Another Thai official have put another hole in the investor’s balloon. The director general of the Land Department in Thailand says that Thai wife’s can not get money from her foreign husband to buy land. She has to buy the land from her own money and the director general of the Land Department says he will enforce the law and revoke any land purchased the other way.
On different forums in Thailand the response is pretty harsh
“You see Thailand is only for Thai people time to leave this countryâ€
“I do not think they will enforce the law but what a moronâ€
“Do they want investors to come to Thailand or not?â€
“Cambodia looks better every dayâ€
Here is the full article from the Phuket Gazette
The director general of the Land Department has reiterated that foreigners using Thai nominees to buy land anywhere in the country will have their land title deeds revoked if caught – even if the nominee in question is a lawfully wedded spouse.
Land Department Director Anuwat Meteewiboonwut made the comments during a recent stop in Phuket as part of a nationwide inspection tour of 30 provinces.
The tour is aimed at improving public services by land officials in three areas: dress, conduct when dealing with the public and working harder to eliminate a backlog of work.
Many members of the public have complained that it takes up to a year to complete a transaction that should only take one day, he said.
Mr Anuwat, a former governor of both Phang Nga and Samut Prakan provinces, said he was satisfied on the first two points, but rated the general level of success among land officials nationwide at speeding up their work rate at “only 30%â€.
The next round of inspection tours will come in July, after which time personnel changes will be considered if service does not improve, he said.
“We have to keep pressure on them, otherwise the work will not get done,†he said.
As for foreigners seeking to buy homes in Phuket, they can do so through the Condominium Act, which allows foreign ownership of up to 49% of any project, he said.
Foreigners cannot use a Thai spouse as a nominee to buy property in Thailand, however.
“If the Thai spouse has enough money to buy the house that is fine, but if the Thai has no money and uses money given to him or her by a foreigner to acquire property, that is against the law. If we check and find out later that a Thai person has been using money from a foreigner to buy land anywhere in Thailand, we will revoke title deeds,†he said.
Mr Anuwat said the provisions of [Ministry of Interior] ministerial order 43 makes it difficult to issue land documents quickly, as it requires action from a number of different agencies. Desire for land on the island has also led to encroachment problems here, he said.
As a key market for property companies, Phuket is a constant source of problems and complaints to the director general’s office, he admitted.
“We will try to resolve these problems and develop our personnel continuously in order to provide high quality services. Fortunately the governor of Phuket used to work in the Land Department, so he understands the procedures and can help co-ordinate all the agencies involved,†he said.
Mr Anuwat was speaking of Phuket Governor Wichai Phraisa-ngop, who served as Land Office director in Nakhon Pathom in 1997 and as deputy director of the Land Department nationwide in 2003
Mindstream
Well this is why Thailand will soon have its on french revolution probably.
Dr. Bill
10% owns 90% of the land and has the other 90% working the land for them for poverty wages… can you even imagine the bad karma this 10% is accumalating? I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes…
Mindstream
Yes i believe that’s correct
Canadian
i belive Cambidia and Philippines have the same sort of land ownership restictkions
Smoke and miiror tricks like coprporations will work for now but what happens when the government comes after you,,,,even if they do noy take the land,,,who is going to buy it?
Malaysia is the only country that I am aware of that allows foreign ownership of land,,,,but not in all provinces
I believe provinces in Borneo only allow leases
Mindstream
10 % owns 90 % of the land the rest 90 % have under 1 rai 🙁
Dr. Bill
Canadian has the right idea.. Cambodia has no such qualms about land ownership… I understand neither does the Philippines… The Thai government seems bent on keeping their people on a below the poverty line course… Nothing is going to change there until they try and catch up with the rest of the world, which doesn’t seem to be on their agenda..
Mindstream
This have been a problem for a long time with no clear rules and walk on the line.
Canadian
looks like it is time to return home and start lobbying my government to stlop any Thai nationals from coming
working and starting business as they do now
oops,,,,,can;t lobby for this in Canada as it would be racial discrimination,,,,obviously the Thai government has no problems with discrimination
So take your vacations and money to some other country
seems they want our money but not us
admin
Well they need a clear law and not a law mess that is used by lawyers in Thailand.
Talen
I think this will be very bad for genuine Thai/falang relationships .
I understand that the government doesn’t want to go the same route as America. It used to be illegal for foreign corporations to won land and when that rule disappeared many corps bought up land.
It’s sad that the Thai government views Thai/falang relationships in this way. It’s bad enough we can never own the land but to go after the Thai wife and possibly take the land is absurd.
admin
Sure has and you never know when its going to flip or change.
admin
Well when you get married and buy land the wife need to guarantee she is buying with her money. Well in Thai law everything you have before is yours and what ever she had is hers. But yes maybe you need to give her as a gift first and if you get a divorce you are done fore.
Dr. Bill
This has got a lot of farangs pretty scared…personally, I think it’s just a politician spouting off to make himself look good to his voters..maybe also a little boost to condo developers…
Logic Dictates
Maybe the Thai people don’t understand marriage? When two people get married there isn’t ‘his money’ and ‘her money’ but ‘their money’. This attitude makes the Thai government look very racist and socially retarded.