Nakhon Phanom Travel Forum

This isn't a traveller's topic but anyway...

I'm a German and I'm building (financing) a family house in this province. My Thai wife says it's possible to do a 50 % ownership entry for myself onto the land register. I heart that depends upon the province. Does anyone know sth. about it?

Thanks in advance!

Hello Mathias,

FACT -As a ''Falang'' you cannot own land in Thailand.
However, If you do not want to put everything in your wifes name (wise) you can do the following -

Lease the land in your name for the maximum allowable which is 30 years, then sign again for another 30 years which in effect would be ownership.
State in the lease an option that if the laws change on Foreigners owning land to freehold it will be changed automatically to freehold in your favour.
Warning - Do not do anything without a ''chanoot'' , this is a Thai land title, No Chanoot, No deal.
Hope this helps you.
How are you going to make a living in Thailand????

Kind regards

Alan (England)

Alan (Badgeron) is absolutely right. Whatever someone might tell you, it is impossible for foreigners to own land in Thailand. You have to abandon all views on real estate that Europeans like you have, when it comes to owning land in Thailand. Thai people have a completely different attitude towards this question. When your wife (and her family I suppose) probably think it is true what they tell you, their statements come from a completely different view in the matter than you have. I have been dealing with this question for 17 years now, and I am fairly sure to know how the situation really is.

Do not listen to Thai people who try to convince you that you can legally buy real estate, definitively also not on a 50% ownership. YOU CANNOT! You can pay for the land, but you will never own it.

While you cannot own land, you can rent it. While Alan say the maximum is 30 years, I think it is 25 years only, but I would not bet on it. A renting contract is - by Thai laws - stronger than any buying contract. So renting a land with an option to renew the contract after it expires is in any case the best you can do.

Never pay for land as a foreigner. This money is lost! Even if you pay for your wife to buy the land in her name, you might get problems. I am not talking about losing everything in case of a divorce, this is a common (and to a great extent true) clichee, but you have to know this: First of all your wife still has to hold a Thai passport. Then, as a woman married to a foreigner, she and you have to sign an official document that the money for the land does not come from you. This means, that in the case your wife dies, you will not get anything at all for that land. It will go to her Thai family members.

Renting is definitively the best, you are on the save side.

An appendix to my posting above: I just checked the newest developments in the question of real estate in Thailand, and, in this connection I noticed that 30 years are indeed currently the maximum of years for a rental contract.

What you can do, Mathias, is probably this: You can officially give your wife a loan to buy the house or land. This will be registered in the "Chanod" and this means that the owner of the house has to pay the money back to you and must not sell it without your consent. In case she/he cannot pay back, you are entitled to sell the premises (not to own it), to get your money back. This might be an option to make sure your money is not somehow lost. But, as it is your wife, who will have to pay back, you will not get money in this case, but a certain security for your money. Still, as her husband you have to sign that you only loan the money to her and that you will not claim any rights on the land.

Globerover said everything, but if the land will be in your wife's name she can make a will in your favour.
The will must state that you will have to sell the land and name you as executor.
See Phuket gazette at page
http://www.phuketgazette.com/issuesanswers/details.asp?id=587

If the page does not appear, click the refresh button.

Hi! Thanks to all for their postings! Now, I know more. I like the idea of a contract of credit. To badgeron: I'm not planning to do some business. It's worthless in the isaan, because the people are poor --> I'll live off my savings for 10 years until my pension is coming.

Hello Mathias,

Glad to be of help,
I hope all goes well and your savings last ten years til your pension arrives?
Beware as the saying goes - ''if you want to have a small fortune in Thailand arrive with a big fortune''

Best of luck

I just want to warn you not to understimate the cost of living in Thailand. When you are a tourist, everything seems to cost nothing, but when you live there you spend a lot.
I live in Phuket six months a year, and I assure you I spend more here than in Italy, and I do not drink, I do not go to bars. Of course in Isaan you will have less chances to spend money, but careful anyway.