I'm a foreigner i want to buy a house in Thailand?

foreigner can not own land in Thailand, you can buy condominium, you can build a house on a land of somebody else, you can lease the land for 30 years, after people who invest 40 million baht can have special treatment, you can buy through Thai company but this is contol more and more as lot of abuse in the past, you will find lot of infomations in internet

Under Thai law, foreigners cannot own house or land in Thailand,  foreign can own condo and apartment (as per Kris reply).
However, if foreign companies who is BOI promoted can apply for land ownership under the company name.

Land Code Amendment Act (No. 8) B.E. 2542 (1999)

Section 96 bis The provisions prescribing the acquisition of land by foreigners by virtue of the provisions of a treaty under first paragraph of Section 86 shall not apply to the foreigners who bring in the capital for investment more than forty million Baht as prescribed in the Ministerial Regulations whereas the acquisition of land for purpose of residence shall not exceed one rai and shall be approved by the Minister.

The acquisition of land by foreigners under paragraph one shall be in accordance with the rules, procedures, and conditions prescribed in the Ministerial Regulations. The essential issues shall be included in the Ministerial Regulations as follows.

(1) The type of business in which the foreigners invest that economically and socially benefits the country or which is declared by the Board of Investment as eligible for the application of the investment promotion under the law thereon.
(2) The period of maintaining the investment shall not be less than three years.
(3) The land that the foreigners may acquire shall be within the locality of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, the City of Pattaya, Municipality, or the zone designated to be the residential area under the law on city planning.

Section 96 ter Any foreigner who is granted to acquired land under Section 96 bis shall, if fails to comply with the rules or conditions prescribed in paragraph two of Section 96 bis in the Ministerial Regulations, dispose of the land being under his/her right within the time period prescribed by the Director-General which is not later than a hundred and eighty days but not longer than one year. If such time period elapses, the Director-General shall have power to dispose of such land.

If the land granted to be acquired by the foreigner under Section 96 bis is not used for purpose of residence within two years from the registration date of acquisition, the Minister shall have power to dispose of such land.

https://www.expat.com/en/housing/asia/t … -sale.html

vee001 wrote:

Under Thai law, foreigners cannot own house or land in Thailand,  foreign can own condo and apartment (as per Kris reply).
However, if foreign companies who is BOI promoted can apply for land ownership under the company name.

That's not quite true. The whole of Kris's answer is true.
When I lived in Prachuap I leased the land and built a house. I own the house.
I am doing the same now in the north.
The Thai land document, Chanote(freehold) in my case, is endorsed at the land Office to reflect my right to lease the land for whatever period the lease runs, 30 years in this case.

Hi,
The main issue here is that when buying a house in Thailand you can only own 49% and 51% must be Thai owned. This is because of Thai law land right issues. It is not so much the house but the land that it is built on, bottom line you will never own it and can be evicted by your Thai partner.Believe me it is happening every day in some part of Thailand where the foreign minority shareholder is kicked out by the Thai police and they do not have a leg to stand on. It has happened to 2 people I know.
However you can buy a Condo and own it 100% , this is because the land right issue does not come into play. Believe me I do not want to sound negitive but please be careful

barryjs wrote:

However you can buy a Condo and own it 100% , this is because the land right issue does not come into play. Believe me I do not want to sound negitive but please be careful

You are correct but don't forget the whole condominium building is under Thai control ( min 51% ) and even you own 100% of your unit, the vote for refurbishment, common charge etc....will have a majority of Thai vote if everybody are present and vote obviously ( your vote is negligible, no control ). It ambiguous, as in many condominium, the Thai company who build them keep control of 51% to do resort or hotel, and sell the 49% to foreigners at huge price ( 3 time the normal price ) like in pattaya and try to attract them with commercial offer like 10% return on 10years or even they will rebuy it from you to a fixed price.... lot of scams behind this you need to be aware, but all this scenario are for condo sold off plan, and the promoter can go bankrupt and you loose your money as no protection

Thank you all for this useful information, really appreciate your efforts.

no wonder why prices I found while visiting Koh Samui were very attractive comparing Philippines or Indonesia

Its a shame not to be able to settle in beautiful Thailand.
maybe I will find a beautiful Thai wife and buy a house in her name..

Midnight Sam

Cross your fingers and your toes that your thai wife don't kick you out as the house is legally her name.

Talk to a lawyer and know the laws before action. Where is your safety net?

Beautiful wife can change husbands. Supply against demand. Who can provide?

Seen few cases already and even in the papers too.

Ask yourself, what is your age?

If you have 3 million cash and a house rental is 10,000 per month. You can rent it for 25 years.

Pay the rent monthly while the money still gain interest in the bank.

After some years and you feel like moving to another house, you can and still have cash to rent again.

I believe in flexibility and cash in hand as Thai laws changed always.

Rejoice wrote:

If you have 3 million cash and a house rental is 10,000 per month. You can rent it for 25 years.

Pay the rent monthly while the money still gain interest in the bank.

Except that the rent will increase 10% per year, your money in the bank will not give you 2% per year as per today in fixed deposit account, and the owner who rent the house has to repay high interest on his loan.... re-work your calculation to see how many years you can afford to rent.... and in the other side how much the house will worth in 25 years.....

You can buy a house under your wife name and lease it for 30 years or do an usufruct, both legally protect you against the re-sell of the house during this period.

Hi,..If you have plan to do business as open a company limited as foreigners used to do then you can buy house in your own company name.

Hi Cthierrymk,

cthierrymk wrote:

Rejoice wrote:

If you have 3 million cash and a house rental is 10,000 per month. You can rent it for 25 years.

Pay the rent monthly while the money still gain interest in the bank.

Except that the rent will increase 10% per year, your money in the bank will not give you 2% per year as per today in fixed deposit account, and the owner who rent the house has to repay high
interest on his loan.... re-work your
calculation to see how many years you
can afford to rent.... and in the other side
how much the house will worth in 25
years.....

You can buy a house under your wife
name and lease it for 30 years or do an
usufruct, both legally protect you against
the re-sell of the house during this
period.

What you said about calculation is true.

Sorry my English is not clear as I should have said, "ask yourself what age are you now because if you are in you 60 - 70 years, then it's better to rent than but as average life Span of guys is 80 - 90 years."

About your bank interest rate is true but if you have 1 million baht, certain banks give you very good rates; credit card etc and a banking staff is assign to you.

As for me, I can get 5% interest from my country pension fund by leaving my money there. That will cover rental easily of 10,000 baht per month.

Besides with US$ 25,000.00 or 900,000 baht, open an account with an offshore bank. Then go into hedge fund which you may get 6 - 18% interest.

In my country there is fixed deposit for 1 month which Thailand does not offer.

I always believe in hard cash as that is the best because it's flexible. You can do what you want.

To buy a house is easy but to sell a house is very difficult in Thailand.

Now you can have all the legal documents with your wife that you lease from her.

When comes to dirty play, you stay in the house but land is hers. She can dump garbage at the land next to the house as it's her land. Yes house is yours.

Don't forget it's Thailand and how things work here when things go ugly.

For me, I prefer clean and easy. Can pack my bags and go anything while cash is still in my pocket.

Oh, whenever I rent a house, I negotiate hard and did my survey. If the place has not been rented for long period of time then I can negotiate better.

Since with cash in hand, I can sign a 5 years contract with an agreed price per month.

Then I squeeze it down again by paying 6 - 12 months advance rent as lump sum.

So with 10,000 baht per month, I did squeeze down to 7,000 baht per month

I get cost with owner too as following thai culture on New Year; Songkran and out of blue small gifts.

Land lord and neighbors are my friends always as at times I whipped up some food that are unavailable in Thailand and share with them. I'm blessed to have overseas friend's who bring me spices.

My neighbors are my buddies and watch
over my house or receive letters and
packges from post man on my behalf
when I'm out.

They can water the plants for me top.

Security guard of the housing estate are my buddies too as at times I buy food to give them.

If you know about village lifestyle then you understand how people behave, share and care.

Rejoice wrote:

Midnight Sam

Cross your fingers and your toes that your thai wife don't kick you out as the house is legally her name.

Talk to a lawyer and know the laws before action. Where is your safety net?

Beautiful wife can change husbands. Supply against demand. Who can provide?

Seen few cases already and even in the papers too.

Ask yourself, what is your age?

If you have 3 million cash and a house rental is 10,000 per month. You can rent it for 25 years.

Pay the rent monthly while the money still gain interest in the bank.

After some years and you feel like moving to another house, you can and still have cash to rent again.

I believe in flexibility and cash in hand as Thai laws changed always.

Thank you for this info.

I think I have ways to make my beautiful Thai wife continue fall in love with me that she wont bother to look at some one else,   hehe, just kidding.

You see for us Arabs, we consider not only our future but also the future of our children and their children,  renting a house for many years and leaving it is not a common thing in Arab culture. in fact buying a house in a different country than your own is not common, but I have imagined my retirement life in Thailand and I enjoy that Idea.

anyways, I guess Thailand will be my vacation spot an nothing more than that.

but thank you for your suggestion.

angeline30 wrote:

Hi,..If you have plan to do business as open a company limited as foreigners used to do then you can buy house in your own company name.

that's awesome idea.. I will do more research about that.

Thank you

Midnight Sun
Thai laws for company shareholders is 51% Thai and 49% foreigners.
Thou a house can be own by foreigner but majority shareholding is Thai.
When comes to shareholders meeting, majority shareholders can out vote small shareholders.
If majority share holder decide to kick you out of the house, you can't do anything just like remove you of your position in the company board of directors.
There are foreigners who use proxies but if get caught, then you are in trouble.
Personally I always believe if one is pumping in large money, stick to the legal way is best and not go behind the law. If got caught, you loose everything and it's not worth it. Loose a bit is fine.

Midnight-Sam wrote:

Rejoice wrote:

Midnight Sam

Cross your fingers and your toes that your thai wife don't kick you out as the house is legally her name.

Talk to a lawyer and know the laws before action. Where is your safety net?

Beautiful wife can change husbands. Supply against demand. Who can
provide?

Seen few cases already and even in the
papers too.

Ask yourself, what is your age?

If you have 3 million cash and a house
rental is 10,000 per month. You can rent
it for 25 years.

Pay the rent monthly while the money
still gain interest in the bank.

After some years and you feel like
moving to another house, you can and
still have cash to rent again.

I believe in flexibility and cash in hand
as Thai laws changed always.

Thank you for this info.

I think I have ways to make my beautiful
Thai wife continue fall in love with me
that she wont bother to look at some
one else,   hehe, just kidding.

You see for us Arabs, we consider not
only our future but also the future of our
children and their children,  renting a
house for many years and leaving it is
not a common thing in Arab culture. in
fact buying a house in a different country
than your own is not common, but I
have imagined my retirement life in
Thailand and I enjoy that Idea.

anyways, I guess Thailand will be my
vacation spot an nothing more than that.

but thank you for your suggestion.

Fully understand and accept about having a house to pass to kids and grand children.

One can own a property in any country then pads to their kids and downline.

I had seen & heard, foreigner got kick out of the house, business gone especially at old age because of spouse with help from relatives; friend's and family.

Yes the house and business may be pass to his kids but he is not dead and has no place to stay and money.

Of course not everyone will do that but I believe in legal and protection.

One can own a property in your own country or other country whereby it's 100% legally yours.

Rent it out and can use the passive income to live in Thailand or any country even by renting a beautiful nice house.

Besides the property that you own in some place can be sold if market is good thus it can become 2 properties or better new house & have profits.

I had tried asking thai ladies, if she bought a property on her own, will she give it to her foreign husband if separated with him or when she dies?
The husband does not contribute anything to buying the house. He take care of all the daily life expenses plus perks.

I reserve my comments on this but I believe the answer is known.

Do remember every time you read 1 bad stories about someone lose they house / land, maybe 100-1000 other have no problem, But they don´t NEED to type on the internet, it is normal to only hear the bad stories.

I know of people lost the house and land.

I know foreigner that go to court and got the court help, So the Ex. have to pay them, or get send to jail.
Even so, one of the Ex have "sold" the house cheap to someone she know (on the paper, not really sold it), Court say deal no good, Court send person to check land and house, He say 3.2 mill baht total.
And she got 6 month to to pay 1.6 mill baht to the man, or make a deal with him.
They make a deal and he got 1 mill baht and the car, so he was happy.

Like everything else in Thailand, not all is bad, not all is good.

Person i never buy a land and house in Thailand, well only if we win in lotto over 5 mill. he he

Never done that wrote:

Do remember every time you read 1 bad stories about someone lose they house / land, maybe 100-1000 other have no problem, But they don´t NEED to type on the internet, it is normal to only hear the bad stories.

I know of people lost the house and land.

I know foreigner that go to court and got the court help, So the Ex. have to pay
them, or get send to jail.

Even so, one of the Ex have
"sold" the house cheap to
someone she know (on the paper, not
really sold it), Court say deal no good,
Court send person to check land and
house, He say 3.2 mill baht total.

And she got 6 month to to pay 1.6 mill
baht to the man, or make a deal with
him.

They make a deal and he got 1 mill baht
and the car, so he was happy.

Like everything else in Thailand, not all
is bad, not all is good.

Person i never buy a land and house in
Thailand, well only if we win in lotto
over 5 mill. he he

Yes there could be 1 out of 1,000 or more is bad in any country.

Prevention is better than cure. You take care yourself and not let anything happen, whether it's sickness, drive safely etc

Insurance is for safety whether it's for life or health or accident. Why not say many people at this age seldom sick so no need health insurance. Perhaps I will not die so young therefore no need life insurance.

I don't dispute about the foreigner getting his 1 million baht and car back from his ex thai wife.

Knowing Thailand courts, it not that you file the papers today, court hearing is next week or month. It can be months or years.

When go to court, foreigner need thai lawyers and that is not free. You have to pay lawyer fees first and everyone papers ate file, there are charges.

The defendant lawyer can file the defendant is sick and case postpone. There are ways to keep delaying the trial. Seen slot when chasing after payment in business.

Therefore getting back the money may takes years but you are kick out of house or business. What if you are in your 70s or 80s?

Personally I prefer safety and buy a property somewhere else and legally mine. Rent it out and collect rent then live in Thailand on a rental house.

If you can collect rent for 25,000.00 baht from overseas, you can rent a nice house in Thailand for 10,000 or less depending on the city.

There is surplus of 15,000 baht as pocket money.

Rejoice wrote:

Personally I prefer safety and buy a property somewhere else and legally mine. .

This depends on your wedding contract and the law in the country where you buy your house, it is not because the house is under your name or bought before the wedding that it will be yours, it can be split 50/50 ( there are different type of contract in France for example )

Rejoice wrote:

Rent it out and collect rent then live in Thailand on a rental house.

If you can collect rent for 25,000.00 baht from overseas, you can rent a nice house in Thailand for 10,000 or less depending on the city.

There is surplus of 15,000 baht as pocket money.

I know the trouble about this when you live abroad and rent something very far like in europe, with all taxes, builidng management, common fees, council taxes, maintenance repair, cost of boiler when broken, insurance for non rental payment, etc... on 40,000 THB rent you get half in your pocket and I don't include anything abut exchange rate and bank transfer...and nothing about loan repayment in this calculation.

As a non resident you are even tax more in France than people living there for having a house.

Cthierrymk
Thanks for your comments about splitting of assets between husband and wife in France.

Depending on different countries laws. The court will see if the number of years married; the wife financial contribution to the assets; her efforts like time and care for kids and family etc.

Yes it may not be 50/50 but at least the guy have something instead of zero. This is where the guy got kicked out of house at an old age with nothing except his pension money.

One can arrange for prenuptial agreement before marriage for protection of both parties.

The main concern is loose all for either party. So it's fair for both.

Thank you for sharing about french tax laws.

If the house is still on loan then it means buying the house at a later age.

But if one is 60 years, usually there is no more house loan.

If there's no house loan, sell the house in France. It is quite a sum. Buy an apartment in HK or Singapore. You get good rental returns from there.

The countries have no restriction of house ownership, stable government; strict laws; good banking system; strong currency.

You collect rental fees and easily 60,000 baht a month. HK and Singapore has land scare and a develop country. They draw investors from overseas.

If you get a job with a reasonable salary in Singapore, they will offer you PR. Then you can buy government sponsor apartments.

For me, the bottom line is income comes from somewhere and assets are protected. It does not mean I must park my money in my country only as I can diversify it. It does not mean assets must be in a specific country but can spread.

Many people think property in Thailand is investment but it's wrong. It's easy to buy but damn difficult to sell.

Don't talk about profit but just the cost return.

If you don't believe, take the title deed of your property and go to the bank. See how much they value your property. Seek a property valuation too. That will give you an idea if your property is an asset or liability.

When emergency and short of cash, what is the point of having a property and you can't sell?

Or it takes ages to sell the property. That is no more an asset but liability that you need to "feed."

No, only through some legal manipulation!

As a foreigner, you cannot buy a house or land on your own in Thaïland. For this purpose, you must be married to a Thai Citizen and the house will belong to you at 50%
In the other hand, you can but a condominium appartement.
You must be carefull with blank wedding....they can trick you...

No you cannot own land or property in the Kingdom. You can put it in the Thai wifes name and then she can throw you out and you have nothing.

To some other comments it willl never be fair to you, you lose you are the foreigner.

Hi, I own a condo in  Pattaya . Foreigners can own a condo, apartment and a house. But a foreigner can not own the property that the house sits on. Even if you married a Thai girl; you can not own the property. You own the house; but if your Thai wife get mad at you; she can have the house bulldozed down and she owns the land and you are out of a house.

If you are in the market for a house; make sure you can place it in a foreign name, not a Thai company name.

Thailand is a wonderful country to live in; just make sure you know the real estate laws before you make a purchase.

Good luck,

Frank

Hello, if you want some information about the real estate in Thailand, you can also find it here in english : *************


Regards

I have heard of many cases where the land is remortgaged by the owners then they default on payment and the banks seize the land and everything that is built on it .  I would be wary of any business dealings in Thailand.  There are thousands of land dispute cases going on in thai courts at any one time and ten years is nothing  unusual for a case to be settled.

Hi, As a foreigner, you can buy houses and condos. the difference is; if you buy a house; you can not own the land. The land is owned by a Thai national. Also make sure it is in a foreign name or own. Do not by in Thai company name. Your best bet is to buy a condo in foreign name. Look at condo developments that have a great view and no property the developer can build in front of your view. A mistake many have made. Some have bought a condo with a great view; only to have the developer build another condo building in front of the first ones with a view. Their view now is of other condos and laundry hanging out on the railing. So, do your research and never take any sellers advice. Talk to many realtors; not just one about the property laws.

Same rules apply throughout Thailand.
A foreigner can own a condo in Thailand. This is based on every build in that a percentage are available as freehold to foreigners. When you look at the details it will state if you can buy. Expect to pay well over the odds if in your name. Condos in Thailand are generally of poor build quality and because their are so many are hard to sell or rent as so many new builds are going up.
Buying a house is very different. Your cannot own land in Thailand 100%. So if you want to buy a house or villa it either goes all in your Thai partners name or you set up a a company in which you will own a third. This is on a lease option of 30 years with the possibility to extend for a further 30 + 30 so total 90 years. If you go for this option you can have the house but still not the land.
Buy doing this you get the property much cheaper , but there s the risk.
Just one example I saw recently a 2 bed townhouse on Samui . 4.5 million thai owned or 5.8 company  owned.
If you are married be aware that as soon as you are divorced you will need to leave the country and getting anything back for a Thai lady will be very hard.

Set up  thai company , all easy and straight forward , put in tax returns yearly showing the company is not trading . You own 49 % of the company , the rest owned by nominees who have no real claim against it as you provided all funds . Iv been doing it on differant properties for 20 years , never an issue . Nominees are normally family of the lawyer in the land registry office you used.

***

Hello,

A foreigner cannot own a land in Thailand. One of the most used way to do so is to create a company (that can own a land) where you will have 49% of the shares. The 51 other will be own by at least 2 thai people with no power of decision (MUST BE DONE BY A LAWYER to ensure everything is alright).

By the way no problem for condo, except a few rules to follow (source of the funds, percentage of the building own by foreigner which must not exceed 49%).

Regards,

You can buy a Condo and own 100% as a foreigner.

The Condo has to have Foreigner Ownership status and not Thai ownership which is clear on the property documentation held at the local Land Office.

Midnight-Sam wrote:

Hi, Can a foreigner buy a property in Thailand , Mainly in Islands?

At the moment, No. Maybe later if you are ok with like 10 million Baht in investments. If the proposal is approved,that is.

Healthyfood2018 wrote:

You can buy a Condo and own 100% as a foreigner.

The Condo has to have Foreigner Ownership status and not Thai ownership which is clear on the property documentation held at the local Land Office.

Well, there are not that many condos on the islands, except for maybe Phuket. I don't think (I'm just guessing) he meant a condo when he said property.

No problem with buying a house in Thailand but you can not purchase the land it is built on, there lies a possible problem if you have a falling out with the landowner you can be evicted from the property, which seldom happens, yet it has on rare occasions.

Everyone has already explained it well that house ownership by a foreigner isn't legal but there are ways around it. Using a Thai corporation is one way to do it but be very careful: The business must be legitimately engaged in business activities and not solely in existence to own property for a foreigner. Many realtors and lawyers will tell you that a dormant company is perfectly legal but there is a specific law that states this is illegal. Many still do this and for the most part, there's no issue because the government rarely cares, but I'll emphasize that you do not actually own the house if the company is dormant. You'll likely find that trying to operate a legitimate business is a huge pain, as well. Your Thai wife could own the property for you but that's another case where you don't actually own the home. Condos are the only way to easily own a property in Thailand and that's not even favorable if you don't trust the ever-changing government.

@Midnight-Sam Two words spring to mind 'barge' and 'pole' - you cannot own land in Thailand as a foreign national end of story, can marry a thai and put it in her name or there is a loophole that allows you to set up a company with a thai partner and buy the land - this is a loophole and could be closed anytime eg a change of regime in the future - given all the bad press with Russians buying up Phuket anything is possible. On top of this its a crap investment as too much oversupply and ongoing supply in the pipe - many people bought years ago and luck to break even most sell at a loss if they can see -  buy a house where you have legal ownership backed by law in a country you know and rent in Thailand - for instance in Hua Hin there are hundreds if not thousands of villas and condos to rent at very cheap prices and they do the pool and the garden etc Thailand hasnt really experienced a property crash but given the oversupply and planned developments when it comes it will be savage