Thailand Portalen (version 2004)

Oprettet af ganja d. 13/10-2006 19:42

Mht "ugler i mosen" har jeg lavet en forespørgsel hos Craig Dunn med udgangspunkt i den norske artikel
http://www.an.no/...295117.ece

Craig Dunn har boet i Danmark i 2 år og 10 år i Norge.
Craig Dunn er ejendomsmægler og indehaver af hjemmesiden
http://th-propert...ty_Law.asp

Via dette link kan man læse beskrivelsen "limited company" som værende option#2. Altså den mest populære og anbefalede indgangsvinkel til at erhverve sig en ejendom i Thailand.

Nedenfor kan du læse min e-mail til Craig Dunn inklusiv hans svar.
Desværre er det på engelsk, men du kan evt selv oversætte her
http://babelfish....vista.com/

ATT [url]www.TH-property.com[/url]

I would like to hear if you still recommend option# 2 (limited company) as the best solution when buying a house in Thailand?

The reason for my question is based upon an article published at
http://www.an.no/...295117.ece
as well as a debate regarding this issue in several Nordic foras. Unfortunately the article is written in Norwegian (which I can read without any problems) so I will just refer/translate a few but essential lines:

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"In the month of May 2006, Governors of the Thai provinces received a letter from government officials, instructing them to check the ownership behind these foreign property investments through the land offices”

“Substantial higher prices mainly in Hua Hin, Koh Samui, Phuket and Pattaya alert authorities!
According to the Thai property law, a Thai shareholder must prove his investment comes from his own (account) Even a spouse can be disqualified as a shareholder, if its known, that its NOT her/his own money that has been invested. Consequence may be that the Norwegian (owner) has no control over the property”

“At first, land offices will begin checking Thai shareholders income and liquidity in these foreign controlled/owned companies. If failure to prove this, the transaction will fail says Thai lawyer Kamnod Soponvasu from the firm Legal & Associates in Pattaya.”

“Its estimated that 1000 Norwegian house owners in Thailand will fall into this pit.”

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Hope you have a brief comment, and thank you for your time

Best regards *****

Hallo *****, thanks for your email.

I lived in Denmark for over two years and in Norway for 10 years, so I have now read this article myself - thank you indeed for bringing it to my attention. The article is partially correct, partially incorrect and unfortunately draws a frightening conclusion which is dramatic in true newspaper style, but not correct. We have followed this matter very closely indeed with the help of our lawyers and our good contacts at the Land Office in Hua Hin and the Dept of Business in Prachuabkhirikhan, so we are very familiar with the issues.

On 15 May, the Ministry of the Interior sent a directive to all land offices instructing them - FROM NOW ON, NOT RETROSPECTIVELY - to investigate the finances of Thai shareholders in limited companies which also have farang investors, and to send the paperwork to the chief national land office in Bangkok for further inspection if it could be shown that the Thais had not / could not have really invested any money in the company applying for ownership of land. This effectively stopped everything, of course.

There were many meetings of gov. officials and affected parties during the ensuing month from which it became clear that the reason behind the move was to curtail the activities of foreigners - citing cases in Koh Samui and Pattaya - who had bought several large piece of attractive land and were simply reselling the companies which owned these lands for large profits, for the most part conducting financial transactions offshore such that Thailand was deprived of taxes as well as control the land in question. It became clear that the common, generous interpretation of the laws relating to the establishment of companies with nominee shareholders and the registration of land in the ownership of such companies was always intended to enable foreigners to "own" properties for holiday and/or retirment. It was never intended to enable foreigners to trade in land. This is expressly forbidden under Thai law.

On the 21st of June, there was a public meeting held in Prachuabkhirikhan attended by the Interior Minister himself. The industry was in uproar and sorely needed a solution which would enable business to continue as usual. The ministry agreed, and the conclusion of the meeting was that land offices could now approve the registration of land in the name of such companies as long as the land was not larger than 1 rai (1,600 sq.m.)

We have since transfered about 20 properties, without difficulty, and we have been assured by both our lawyers and the land office in Hua Hin that there is no intention to apply these new rules retrospectively. We have also recently sold a few properties by selling the company itself (a simple change of directorship) instead of selling the company's asset (the land). In all cases, we are greeted with smiles and everyday expediency at the land office and at the dept. of business.

Therefore, I am confident that no-one is going to lose their properties. The consequences of such moves for foreign investment in Thailand would be devastating, and the whole scenario is quite unthinkable.

Paragraph 3 of that article is simply wrong: "En voldsom prisstigning på eiendommer " - this never had anything to do with prices. Prices have risen of course, in line with increases in the cost of all building materials and a virtual doubling of the price of diesel. The construction and finishing quality of "farang" houses far exceeds that of typical Thai houses, and prices are justifiable and understandable. "Deretter kan selskapet bli oppløst og nordmannen sitter uten kontroll over eiendommen." - absolute nonsense, there is no desire to do this.

Law firms in Bangkok and in Pattaya are well known for their scare tactics, and well known for their 300 - 400 thousand baht bills for the incorporation of companies which they claim are totally sound. I have inspected several such company set-ups and found them to be fundamentally no different from the companies set up by our local lawyers for a fraction of the price. A nominee shareholder is a nominee shareholder no matter how the lawyers have dressed them up.

However, having said all this - to illustrate why I believe that all existing owners are safe - the rules are tighenting and it may well be one day impossible to do things in this way. There is talk of changing the land leasing laws to allow leases of 90 years rather than 30 years with the option of renewal. There is also talk of the creation of a new government organ which will administrate foreign ownership of properties designated as eligable for foreign ownership. Of course, we do not know for sure how all this will end, but everything is moving towards getting "på plass en lovgivning som gjør det forutsigbart å investere i Thailand."

TH-property Estate Agents Co. Ltd., of which I am the sole executive director, owns several properties here, and we have helped about 200 foreigners to buy property here during our 4 years in business. I personally harbour no great concerns about these investments. We conduct our business entirely correctly, often consulting with local officials to make sure we have got the paperwork correct. Therefore, everything we have done has been controlled and approved by the correct and relavant authorities, and this continues today.

Professionally, I welcome these changes and would further welcome the establishment of a legal framework made specifically to support this industry.

Best regards,

Craig Dunn.

TH-property Estate Agents Co. Ltd.
81 Moo 1, Moo Baan Nong Korn,
Hin Lek Fai, Hua Hin,
Prachuab Khiri Khan, Thailand, 77110.

[mail] -[/mail] English language
Tel: +66 (0)81 98 101 92
[url][/url] - Thai language
Tel: +66 (0)81 98 12 764

Office telephone and fax: 032 57 51 82

Website:[url] http://www.TH-pro... [/url]
[mail][/mail]