The laws in Thailand restrict non-citizens of Thailand from owning land. However, visitors and business people who wish to own a home can buy a condominium or similar smaller properties. According to Thai law, foreign nationals cannot hold more than 49% of shares in any Thai company that owns freehold land. This is also a way to prevent foreigners from owning the land through a company or other business. Thailand is a tropical paradise full of beaches and rain forests. Living here is like being on vacation all year! Speak to a property lawyer in Samui first before signing any property or rental agreements when in Thailand.
The climate is very pleasant most of the year, the people are friendly and the low cost of living makes life very satisfactory on even a small retirement income. As real estate opportunities crop up everywhere, the popular places such as Pattaya and Phuket are being grabbed by eager tourists who want to come in while the prices are still affordable. As the years pass by, these properties are probably going to be sold at very high prices.
Condominiums are cropping up everywhere in Thailand. They are reasonably priced and many of them have management options aimed at the millions of tourists who visit Thailand every year and stay there for a few months at a time. Since decent tourist accommodations are usually expensive to live on a monthly basis, buying a condo is a reasonable and maybe lucrative method of vacationing in Thailand.
You can get a reasonably priced Condo, hire a management company to take care of the condo when you are not staying in it and also find some renters who will stay there when you are away. This way, it can generate revenue for you and also allow you to stay there for vacations. If you plan to retire in Thailand, there is a condo waiting for you! As you can see, it’s a win-win situation.
To buy a condominium, it is best to have at least one session with a Lawyer who is knowledgeable about Thailand Laws. The purchaser must get a letter of guarantee from the condominium management indicating the proportion of foreign ownership in the condominium complex. In addition to this document, the buyer should bring in 100% of the funds to purchase the condo in foreign currency using the Foreign Exchange Transaction Form (FETF). This document also helps if the buyer decides to sell the condo and transfer the money back to his or her native land later.
Before you buy land, make sure you know how to validate a deed, title or document. Most of it is written in Thai and most of the square areas are in Thai units which are very different from other countries. A Thailand condominium title is a deed to a part of the building which has multiple owners, a fractional portion of the land, parts of the assets such as swimming pools, common grounds, etc. The title will state the floor area of the condo and the percentage of your share in the entire property. This percentage will be comparable to the voting interest in the owner’s association of the condominium complex.
Buying a condo is better than buying any other type of building or land because only condominiums have this form of formal title, full ownership of the unit, etc. The owner of a Thailand condominium can sell off the unit by finding a buyer and using the FETF form to transfer the money back to his/her country.