Thread: Buy then rent

Hi there, I'm just sort of wondering about buying the GF a small house in the Chiang Rai or surrounding areas for us to live in, in the near future and then her renting it back to me on a 30 year lease at say 5000baht per month? I can't own a property outright only a condo which niether of us want to buy at the moment. Is this done, does the rental agreement work as this has the added advantage to me when I visit Family in the UK to say hand on heart that I do not own any property in Thailand only rent.

Someone out there must have thought of this before, good idea or non runner, or any better ways?

In hope

Heinz

100 baht pm sounds more reasonable if you've already secured her future, otherwise when she dumps you you must either continue with the 5k monthly or bugger off and let her family move in, innit?

You can own the house, so just have her lease the land to you that you have already paid for and give her 100 baht a month if you so wish.

That's right. You can own the house, but not the land. You can lease the land, but will have to register it if it's more than 3 years. A lease can't be done for free, so yes, you have to pay a rent to your gf. Also, there are taxes. Leasehold is the way many foreigners are buying villas in Hua Hin and Phuket. The lease the land for 30 years from a Thai person, with 2 renewals possible of 30 years each including in the contract.

A better idea, you buy the land for your gf and make a USUFRUCT contract on it. So, you can have the use and fruits (ex.: you sub-lease to someone else) for the rest of your life. It's normally done for free between you and your gf. It's a contract that will be register at the land office. If you separate her, she has no right on the land. You can stay there until you die! Your name will be put on the title deed, in Thai, and you will have to pay a little money to the registration office. (200 baht??)

Another way is to build a Thai limited company. The company will own the land. You will be a shareholder with 49% or less and the other shareholders will give you their right. That's more expensive and a pain in the ass for paperwork. It needs accounting every year and to follow corporate laws in Thailand.

A Thai lawyer can draft you a lease contract or a usufruct contract for an amount between 5K (really cheap!) to 30K (really expensive). All lawyers have different prices, a different background and experience. Both contract, lease or usufruct, are quite safe.

There ya go Heinz, now you can have your fuckin and eat it too.

If you do a lease contract then the Revenue Dept do not accept the concept of "pepper-corn" rent. The rent needs to be "fair market value" - for tax purposes.

On the flip-side, unless you make an application for a tax rebate, I'vd no heard of an individual being the subject of a tax audit. That, of course, may not be the case in 30 years time.

Thank's to all of you for all the replies, gives me somthing to think about.

Any more out there?

Heinz

Yeah, I'm here.

Hey Frankenstein, thats good to know, so what's your angle on this subject?

Heinz