Thread: Thai owning land. How old must they be?

As I understand it, legally the land belong to someone else and the occupier/poster leases the land.

It has been a while since I was in Thailand, but it used to be the case that a lease of land was a personal right that terminated on the death of the leasee. As such, you cannot "will" this lease to another. Only the landowner can transfer the legal title to the beneficiary.

If this is still the case, then this whole thread is rather a waste of time.

Pretty much what I said.

I still think he should get the Thai owner to legally give it to his daughter, as she (the true owner) considers it theirs anyway. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to give it to its rightful owner.

Get back to us on how it goes.

Any update ?

No updates since as I am not a legal guardian.
That needs sorting first, another can of worms.
The other point maybe, is, what happens if I fall out with mama and get a new squeeze.
This is not unheard of in LOS.

Originally Posted by good2bhappy

I don't think leases can be passed on in wills

can be written in the lease in case of a death

If you can wait till later when i see her indoors I will get it straight from the horses mouth for you

Have you told the Thai who owns the land that she's to sign it over to your wife or Thai step-daughter yet, without gaining anything in return?

Mao;
who was that directed to? I have owned land in a Thai name that was a friend and have then sold it and she never asked for anything. If you think all thai's are only interested in Money your living in the wrong country and associating with the wrong Thai's.
By the way she is my daughter NOT step daughter.

Originally Posted by Phuketrichard

I put the land i brought and built our house on in my daughters name when she was 9 and i was the guardian. ( I am American and she is half Thai) the land was in a Thai friends name before. At 15 ( when thai's are issued ID cards) it was then placed in her name,

So to own land you need be 15 and have an id card

NOTE while she owns it and you as the Farang are her/his leagl guardian it may NOT be sold.

Simple

Does this attract the normal 3% transfer tax each time you change registered owners?

A Thai child can own land but have to get the parents to sign uptill coming of age so to speak and as you are transferring a Chanote then you will have to pay the transfer tax, that might vary from province to province.

The biggest problem is you have your land in someone else's name? am I correct?
If something happens to that person, god forbid then they could not transfer it.

I'm going back to 2005/6 when i put the land in my daughters name, it was transferred from the mother in law to my daughter and i know that transferring land within the family there is a lower tax rate for transfers. Can't remember the rates though for the life of me but wasn't a lot.

Originally Posted by Phuketrichard

Mao;
who was that directed to?

The OP.

when i transfered the Nor sor sam from my ex to my daughter they did NOT charge me any tax and that was in 2003

^I think between relatives you will get charged a little, but this case is not relative so on paper it looks like a land transaction

Originally Posted by the dogcatcher

Originally Posted by Chairman Mao

Have you told the Thai who owns the land that she's to sign it over to your wife or Thai step-daughter yet, without gaining anything in return?

That was the original understanding.
Since then I've heard she is telling people in the village differently.

unfortunately, quite believable.

I'm not actually that bothered cos I'll be dead, but it could make a hell of a difference to my step daughters life.

If the owner is dead too, and she's passed it onto whoever she has chosen, her daughter or own family more than likely, then your step-daughter has no chance.

It's like me renting an apartment, and telling the owner that when I die it is legally owned by my next of kin.

It maybe that it is illegal for her to own land on my account, or maybe not.

Unfortunately it's probably her bragging about getting some farang to buy her a nice patch of land.

Or, so I thought at the time. Recently I discovered that step daughter already has a house in trust in her name.

Well, what can you say, it's amazing how many things are kept in the dark from the foreign visitor.

Good luck with it all. Hopefully it will all work out.

As you say your friend is the owner's husband. Maybe best to go through him, to get him to get his wife to hand it over. Unless he thinks it's better in his wife's name too.

The arrangement was simply to circumvent Thai law.
As I said, I couldn't give a shit but Laosy would like her daughter to have it.
Probably be on my 4th Thai wife by then though, so something and nothing in this thread but it has certainly provided some interesting banter and raised some interesting points for discussion regarding the law, and to a lesser extent the culture.

Laosy would like her daughter to have it.

Hopefully will all work out.

The arrangement was simply to circumvent Thai law.

Although it should be noted that what ye did is actually illegal, and the land can be confiscated from the current Thai owner.

^your rite there CM I know it goes on but depending on the value of the land they could ask her where she got the money from, if she cannot prove it she could lose it

Yup. Have never heard of this law being enforced. And would imagine that it virtually never is.

But the future of Thailand is so uncertain, in both the short and long term, never invest in anything here that you can't give away without tears being shed.

I know of a couple of people being investigated as we speak

Expect as the economy worsens, the political situation deteriorates, and the next Elvis regime comes along, such experiences of exploiting the legal standing of foreigners here will increase.

Originally Posted by Chairman Mao

The arrangement was simply to circumvent Thai law.

Although it should be noted that what ye did is actually illegal, and the land can be confiscated from the current Thai owner.

She already owned the land before I bought it or leased it, so technically there was no infringement. She may well be telling everyone that it is a lease only as she knows that holding land for a foriegner is illegal.
I don't know.