Property Ownership in Thailand

[william3rd]

As a foreigner, You CAN'T own real property. At least not the ground. That is reserved for Thai Nationals.

There are two popular ways to to "own" the property. A Thai corporation or a long-term prepaid lease. To avoid the intricacies of Thai corporations, it is better to go the lease.

I gave the money for the purchase and building of my house to my girlfriend. We didnt get around to dealing with the lease until after the construction of the house and post-construction transfer of the improved property. Fortunately, I have the right woman in my life or I would have been out some major bucks.

She has now leased the property to me for 30 years at 2000 baht a month and has received the 30 years payment in full. At the end of 30 years, at the option of me or my immediate heirs, we can renew for an additional 30 years at the same rate. So- when I am in my mid 80s I can renew again. At the end of thirty more years, we can renew the lease yet again at the same rate. So-I am covered until I hit 140 and my children are 100. . . .

The fee for the transfer was about $1500- about 300 in taxes, 200 in transfer fees, and the rest in attorney fees. I was not going to take any chances of errors or delays so I handed the deal off to someone that knows what they are doing.

Thai corporations are cheap to set up but could be affected by law changes.

[Ray]

That sounds similar to the property ownership laws in the Philippines.

You must be a Philippine citizen to own real property.

A foreigner may purchase a condominium if a certain percentage (50% plus?) of the total ownership is Filipino.

A foreigner can also own property through a corporation, but I believe that there must be at least 50% Filipino ownership in the corporation.

As a foreigner, you can also lease property for up to 25 years, renewable once for another 25 years.

There are some exceptions that I know of. If a foreigner is married to a Filipino, and the Filipino spouse owns property, the foreigner is allowed to inherit the property from the spouse.

Also, I believe that there is a provision where a foreigner may purchase a resort or business property if he will invest big bucks ($1,000,000?) in improving it.

For Filipinos who lose their citizenship through naturalization in another country, they may still own property but with some restrictions. Now they allow dual citizenship, so it’s easy to get around that one.

Anyone here considering purchasing or building a home in the Philippines would be wise to hire a Filipino lawyer to advise him of all the options available.

[william3rd]

condo ownership in thailand by foreigners are common in recent years because it doesnt include the land under the dwelling.  Corps must be thai corps and can only sell to juristic persons of thailand.

[Farang Jai]

This has been a recent conversation between my girlfriend and I.  Her parents have offered us land near their village up in the North.  Though we are considering it, we are also thinking of purchasing some of our own, through my girlfriend, prior to our marriage.  As I understand it, a Thai woman is no longer able to purchase land subsequent to marrying a foreign national.  It is likely that the two of us shall spend most of our time in US, however we want to option to vacation/visit Thailand, for we both love it there.

 I also thought it would be best for her to have her own land there, in case anything where to happen to me, or our relationship, at least she would have a home there.  Her mom says it can be a place to stay when she argues with her husband.  Oh boy, I wasn't anticipating mom moving in!

[william3rd]

Which town?

The rules have relaxed in recent years concerning marraige to foreigners and land ownership. However, the land may never transfer to farang, only thai.