# Buying a house in Thailand



## sebaseba

I'm interested in buying a house in Thailand to live there permanently. From what I've gathered, only the house can be under my name but not the land, which would be leased for 30 years. My questions are:

1. After those 30 years are up, what are my chances of renewing the lease and would I be paying the market value (30 years from now) for the land?

2. If for example after 3, 4 years of living there and paying my taxes, I would apply for a permanent resident card and with some luck receive it, could I transfer that land deed under my name?


Thank you all for your help and advice.


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## sebaseba

*no one?*

No one can help me with this questions? Anyone? Please.


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## Artie

Hello Sebaseda,

For a long time I have not been an this site, but in general it is not possible to buy a house in Thailand in your name, only a so-called condo. But there are possibilities to avoid all the legal regulations. This company is specialized in these matters is Sunbelt Asia Group in Bangkok. 

With kind regards,

Aart van Wijngaarden
Khon Buri / Thailand
Mob. +66 83 966 7768


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## Artie

*Buying a Thai house*

Hello Sebaseda,

Sorry enough I am not allowed to mention my e-mail address, because I have not posted 4 times something on the forum. But maybe this will work, I have an e-mail account with yahoo. You can reach me there under my name aartvanwijngaarden. I hope this will help.

With kind regards,

Aart van Wijngaarden
Khon Buri / Thailand


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## synthia

Welcome to the forum! From everything I have read, there will never be a circumstance where you can own land in Thailand. My understanding was that there is no way to own a house, either.


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## sebaseba

That's a shame, I was really looking forward to investing in a property and moving there. Are there no incentives for people to move and buy a house in Thailand?

What other good, safe and cheap places are there for me to consider?


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## Artie

Hello Synthia,

Thanks for your welcome words and indeed you are right, it is impossible to have a house in your name. I have checked it this morning with a friend from Australia, who is living close to me, but you can only have 49%, the other 51% must be in Thai hands. If someone want to have information of all the legal possibilities, the best is they contact Sunbelt Asia in Bangkok, a trusted company who has all the knowhow about it.

With kind regards,

Aart van Wijngaarden (Dutch)
Khon Buri / Thailand


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## Artie

Hello Sebaseda,
It is a pity, but a foreigner can only have 49% of a house, 51% must be in Thai hands. As I said before the best is to contact Sunbelt Asia in Bangkok, who can advise you about all possibilities to invest. But this is also a point of consideration, the areas Bangkok, Pattaya, Puket and Chiangmai are getting more and more expensive every day. I have a friend from England, who bought a condo in Pattaya for 4,8 million Baht and is now trying to sell it for much less, maybe he will accept 4 million. It is completely furnished, but building a house in the area of Nakhon Ratchasima is much cheaper. In my opinion you can have a house there for 2 million Baht, depending on your demands. It means in US $ about 60.000. I hope this information will suit you. 

With kind regards,

Aart van Wijngaarden
Khon Buri / Thailand


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## rjnpenang

sebaseba said:


> That's a shame, I was really looking forward to investing in a property and moving there. Are there no incentives for people to move and buy a house in Thailand?
> 
> What other good, safe and cheap places are there for me to consider?


Hi, Good, safe & cheap, try Malaysia, you are allowed to buy a house or condo, prices on Penang; 90,000 US dollars for a condo & 160,000 for a house. And only 90 mins up to Bangkok. Plus!, if you invest money they will give you a ten year visa. Regards Rob


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## sebaseba

Thank you all for your advice. Now even 49% wouldn't be so bad as long as there are laws in pace to protect my investment, and not have someone come an sell the other share of the house and throw me out. Are there any safeguards in place for this not to happen? Or is the other 51% owned by the government?

Also, if I guy a house, is the visa situation as complicated as opposed to just being there as a tourist?

I've looked into Malaysia but it's more expensive when it come to, well, everything.

Thanks,
Seba


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## Ted88888

There is lots of bad advice on forums, sorry to say. 

In Thailand you CAN own a house, you just can't own the land that it sits on. You can own the building. 

Some people attempt to circumvent the law by doing 30+30+30 year leases. But the law says the maximum lease is 30 years - so if you try to enforce the renewal with an owner who doesn't wish to, well all they have to say is that you were attempting to circumvent the law, no? 

Any other fancy convoluted form of company, on-shore or off-shore, that attempts to accomplish your ownership and control of the land, is subject to the same invalidation - that you are attempting to circumvent the law.

You CAN buy a condo freehold.

You'll do far better asking about this on the real estate section of ThaiVisa.com or asking a lawyer. But, remember that lawyers make their money by complicating things, no different in Thailand from anywhere else.

Don't count on permanent residency on bailing you out. There is a limited number of them on offer - and don't forget you still only have a lease. You don't own the property so you don't have the right to transfer it to yourself. You could attempt to buy the property at that time, but the leaseholder has no need to sell it to you if they don't want to.

I "own" an apartment here with a 30+30 year lease, but I will be 86 when the first lease expires and I haven't based my finances on it happening. Nor will I be surprised if it doesn't happen. If it does happen, cause for a nice dinner out and an expensive bottle of champagne . . .


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## synthia

Ted brings up another important point. Never invest money in a foreign country that you can't afford to lose.


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## owenjones

My understanding is that you MAY own a house, but not the land it is on. The way around this is the 30 year lease as you say, but with an option of a subsequent 30 years. 60 years in all.
I have several friends here in the north who have done it that way and one who took his paperwork to court when his girlfriend decided to try to kick him out. He won hands down and the judge offered to have evicted to boot.


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## owenjones

My understanding is that you MAY own a house, but not the land it is on. The way around this is the 30 year lease as you say, but with an option of a subsequent 30 years. 60 years in all.
I have several friends here in the north who have done it that way and one who took his paperwork to court when his girlfriend decided to try to kick him out. He won hands down and the judge offered to have her evicted to boot.


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## SteinKR

sebaseba said:


> Thank you all for your advice. Now even 49% wouldn't be so bad as long as there are laws in pace to protect my investment, and not have someone come an sell the other share of the house and throw me out. Are there any safeguards in place for this not to happen? Or is the other 51% owned by the government?
> 
> Also, if I guy a house, is the visa situation as complicated as opposed to just being there as a tourist?
> 
> I've looked into Malaysia but it's more expensive when it come to, well, everything.
> 
> Thanks,
> Seba


Hi Seba

There is indeed ways where you can actually control 100 % of your investment even though you only "officially" holds 49%.

When I bought my house in the outskirts of Bangkok I used the services offered through "*thailandbolig . dk*". A guy there named Claus was very helpful and had a professional appoach in working this out for me. He arranged to register a company where I hold 49% and the other 51% through trusted partners (nominees). This is the most common way foreigners own land throughout the Kingdom. 

Regarding the visa situation, you can get a retirement visa valid for 1 year which can be renewed annually. I believe you have be 50 years up to be qualified, and if not the most common way is to leave Thailand every 2nd/3rd month getting a new tourist visa.

Would suggest you get in touch with Claus at "info @ thailandbolig . dk" for further advice.


Stein A.


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## sebaseba

Thank you all for your help and advice, I certainly appreciate it. Since I'm under 50, and the visa situation is such a mess, I will consider other places as well before making my move.


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## rjnpenang

I certainly would´nt trust/invest money in/a system that requires you to have a "trusted partner". Malaysia will give a 10 year visa (if you invest money) and you can buy landed property easily, legaly & cheaply, and its not expensive!, probably cheaper than Pattaya for food. Property a little more but at least you know its legal!. Regards Rob (in Penang & Spain)


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## steed

SteinKR said:


> Hi Seba
> 
> There is indeed ways where you can actually control 100 % of your investment even though you only "officially" holds 49%.
> 
> . He arranged to register a company where I hold 49% and the other 51% through trusted partners (nominees). This is the most common way foreigners own land throughout the Kingdom.


This loop hole or the 51% "trusted partners" or nominees has been closed by the government now right ? I have been told that although people do this method they do risk having the land / building confiscated if found out.


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## Ted88888

To the best of my understanding there can also be stiff penalties for the "nominees" unless they can show that they have money directly invested.

This is one of the "convoluted" methods of control of which I spoke earlier. They all shake down to attempting to circumvent the law. 

There was talk last year of giving people with such structures one year to sell and get out. Nothing came of it, but I would be worried if it was my investment.


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## stgrhe

sebaseba said:


> I'm interested in buying a house in Thailand to live there permanently. From what I've gathered, only the house can be under my name but not the land, which would be leased for 30 years. My questions are:
> 
> 1. After those 30 years are up, what are my chances of renewing the lease and would I be paying the market value (30 years from now) for the land?
> 
> 2. If for example after 3, 4 years of living there and paying my taxes, I would apply for a permanent resident card and with some luck receive it, could I transfer that land deed under my name?
> 
> 
> Thank you all for your help and advice.


I have noticed that you are younger than fifty years so unless you have a Thai wife you should probably first start an active company in order to obtain a Non-Immigrant 'B' visa. Else you would have to do border runs every 30 day and there are limitations to that too nowadays.

With an active company, i.e. a company that is actually doing real business i Thailand, you could let your company own the house. You can only own 49% of the company and you need three Thai nominees, previously seven were required. The Thai nominees do not have to be members of the board and would virtually have no influence over the company. This is perfectly legal whereas setting up a company for the purpose of owning a house only is in the "gray zone". That is what some posters have been warning about.

If you have very much money you can in fact own land here in Thailand but only in Pattaya and certain areas of Bangkok. You need to invest some 40 million baht or so and freeze the investment for some time if I have understood it right.

The third method is the lease, which some have recommended. Today the maximum lease period is 30 years. Any extension is a private deal and is really not guaranteed. A lease contract should take into account a number of aspects to cater for future changes to the law. The lease contract should be registered at the land office while the house, which can be yours to 100%, should be registered at the local amphur.

The forth alternative is good if you are married to a Thai citizen. Your wife can buy the land and you get a life-time usufruct. Still, the house can be in your name. With this arrangement you have possession of the land until you pass away. However, this method is hardly the one which one would be looking for if it is for investment purpose.

You can own a condominium on freehold. 49% of the space of a condominium can be own by a foreigner. There are some conditions to it.


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## Winkie

If you do form an active company for this purpose, you 'll need to observe the 4:1 ratio of Thai EMployees to gain the Work Permit. That means you'd need 4 Thai Employees, and pay them all Nation Insurace, Workman's Compensation Act adn Income Tax.

Seems quite complex and expensive, just to buy a property.

Incidentally there are a few house type condominum prohjects around. These are detached houses on common land (land jointly owned by all the house onwers). Its a condominum project, therefore you can legally own one.


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## britishbull

Sorry, but as I understand, it attempts to sell houses as condos were stopped by the government years ago. You have to face it, Thais do not want foreigners to own land in Thailand and although people selling land/houses will tell you otherwise, to go against their wishes is high risk. 49 percent of a condo building can be owned by foreigners, so unit are available legally.


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## JimAtJaxtr

britishbull said:


> Sorry, but as I understand, it attempts to sell houses as condos were stopped by the government years ago. You have to face it, Thais do not want foreigners to own land in Thailand and although people selling land/houses will tell you otherwise, to go against their wishes is high risk. 49 percent of a condo building can be owned by foreigners, so unit are available legally.


That's fascinating to know. I couldn't imagine wanting to buy only 49% of a condo either. I wonder how that would look on a credit report.


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## Guest

*House*

You can have anything you want in Thailand within the law. However, some things you cannot own. Land and houses seem to be two things you cannot own, unless you are mega rich and set up a company here, which as others have stipulated is only 49% in your name. A condo would be your best option, which you can own. If you are married to a Thai national, then you have the alternative of putting the house in her name. The latter is based on trust, which does exist in Thailand. I have house here based on trust, and it did not cost an arm and leg. Everything is relative to the individual and what you expect. if I loose everything, hell, shut the door and go through the next one. Thats life mate, theirs no such thing as a guarantee anymore. I've been there in the so called secure world and lost the bloody lot. Anyway good luck.
Martin


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## britishbull

Just to clarify, current condo law allows foreigners to own up to 49 percent of a condo building so you can actually own a whole unit in a condo rather than 49 percent of a unit as someone seemed to think! There is a lot of double pricing as a result.

The only way you can own land and house legally in Thailand is if you have a BOI (board of investment) company where there is a concession, but this is mega bucks and provision of technological transfer, which is fine if you are Honda Inc etc.

If you are married to a Thai lady you can actually own half of the land quite legally up to a maximum of one rai (land size of 1600 sqm) or you can lease back the house for thirty years. If you go local and live upcountry, the cost of house and land is relatively trivial (if you pay Thai prices) and probably not worth worrying about.

The concept of trust or fair play is not one Thais can get their heads around, so completely self-delusional to rely upon it if you investing seriously money; conversely, if you get all legalled up you are signing your own death warrant.

Basically, buy a condo if you are retiring to Thailand or working there, and only pay what you can afford to lose elsewhere


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