, but I think the maximum size of the property is limited to one rai. VK Sorry VK you are spouting misinformation. This is only a requirement / restriction if the Thai partner cannot demonstrate that they have the capacity to finance home / land purchase themselves. Mrs M has 10 Rai of land in her name in Rangsit that her parents gave us as a wedding present and she also has a house on a modern (4 year old) moo baan in same area she paid / indipendently financed for 6 Million Baht. There seems to be a misconcieved perception amongst many farangs that in a Thai/Farang relationship that its a poor little Thai girl and Farang money which in many cases could not be further from the truth. I know it may be difficult for some posters to understand but there are in fact some middle class Thai females with careers that pay them 100K+ Baht / Month who are married to farangs. Not every Thai / Farang relationship is based on farang money. I have said it before and I will say it again, there is an imbalance in the ratio of educated Females : Males in Thailand and many, if not most, educated Thai females want a relationship with someone with an equal or greater earning capacity than themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThaiHome Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 No limit to how much property a Thai woman married to a foreigner can own. My wife has some 20 rai upcountry in her name. I had to sign there as well. We actually had to give them the form, they didn’t have a copy. When we bought a townhouse in one of the outer Bangkok suburbs, they had the form, but it was all in Thai. Was ok for me, as I knew what it said. In central Bangkok, the form is in both Thai and English. Not once has she been questioned on where the money came from. TH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buffalo_bill Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 I am in preliminary stages of aquiring a piece of land somewhere in the woods , the only firm advice I would dare to give anybody at this early moment is this one : Do nothing without a lawyer , what I am facing here is worse than Portugal . They don't even know sometimes who the legal owner is , great stuff . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage_Kwai Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 Mekhong, no need to jump on me like that. I am only stating what I went through at the time. When I registered my marriage at the Amphur twenty years ago, she was told she had to declare any assets, like land, before she got married so that this would be considered her personal property. (This is called Sin Suan Tua) Anything bought after that would be considered joint (Sin Somros). Note that this was stated in the Civil and Commercial Code, Book V, 'Family', Title 1 'Marriage', Chapter IV, 'Property of Husband and Wife'.. At the time, Thai females married to foreigners were not allowed to own landed property (except for what they already had) once they were married. We bought two houses in Bangkok later and had them put in her sisters' names. When the law changed, the houses were transferred to her name. If you re-read my post, I said 'I think' regarding the land plot size. It may have have changed, nothing seems to be set in concrete in LOS A house in a moo bahn I don't see as a problem, most are less than a rai. Ten rai of land as a wedding present and declared at the amphur when registering the marriage and declared as personal property (Sin Suan Tua) I also do not see as a problem. It may, however be a problem if you want to buy that amount of land after you are married, as this may be construed to be Sin Somros.. This is my understanding of it. Oh, by the way, my wife is a working professional who gets a decent ( though slightly short of your quoted figure) salary. VK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 VK, Apologises my friend, I didn't mean to flame you. As you quite correctly stated the rules and regulations relating to land and property ownership wrt Thai's married to Aliens are rather volotile and are evolving all the time. We have differing opinions based upon our own experiences at the time we concluded such transactions. I should have stated "VK, I think that you will find that these restrictions no longer apply since the rules have been relaxed over the last few years" rather than take the tact I did. No offence intended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sporty Posted August 7, 2009 Report Share Posted August 7, 2009 For me, I would hire a lawyer. The Bank's attorney is there for the BANK,,, not for you. If he see's a title problem, probably will not even tell you. Be safe, buy title insurance if available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expat Posted August 9, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 9, 2009 Well, I talked to the bank that holds the note. The process is my wife pays off the note at the bank and the bank representative goes with us to the land office. We are comfortable enough with the seller and the process so I don't think we'll get a lawyer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.