Purchasing a property in Thailand.
	Can I own a house and Land in Thailand?
	Although Thai law prohibits foreigners from owning land in Thailand there are various ways in which you can structure your affairs so that you can own land, and still comply with existing Thai laws:
	1. Nominee with lease and option to buy. You can use a Thai nominee to purchase the house/ land and have a 30 year lease with a 30 by 30 year option from the nominee. In order to be enforceable any lease for a period of longer than three years must be registrated, wich involves payment of a registration fee and stamp duty based on a percentage of the rental fee for the whole lease term. The original registered lease remains in force and effect even if the property is sold. The drawbacks to a lease include the fact that the parties can contractually agree to renewals, but this right can not be be registered and is not effective against a purchaser of the property, and that the lessee can not ( without the owners consent) sublease, sell or transfer his or her interest.
	2. Usufruct Intersest( Sidi-kep-kin) Gives you temporary ownership rights to the things on or arising from the land. In practice, a usufruct is limited to a 30 year maximum period; like leases the agreement can be successively renewed. In contrast to a lease, a usufruct intrest can be sold or tranferred, although it expires upon the death of the holder of the usufruct and therefore can not be inherited.
	3. Limited liability company. This form of purchasing property is the most popular with foreign investors as the articles of association can be varied to allow greater protection for foreign minority shareholders where majority Thai ownership is required under the alien business law. Thai law requires that the 51% of the shares be held by Thai juristic persons, however, any company with more than 40% foreign interest that purchases land will be investigated by the Central Land Office in Bangkok ( under section 74 of the land code.) to ensure that the company has not been organized in an attempt to circumvent the prohibition against foreign ownership of land. This results in the foreign ownership of the company being limited at 39%, but the recomended changes to the articles of association, the foreigner can be the only director of the company, and the only officer of the company who can commit or bind the company in any contractual dealings- effectively giving the minority shareholder control over the comany.
	My wife is aThai National, can she own land?
	Prior to 1998, any Thai woman who married a foreigner would lose her right to purchase land in Thailand. She could however still retain land that she owned prior to marrying the foreigner. However the recent 1999 ministerial regulation now allows Thai national´s married to foreigners the right to purchase land, but the Thai spouse must prove that the money used in the purchase of freehold land is legally solely theirs with no foreign claim to it. This is usually achived by the foreign spouse signing a decleration stating that the funds used for the purchase of the property belonged to the Thai spouse prior to the marriage and are beyond this claim.
	Don´t hesitate to contact us directly for more information about the purchase structure of owning property in Thailand.