House Ownership
Buying land or a House in Thailand is attractive for investment or business reasons in addition to life-style, residence or retirement purposes. Foreigners are restricted in that they are not allowed to buy the land freehold (Similar to other Asian and some European countries), however thousands of foreigners do effectively “own” properties in Thailand with no issue. Bear in mind that foreigners are able to directly own the buildings and other property on the land.
Our development offers a freehold/full ownership for the house (building) and two main options to own a land plot. So the owners of one of our Phuket Houses would have two separate contracts. One – with our construction company for the house (building) and the – with our development company, the land holder.
Land Lease
Thailand law allows for a non-Thai citizen a 30-year maximum lease period for the land, with the possibility of renewing the lease for additional 30 year periods. Most developers (Including us) offer one more 30 year period. So in total 90 years. Possession of the land is assured by the fact that the property (a house) occupies the land. The lessor can hardly seize the house upon expiration of the lease, as the property is separate from the land.
Freehold Ownership
Limited companies registered in Thailand with a majority Thai ownership (51% or more) are able to buy land in Thailand, meaning the land is owned by the Company, NOT the individual.
It has been common for foreign nationals to acquire Thai houses as minority share-holders (but with majority of votes) in a Thai majority company. However Government officials tend to consider this option as a nominee purchase (and thus illegal) unless the foreigner has got a real Thai business partners to buy a land and they arrange business on the name of the company.
Generally we would not recommend this structure BUT we could arrange it on a case by case basis.
Vista Del Mar
Our development offers alternative options to the Leasehold scheme with the objective of ensuring that the house buyers invest-ment is absolutely safe.
- Renewal by transfer option. Prior to the expiration of your Lease you could “resell” your land to a family member, we then renew the lease for another 90 years – for free!
- Purchase shares (proportional to your land size) in our offshore company which is a shareholder and has 90% of the votes in a Thai limited company which owns the development land. You thus become a co-owner of the land and you are leasing your land plot from yourself!
- At the end of the development you could opt to develop a Home Owners Association. This body could be nominated as the management company for the land and the common areas. This ensures that the house owners are managing the development themselves, in their best interest.
- Were the law to change and allow freehold land ownership, we offer an option to rearrange a leasehold into a freehold.
House Payment Schedule
Our payment plan is simple but effective – any buyer of one of our Phuket houses ONLY pays when their property has reached certain stages of completion.
- 20% – on commencement of work (down payment)
- 20% – on completion of structural work to lower floor
- 30% – on completion of structural work to main floor (at this stage we will order kitchen/sanitary/pool equipment)
- 20% – on completion of roof/exterior finish/block work for interior walls (at this stage we start with Interior finishing work)
- 10% – on completion / hand over
Enquire About Your Purchase
Contact us now for your further questions and comments.