Buying a property in Thailand
 

I'm a Brit with a Thai boyfriend and plan to live there together soon. I have capital to buy a property for us. I'm told Brits cannot own property is that correct?

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

I *think* that only Thai nationals can own land. There are ways around this, but your approach will depend on how much you really trust your boyfriend. I would get professional advice in your position.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

Thank you Alan2005. I do trust him 110% and we will see a solicitor together when the time comes. We are in a lifelong relationship. But I understand where you are coming from.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

That's good.

You'll probably get better responses (from people who've actually done this) when Thailand wakes up in a few hours. Also if you can tolerate the bitter expats complaining about how their hooker girlfriends are bleeding them dry it might be worth asking on www.thaivisa.com. There is (or at least was) more traffic there than here.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

As I understand things unless you are very rich or in special circumstances you cannot own land. However you can own property as in a condo outright and there are ways of giving yourself full control over the land as well.

Are you thinking of buying some land and then building on it or buying a standing property ?

Anyway there are ways around things. You can get a thirty year lease on land whereby it is yours to do what you want or the best thing for peace of mins IMO is to get a 'usurfruct ' which in effect makes you the custodian of the property / land although it may well be in someone else's name. Sort of like you are a manager. You can have more than one person on the usurfruct so that if you died for example and your child was on the document then the agreement would still be valid and the childe would have full rights over the land. All this stuff would have to be stipulated in the agreement. You would have full rights and no one can kick you out.

DO get proper legal advice over this, try Sunbelt Asia for more info ( although they are a bit pricey ). Don't be railroaded into doing things the ' Thai ' way. I'm just guessing but it's probably your money right so in a worse case scenario you don't want to have thrown all your hard work away.

Another word of advice ; live wherever it is you want to buy / build for a good year before doing anything to see if you actually like it there because there may be issues with neighbours or the family that you don't know about. Don't rush anything, stand up for yourself and if it doesn't sound right then back out. It's your money going into everything at the end of the day.

I don't mean to patronize you and I'm probably making a lot of presumptions about your sitiuation regarding financing but it's good to be on the side of caution. We don't go around buying houses every day so you want to make sure it's done right, especially in a foreign country where things are done differently and the law may be different too.

When I built my house a few years back there were many things that I had to get my head round that didn't make sense to me and it is very hard sometimes to put your foot down but that is what you have to do.

Just a thought, but the exchange rate is pretty shitty at the moment as well so you might be better off waiting anyway if you are bringing cash from the UK.
Good luck with everything.

p.s. where are you thinking of buying ?:)

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

Thank you nonthaburi for your kind and sensible advice. My boyfriend lives in Roi Et which is in the centre of the Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Veitnam peninsular. It is 313miles/504Km North East of Bangkok driving. I have never been there but we are discussing buying land and building. I regret the earlier comment made on this thread by Alan2005. Although very helpful he is wrong about 99.9% of mixed marriages, which are full of love.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

I might have been cynical, but not overly so. The opposite of what you say might not be the case, but I saw plenty of mixed relationships that you wouldn't describe as 'full of love' during my time in Bangkok.

Please be careful. Rural living in Thailand can be idyllic, but you should be aware that these places can also be quite lawless. If you get into any kind of dispute the authorities will not give a toss about you, let alone take your side.

nonthaburi's advice is excellent. You might trust your boyfriend 110%, but you should protect yourself and any investment you make as much as possible. Try to have a way out should things go pear shaped.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

Thank you Alan 2005. The Free Dictionary defines cynicism as having, “an attitude of scornful or jaded negativity, especially a general distrust of the integrity or professed motives of others.” I guess this means that you are worldly-wise and I can tell that you are speaking honestly and:unsure: from experience. I’m 28 and this all seems such an adventure to me. I’m keeping everything crossed hoping that it does not go pear-shaped and because of what you have said, I will exercise extra caution.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

Fortunately, I'm not speaking from personal experience; more what I've witnessed happen to others.

To counter my cynicism I also know several happy Thai/Farang couples - one thing they do seem to have in common is that they met their wives outside of Thailand. Not sure why this is, but my guess for this anecdotal evidence is that Thais abroad are relatively rich and so economics isn't part of the equation. You are a somewhat unique case though - you won't see many farang women with Thai boyfriends/husbands.

Honestly, I don't mean to be negative; Thailand is a great place and I miss it a lot. If you can make it work out for you then you can have a really good life. Just go there with your eyes open.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

I know where Roi-et is and it is in Isaan, in this case I would definitely say live there for a while before doing anything. I lived in a small village in Isaan for a couple of years at one time. It was my wife's village and I have to say that on first going there I hated it, however it did grow on me and I am now quite happy to visit and to see the people there.
The main reason I left was because I didn't want my children growing up in this backward place and schools and stuff like that weren't very good.
There really isn't anything for foreigners either but that doesn't mean there aren't any around. After a while you will probably get to know a few people and develop a bit of a social scene.
Also I don't know what your Thai is like but not only does no one speak any English whatsoever but although everyone can speak Thai no one does as they all speak Isaan / Laos amongst themselves or in my case Cambodian also as well.
Regarding buying the land another thing that you should check out is what type of land it is. If it has ' chanote ' the highest type then you could in theory put the papers into the bank to draw a loan on that or if it is only ' tor bor ha ' then it is agricultural land to only be transferred within a family. Make sure you know exactly what it is that you are buying.
On the plus side though it will be very cheap up there. When we bought our land it was 70,000 for one rai. Price may depend on how close to a road and stuff like that.
Also think about water and your access to it, are you going to have to dig a well ? or is the government supply adequate.
Hope you like daytime drinking, because they start early up there and depending where you are it can be really noisy with dogs and chickens etc.
I have to say though that the people in Isaan ( although everyone slags them off, calls them stupid, looks down on them ) are IMO the best people in Thailand. Without doubt the friendliest and the most openhearted around.
I hope I know what I'm talking about because I married one !!

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

Thank you again nonthaburi,
I know that I’ll be a khon tang prathet or farang (คนต่างประเทศ), but I’ve travelled a lot and always felt a bit like an outsider. Even in my own family particularly on my husbands side. It may seem strange to other people but I’ve come to know my chicken keeping Isaanian over the internet and will meet him for the first time when I land at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) when I have concluded certain legal and financial affairs in the UK. I love your story and wish you both a happy life. It may be that my man will wish to buy a property in Bangkok or elsewhere in Thailand or stay close to his family. I will leave that up to him.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

Have I got this straight? You are going to buy a property and land in a region that you've never visited and the land and property will be shared with someone you've never met?

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

I'm sure you wouldn't have made this comment if I was the male, or would you?

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

Male/female/ladyboys whatever, all the same. It's not a comment either, and it's not about Thailand. It's a straightforward question. And I'd be asking the same question if you and he were based in the Cameron Highlands, downtown Delhi, inner London or Timbuktoo.

Re: Buying a property in Thailand
 

LOL, sorry, I didn't mean to come across as "touchy". I like your avatar by the way.