SEARCH

Showing 1-1 of 1 results

    Domestic / cross cultural issues - Thai / Foreigner concerns

    Land purchase through Thai spouse forbidden: Land Dept

    By Suttisan, Created on: 28/05/2009, Last updated on: 02/10/2016

    » -- Land purchase through Thai spouse forbidden: Land Dept The director general of the Land Department has reiterated that foreigners using Thai nominees to buy land anywhere in the country will have their land title deeds revoked if caught – even if the nominee in question is a lawfully wedded...

    • Krumm commented : The form that needs to be signed by Thais and their foreign spouses for Thais who want to buy land "Letter of Confirmation" states that the money used to purchase the land is the property of the Thai spouse who is either lawfully married or not lawfully married and that the land will not form part of the conjugal property. The Thai phrase “registered/unregistered spouses” on the form, “koo somrot doy chorp rue mi chorp duay kotmai” also appears in The Nationality Act and ministerial regulations relating to that Act but does not appear in the Civil and Commercial Code. Essentially this appears to mean that, while common law marriage is not recognized in the Civil and Commercial Code for purposes of divorce, inheritance etc, it is recognized for issues relating to nationality and by the Land Dept. The Land Dept’s website further gives an example (in Thai) of a Thai woman they successfully prosecuted for failing to disclose when she purchased land that she was the common law wife of a foreigner. The Land Dept claims they forced the sale of the land, in accordance with the Land Code, since she was deemed to have acted as a nominee for a foreigner. The explanatory notes in Thai that accompanied the form when it was first issued explained that, since there were now very many cases of Thai citizens with foreign spouses applying to transfer land to their names, the work of the Land Department in checking that the Thai spouses were using their own financial resources to purchase the land had become extremely burdensome. The Department had therefore decided to issue the form to simplify the work of officials and create uniformity of treatment in those cases that Thais with foreign spouses applied to transfer land to themselves. The effect seemed to be that by signing the form with the effect that the foreign spouse gave up any rights to the land or the proceeds from selling it even in the event of divorce, the Land Dept would not investigate the sources of funds and that giving money to a Thai lawfully married spouse or cohabitee to buy land would be thus “whitewashed”, as it no longer mattered what the source of funds was. Do the director general’s comments mean: 1) That the Land Dept has rescinded the ministerial order that created the “Letter of Confirmation” form and new regulations will follow? 2) That the Land Dept still accepts that the “Letter of Confirmation” confirms that the money used to purchase the land and the land itself after transfer is the Thai spouse’s property without need for further investigation but that couples who have failed to sign the form are in going to be in trouble? 3) Was he just shooting off his mouth to score brownie points for being nasty to foreigners for appearing without knowing what he was talking about? If no. 1 is correct I think the Land Dept will creating a lot of trouble for itself in establishing that the only people in Thailand who cannot lawfully accept gifts are Thais married to foreigners, in spite of the sections of the Civil and Commercial Code dealing with dowries. There will also be an outcry in defence of Thai women’s rights, as most Thai-foreign couples are Thai women and foreign men. The “Letter of Confirmation” was clearly designed to avoid all this trouble. So it would be counterintuitive to rescind it but we are in Thailand where logic doesn’t always prevail in governement decisions.

    • Krumm commented : Ian, A Thai lawyer told me that one of his foreign clients recently set up a company 100% owned by Thai nominees and then tried to use it to buy land. The Land Dept officer quizzed the company's managing director who went to do the transfer about the nature of the company's business and why it wanted to buy a residential property immediately after incorporation and before starting any business or setting up an office. Since the nominee MD couldn't answer the questions the land officer refused the transfer on the grounds that it was probably on behalf of a foreigner, even though the company had no foreign shareholders, directors or employees. If they want to get tough on Thai registered or unregistered spouses they do the same and refuse any transfer which is suspected to be on a behalf of a foreigner and put the burden of proof on the purchaser. There is already a procedure for checking up on assets and income of Thai shareholders of suspected nominee shareholders. That could be extended to cover Thai women married to foreigners or suspected to be buying on behalf of foreigners. For example, a 22 year old with an Isaan accent coming into a Land Office in Phuket to transfer a million dollar home with an infinity pool would be a dead ringer for an investigation. If she has no income or assets apart from the purchase price recently arrived in her bank account, then it doesn't matter how many layers of transactions the money has been laundered through, the transfer could be refused. For me the "Letter of Confirmation" gets the Land Dept where it wants to be over this. There is certainly a legal justification for investigating suspicious purchases by Thai women who fail to disclose a foreign other half through the "Letter of Confirmation". However, going after those who have declared themselves and signed the form which guarantees the property remains Thai owned would really be madness and would also be highly questionable on constitutional grounds. It was due to the 1997 constitution that Thai women married to foreigners were given the right to buy land in the first place. So it would be retrogressive. Interestingly the Land Code has never specifically denied Thai women married to foreigners the right to buy land. That injustice was inflicted via ministerial regulations.

    • Krumm commented : Several posters have suggested that land could be confiscated, if acquired through nominees, whether lawfully married Thai wives or others and Anuwat, himself, said title deeds would be revoked. The procedure under the Land Code is actually as follows: [i:3f04qsjo][b:3f04qsjo]Section 94[/b:3f04qsjo]. All the land which as alien has acquired unlawfully or without permission shall be disposed of by such alien within the time limit prescribed by the Director-General which shall not be less than one hundred eighty days nor more than one year. If the land is not disposed of within the time prescribed the Director-General shall have the power to dispose of it. The provisions on the forced sale of land in CHAPTER 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis. [/i:3f04qsjo] However, criminal penalties also apply to the foreign owner and the Thai nominee. Other posters suggested that having their wife leave the landed property to them in her will will enable them to inherit the property and sell it within 12 months, in the event that she predeceased him. This is true to a certain extent but must be legally married to have a prior claim over relatives. Even then, as in the French laws that Thailand borrowed its Civil and Commercial Code from, it is not possible to cut close blood relatives out of a will completely. Living children, parents and siblings would still be entitled to a share, whatever it says in the will.

    • 186 replies, 1,555,754 views

Your recent history

  • Recently searched

    • Recently viewed links

      Did you find what you were looking for? Have you got some comments for us?