TP Real Estate

How to buy property in Thailand

To buy property in Thailand is not so different than from other foreign countries. Most of them wants to protect their land from being bought buy foreigners.

The government in Thailand have made some loopholes in the law to make it possible for foreigners to own land and keeping money coming in to the country. This is important for Thailand and will keep them competitive on the world market.

We said that foreigners can own land but they can not own more than 49%.

We will try to explain this to you in the following text.

1: Leasing 30 years:

Leasing is a very good way to "own" property or land in Thailand. It is very cheap and 100% secure to the foreigner. You can get 30 years leasing at a time but this can be made to an eternal loop.

Cost: You will have to pay the tax every year for the property but it is a very low tax. You will not pay any legal fees or company fees.

If you buy land in leasing you will get you name in the "chanott" deed. If you want to sell you can sell the property as usual and the new owner will get 30 new years.

In the contract between buyer and owner there are always a deal that ensures the buyer that IF the law changes during the leasing time, that foreigners CAN own land, the owner will transfer the bought land to the foreigner in his name. The foreigner will pay for the transfer.

2: Buying property as Land, House & Businesses

Legally: Foreigners can own 49% of land in Thailand.

Question: How is it then possible to "own" it 100%?

This procedure is legal,simple and easy.

First you most register a Thai company in your name. This company will be split up into 7 smaller parts. YOU will get 49% and the other 51% will be thai owned. The other 51% is now in 6 smaller parts and this will ensure you a 100% majority and security of your new land. You will be placed as Managing director and yo will have the highest vote in the company.

The company will be registered and will be kept in order by lawyers.

Price: The price to make the company will be about 70 000 baht and to keep the company will cost about 30 000 baht every year.

To make a company you will need:

We need you to give us 5 different names for your new company.
Then you will have to sign all the registration papers and choose the Managing Director(s). You will have to pay the registration fee at this time.
The process to register your company will take about 30 days. When everything is finished you will get a company licence, all the company papers and a company stamp.

To open a bank account in a thai bank can be a good idea. With this thai account you will be able to make payments to water and electricity automatically from your account every month. We can help you with this.

3: Buying Condominiums, Apartments

Legally: Foreigners can own an apartment or condo as long as the foreigners own only 49% of the apartments in building or less.

Step by step: The easiest for a foreigner to buy is an Apartment or Condominium. You can buy this with your passport in hand directly from the owner. When you buy an Apartment or Condominium there will be 51% thai apartment owners and 49% foreigners.

Deposit: Often you will have to pay 10% of the total price. If you are buying from a project they will normally ask for 100 000 baht when you reserve the apartment and 10% more when you will sign the contract.

Payments: When you buy an Apartment or Condominium second hand, you will most often pay the entire sum at one time. If you buy a new Apartment or Condominium from a project they have a payment plan for you in 5-10 steps.