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William

Will my land ownership be affected?

I note there may be some concern among members who have purchased land in Thailand using the so-called "Thai majority owned, foreign controlled" company structure and that they may feel a little uneasy at this time given the proposed amendments to the Foreign Business Act ("FBA") - especially the changes to the definition of "foreigner" thereunder.

As I understand this:

- the amendment to the definition of the term "foreigner" is as is applied under the FBA

- the definition of the term "foreigner" as is applied under the Land Code will not change

- in order to be caught by the new definition of the term "foreigner" under the FBA, your company needs to be participating within one of the restricted businesses under Annexes One, Two or Three of the FBA

- if your company is not active in a business that is restricted under Annexes One, Two or Three of the FBA, the amendments will have no affect on you (as you will still be governed by the definition of the term "foreigner" under the Land Code, which makes no mention to preference share structures or voting rights and only looks to the share capital of the company)

Assuming my understanding is correct (and I may well be wrong), now would be the time to look at the objectives of your company to ensure that you do not participate in a restricted business under Annexes One, Two or Three of the FBA. If that's the case, these changes should have no bearing on the company structure owning the land (i.e., whether or not it is a preference share company). If your company is doing business (as per its objectives) within an Annex One, Two or Three area, now would be the time to change your company objectives (so that the company is no longer doing one of these businesses) so that by the time the new changes come into force (if ever), you will not be caught by the new changes under the FBA.

Anyone out there disagree with this summary?

Butterfly

sounds logical. how did you come to that conclusion though ? not alone surely

Sparky

There's no such thing as logic or logical in a Thai brain ! Same Same even when its totally different .

watterinja

The fundamental principle remains as follows:

Foreigners may not own land in Thailand.

If tricks & mechanisms are used to circumvent this principle, when it comes to defending the mechanisms, the fundamental accepted principle will govern under a Thai court. If people are found to be knowingly assisting foreigners to circumvent the law (of the moment), they can be prosecuted & the land confiscated.

I have a friend who is the secretary of a Law Society in one of the provinces. Basically, he refuses to conjure up these 'cover schemes' as he feels they are indefensible in that province - based on experience in the courts. The foreigners then go down to Koh Samui & obtain a nice piece of expensive, worthless paper, in his view.

Time will tell how far back the Thais decide to harden the law under this current dictatorship.

__________________
"Education is the ability to perceive the hidden connections between phenomena."
- Vaclav Havel, Oct. 2000

"One component of what we call "mathematical genius" is the ability to recognize a simple phenomenon masquerading as an apparently complicated phenomenon."
- Chris Hillman, 2007

buad hai

Same exact thing happened in the 80's and 90's on Saipan which has similar land alienation laws. Lawyers who thought they were clever "conjure[ed] up these 'cover schemes'"* to get around the law. In the end, all the foreigners who tried to subvert the laws lost the land and the money they paid for it and the locals got their land back just about the same time that all the pickup trucks they bought with the sales proceeds started to rust out.

* Thanks to watterinja for the phrase.