Foreigners Own 100 Million Rai

[limbo]

In the Nation today, who said Thais aren't xenophobic. I find it hard to digest that such stories are coming from such high placed people;

 

 

Some 100 million rai of Thai land is owned by foreigners, mostly through their Thai spouses or nominees, Auditor-General Sriracha Charoenpanit revealed yesterday.

 

He said if this situation was "unsolved", it could lead to later generations of Thais having no land to live on.

 

Sriracha told a seminar yesterday on concealed juristic acts that threats to national security came from: firstly, drug problems ruining people, and secondly, the lack of land for future generations, as foreigners now owned a third of Thai land - about 100 million rai.

 

It was a long-standing issue that resulted from a policy in 1997 to stimulate the economy by giving a special right of land ownership to foreigners with one million US dollars, he said. Some 90 per cent of coastal land at Ban Phe Beach in Rayong was foreign-owned, and foreigners owned about 30 per cent of Hua Hin and Pattaya.

 

Land deals were done in ways such as via marriage with Thais or setting up a Thai-based company and a law which allows foreigners to hold up to 49 per cent of the shares. Indeed, he said, many companies let them hold the other 51 per cent through nominees.

 

Sriracha called for a limit on land owned by foreign residents and said the land tax should be hiked to promote the use of land, although doing this might be difficult, as the rich would object.

 

As a long-term solution, he urged the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) and Department of Special Investigation to look into foreign land ownership and give rewards to people who help police arrest those who break the law.

 

National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) lecturer Piyanuch Potawanich warned that the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015 would lead to more foreigners using nominees to own Thai land, especially Singaporeans, who were smart, had money and needed to invest for profit. Among many solutions, she also urged laws to punish nominees and deport any foreigners who do wrong.

 

Land Department executive Sujit Jongprasert admitted that finding nominees for foreigners who buy land wasn't easy. And AMLO chief Pol Colonel Sihanat Prayoonrat said the agency only checked land transactions that involved over Bt2 million in cash, so many buyers reduced the payment to avoid having to report such deals.

[dean]

I own 1 rai, through my thai wife. To be fair, her name is also on the title for the house that we own in Kansas City (I don't need to bring up the disparity in foreigners not being able to own land in LOS but can own as much as they can afford in the U.S., among other nations). If the Thai government would be more concerned about educating thai children, so more of them can get decent jobs and not have to work for 200 baht a day and not have to work the family farm, Thailand would be a better place.

[Flashermac]

It's reported in the Post as well. Maybe it is a secret plot to take over the country and move it to Dubai.

[khunsanuk]

Hi,

 

"as foreigners now owned a third of Thai land"

 

A third of the land in Thailand? I find that VERY hard to believe. Even a thirtieth I would have a hard time accepting.

 

Needless to say there is no proof shown to backup their claim.

 

Sanuk!

[Flashermac]

510,890 sq km divided by 3 = 170,296.6+ sq km. Those foreign devils own a lot of land!

[Pom Michael]

Total Thai land = approximately 513,000 km2 (198,000 sq mi), where 100 000 000 rai = 160 000 square kilometer

 

For sure all land foreign owned or foreign controlled is not close to 160,000 km2. This would mean that farangs own/control 31% of Thai land - this is just absurd.

 

And of course there is no objective discussion on this - Thais just believe what they hear.

 

TIT