Buying property in Hua Hin or in Cha-Am always requires legal advice with regards to property laws. Foreigners may not own land in their name and some resort to placing the property into the name of their spouse. Many people ask about buying property or land and this is always best discussed with a lawyer in Thailand. Some do place their house or land into the name of their spouse however when divorce comes, it is these properties which make for very expensive litigation.
There are others ways of protecting your investment such as a usufruct or a lease of property. The maxim period the Land Office in Hua Hin will allow for is a 30 year lease. You could include in the lease the option to renew the lease for another 30 years however this can become complicated as the original owner might have died and this leads to other legal issues which are complex for a blog article.
Buying a condo is the easiest that can be done and most expats in Thailand tend to invest in a condominium unit. Hua Hin however is a mixture of expats for either want a house and land or a condominium. As a foreigner may not own land in Thailand they tend to register the house in the name of a Thai company. As stated above you need to speak to a lawyer in Hua Hin about this as there are both pro’s and con’s to property ownership in this form. The condo units are easy as the law makes it plain and simple. You can own a condo in your name as long as no more than 49% of the condo units in the building are not foreign owned.
When buying property you need to prove to the government that the money came from abroad for the investment and your bank in Thailand needs to show this with what is called a Tor Tor Sam. This has to state that the money is being used to purchase the property. Most expats in Thailand buy property when they wish to retire in Thailand so usually they use a law firm that not only deals with the property purchase but also with their retirement visa or other immigration issues which might need attending. If you are looking for essentially a ‘one stop shop’, then we at Law Firm with offices in Hua Hin and other major tourist cities in Thailand are best able to serve your needs. Contact us today – see our main website.
