Thread: Buying a House in Bangkok… Estimated Legal Fees

Not sure if this post is in the right part of this forum, but here ya go anyway…


Currently my Thai wife and I are looking to buy a house in the outskirts of Bangkok.


This would be the first house that either of us have bought, and I want to make sure that it’s done as legit as possible.


I have done some reading up on the subject and currently I think the best way for me to go is by setting up a corporation in Thailand with me being the major share holder.



Now of course I understand that my wife could buy a house in her own name with relatively no problems.



However, call me cynical or whatever you like but I’ve lived in Thailand for over 16 years now and I’ve lost count the amount of times that I’ve seen farrang’s being turned over by their once loving wives.



As much as I love my wife, I’m no fool and I want the property under my control and certainly not in my wife’s name as you never know what the future may hold.


As mentioned above this would be the first house that either of us have bought and our budget is rather small. However the properties we have looked at so far have admittedly been a little out of town but they have also been in the price range of around 1.2 to 1.5 million Baht (an amount we can pay in full).


What I really want to know is, say we find a house that we really like for say 1.4 million, how much should I expect to pay on top of that price in legal fees and perhaps any hidden costs?


I have already tried contact one law firm that I have done business with previously and to my astonishment the lawyer wanted 5,000 baht for just an initial consultation.



So if anyone has had any experience with a lawyer in Bangkok (buying and selling a property) I would love to have some recommendations.


So to recap, if anyone has some kind of rough estimate that I should expect to pay on top of the purchase price of a house and if anyone can recommend someone who can provide professional advice on this subject I would be extremely grateful.


Thank you in advance.

Keep your 1.5 million in the bank and mortgage the house

Originally Posted by carlito1000

So to recap, if anyone has some kind of rough estimate that I should expect to pay on top of the purchase price of a house and if anyone can recommend someone who can provide professional advice on this subject I would be extremely grateful.

Get in touch with a real estate company...answer all your questions...

Originally Posted by BaitongBoy

I have already tried contact one law firm that I have done business with previously and to my astonishment the lawyer wanted 5,000 baht for just an initial consultation.

A BKK lawyer wanting 5k, astonishing!

Correct me if I'm wrong but if you're legally married here and it goes tits up then you're legally entitaled to 50%?

Yes everything you have after the mariage is 50% , what you had before is yours to keep 100%.

Originally Posted by carlito1000

call me cynical or whatever you like but I’ve lived in Thailand for over 16 years now and I’ve lost count the amount of times that I’ve seen farrang’s being turned over by their once loving wives.

Originally Posted by carlito1000

I’m no fool and I want the property under my control and certainly not in my wife’s name as you never know what the future may hold.

Buy a condo - 100% in your name.

Shagger's(nearly)spot on with the condo's...You can also do the same with a house (as long as it's got condo status) but the price will be out of your reach.
Keep your money in the bank and wait for the imminent crash!

I've been saying that for a few years now

Originally Posted by Albert Shagnastier

Buy a condo - 100% in your name.

But he wants to buy a house not a condo. Sad that so many people don't seem to trust their wifes, makes me wonder why they got married in the first place. Put the place in her name and get her to make out a will. You can get an usufruct giving you the right to stay in the property but if yo fell out would you really want to. In any case lawyers want about 15k to arrange that. you wont get much for that kind of money though, town house best bet.

1.5 million for a house in Bangkok. 555.

He's a dreamer

If you have a work permit here you can make a mortgage in your own name. and your wife as a guarantor so unless you slip up on the payment it will always be in your name......ask about this with your bank manager and he will tell you that is not possible as Farang can not own land.........The title deeds to the house are in the banks name which is a Thai company until you pay them off and is legal....so it's not your's(the farang).....took me a lot of persuasion and a friend of a friend that worked in a bank to sort it out but in the end they gave me a mortgage as long as I paid 35% of the price of the house down....I also had enough money in my account to cover the cost of the house......so unless i miss a payment it will be mine for the next 25 years

Originally Posted by English Noodles

1.5 million for a house in Bangkok. 555.

Thai House For sell 1,500,000 Baht LatKrabang , Bangkok

555

yes, there are some in the outer regoins of Bangkok, I'm sure

well done Smeg




I was offered a townhouse in the area near the old airport for that price last year

Originally Posted by xanax

You can get an usufruct giving you the right to stay in the property

yes, that can be a way to make sure you cannot be thrown out when things don't go the way you were expecting!

Originally Posted by Gerbil

DO NOT TAKE A LAWYERS ADVICE AND USE PROXY SHAREHOLDERS - The government is cracking down on that and if you're caught you will lose the lot.

really? interesting. we have just sold a house to someone who did exactly that

what is happening to those companies?

Originally Posted by DrAndy

Originally Posted by xanax

You can get an usufruct giving you the right to stay in the property

yes, that can be a way to make sure you cannot be thrown out when things don't go the way you were expecting!

Does anyone know of a bloke who used one to stay in the house after a break up? don't think I would fancy it somehow. I believe they can be torn up by either party anyway. If he buys from a developer legal costs will be almost nil as they often pay the fees, or rather built into the price and also sometimes pay half the registration land office fee. If you go up to about 1.7 million you can get some very decent new semi's, out of the way a few miles, but that's why they are cheaper.

Why doesn't the OP just invest 40 million Baht, for a minimum of 3 years, in a BOI project and have the right to own 1 Rai of Land legitimately?

^All he has to do is keep the 40 million Baht invested. Job done.

^

And not croak.

Hi people thanks for your comments. Just to clear a few points up...

Firstly although the idea of getting a mortgage would be nice, after looking into I’m afraid that it’s just not a viable option right now.

I think also there was some misunderstanding on me being the major share holder. From what I read I can hold a 39% stake in a company and then the other share holders make up the difference, each holder for example sake owns 10% each or there about. These share holders are again from what I’ve read individuals that have no connection to each other (proxy shareholders). I know with 39% I'm still the major share holder, but I thought if it was split like this it was more or less ok.

However I kinda know that this is not 100% legal and if the government are cracking down on this then obviously it’s probably best avoided.

I understand what you guys are saying about a condo, it makes sense but really I’m going to try my hardest to go for a house as I have children and I need space. If it works out impossible to get a house under my control or partially in my name then I’m left with no other option and I’ll go ahead down the condo route.

What I find hard to believe though is that not one single foreigner in Thailand owns a house in their own name or with some kind of final say or control over the property. There must be some way of doing this that’s not going to end up with me losing all of my capital or have me sticking it it my wife's name. All I really wish to find out is how much extra will this cost me by doing going down this route.

Another point I would like to bring up is that 1.5 million is a price that I have seen and is an amount that I’m comfortable with in regards to putting into this. I can go higher on the price, but this kind of relates back to my original post because what I need to know is how much should I put towards a house whilst still having enough money left over to cover the legal cost and any other hidden fees.

As for being legally married here (which I am), yes if things go tits up legally I’m entitled to 50% of everything we own after we got married, however as Thai law states foreigners cant own land outright so I don’t see myself getting 50% of the house unless we are forced to sell it and lucky enough for it to be bought within a reasonable time frame. Maybe I’m wrong and someone can clear this point up for us.

In regards to my relationship with my wife, although I don’t really wish to go into too many personal details in this forum my wife and I do love each other and I don’t foresee any problems in the near future. However there are a couple of points that have put me into thinking that I want to try and buy a house under my own name as much as it is legally possible. The first point is that we got married for legal reasons; it’s not that the marriage is a sham or anything it’s just that both of us are not religious in any way and it is our personal feelings that we don’t really believe that we need a signature on a piece of paper from a complete and utter stranger to declare our love for each other. Personally I feel marriage in this day and age is kind of outdated. With that said and done and for reasons that I won’t go into we had to go through all the formalities anyway which resulted in us getting married. The second point is that, yes over the years I have become a little pessimistic about certain things especially when I’ve seen so many people turned over in this country by their partners and I not just referring to bar girls-come-house wives etc. Even if I was doing this in the country I was born in I would still go down the same route and try to purchase something in my own name.

I do like the sound of the Usrufuct, pointed out by the poster Gerbil and I will look into this a bit more. It’s not an ideal answer to my problem but it’s something to look at in more detail. Then again as other posters have said - are you really going to want to stay in the house if you end up hating each other’s guts?

So the information I have gained so far from this post is that I should avoid lawyers. Go to the land office myself. Maybe I should look to buy from a developer as to reduce the legal fees. Use an agent.

If anyone has more information in regards to agents they have used in the past, methods of purchasing a house, costs occurred, unexpected fees and development companies to watch out for I’ll be more than grateful to hear about it.

Additionally, Liveinlos please can you send me another PM as what you said in your message sounds perfect and you talk a lot of sense especially in regards to Thai’s not wishing to buy second-hand property. I would reply to you personally but I can only PM the staff here at the moment because of my low post rating.

And finally…. To the poster named Ratchaburi and the poster named English Noodles, surely you have something better to do with your time? Most of the guys here have come back to me with good positive feedback. Really, what is the point of your comments? Do you honestly think that I have not done my research and have not found any houses for the 1.5 million price range? Why would I of gone to all the effort of writing the original post if I hadn’t already seen with my own eyes property for sale in that price range. I choose to post this topic on this forum as I naively thought that Teakdoor had less trolls and more informed members than the other major Thailand forum. Just goes to show, there’s always someone out there with too much time on their hands and not a great deal going on in between their ears. All further comments from you will be ignored… unless I’m drunk and fancy having a go back at ya.

As for everyone else who made the effort and generally tried to help me out I sincerely thank you and welcome any further comments.

Originally Posted by carlito1000

What I find hard to believe though is that not one single foreigner in Thailand owns a house in their own name or with some kind of final say or control over the property

quite, as it is not true

I have my name on the Chanot with a Usufruct attached

the house cannot be sold without my signature

Originally Posted by carlito1000

I do like the sound of the Usrufuct, pointed out by the poster Gerbil and I will look into this a bit more. It’s not an ideal answer to my problem but it’s something to look at in more detail. Then again as other posters have said - are you really going to want to stay in the house if you end up hating each other’s guts?

no, but you wanted to have control over the house and that gives you it

even if you owned a house, would you be able to throw your wife out?