Buying a condo from a Nominee Company

Hi William,

I have this question for you:

I am making an offer for a 9.5mil THB Condo, however I found out through the current owner (a farang) that his condo is registered under a company name (nominees) and basically he wants me to take over the company to buy the condo. I feel unconfortable with that and I find this odd, as I can buy the condo under my name. Further, the building is mostly Thai residents, not many farangs, so the 50% limit ownership of the whole condo is not even an issue.

- How is the procedure to transfer the deeds to an individual from a company ? is it more difficult ? is it possible ? Are there tricks to avoid ?

- How about the transfer fee for buying the condos ? same as owner to owner ? or more expensive ? He mentioned something like 1mil THB for 9.5mil THB, that's almost 10% !!! I find this strange.

Anyway your advice are always appreciated :)

PS: Aren't we lucky to have a lawyer on board for free :p

all sounds very strange to me. personally I certainly would not be buying out the company merely to get the apt. As you say, there's no need.

Need to double-check the transfer tax, but what may be an issue is the company may be liable for capital gains tax on property, whereas an individual would not be. So he may be trying to sneak that one in.

^ yep, exactly my feeling too

there could be some back tax issues also, and with the current crackdown, who knows what else.

The tax transfer is basically the core of the question and if there is any hurdle that could stop such a transfer because of the "legality" of the company structure or history.

Note that the owner asked for a substantial payment to be done outside Thailand, another red flag. But will the transfer work if the property transfer "value" (resale) is below original cost ?

^tech. no. resale of real estate, for tax purposes, cannot be for below purchase price. I bet the problem is if you pay him in Baht, which you may need to do in order to register the apt. in your own name, he may have a problem getting the money out of Thailand because he wouldn't be able to show how the money came in. These issues could be avoided by him if he got you to buy-out the holding company - but, IMO, that would be a deal breaker. I simply would not buy-out the holding company regardless of anything else because I have no idea if they have filed their returns with the MoC, etc. on time or not and, as a director of the company, that could have massive implications on me.

If you do it the way he wants, you will need to do extensive due diligence, which will increase your costs significantly.

Basically, he wins you lose in that structuring

If your really looking to buy a condo ? let me save you three million to start mines up for sale 6.5 M . Its also in a company name no Tax liabilities tax return completed last 2 months easily proven by accountants here . No requests for payment outside Thailand I am staying here . if your interested leave contact details .

Sorry but as you can own condos in your own name, wouldn't anyone doing so in a company name be rather stupid ? unless a massive discount etc.

As this thread was started in February, what was the outcome. Any ideas?

This is the flat in Soi Wat Po Man.

It subsequently emerged that the owner, Tal Meerovitch, was Jewish, so we all ran as fast as we could in the opposite direction.

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Originally Posted by torrenova

Sorry but as you can own condos in your own name, wouldn't anyone doing so in a company name be rather stupid ? unless a massive discount etc.

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One reason you may do it in the company name is because you could use either local earnings or a mortgage to purchase the condo, whereas buying in your own name means an all cash purchase with foreign exchange. So for those who earn their money in Thailand, this could be an attractive [alternative] mechanism to use.

DISCLAIMER: I'm not recommending that purchases be done this way!

^ I suspect that was the case, using a local mortgage to pay for it

I made a cash offer for the sake of it, but the owner was crying abuses and throwing a fit to my offer when I dared raising the tax issue and other dodgy questions

he is still trying to sell, overpriced, interior design is nice but cheap and location is so-so

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Originally Posted by Butterfly

but the owner was crying abuses

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Yes, the Jew does this all the time.

"Oy, how we've suffered. First the holocaust, now you try to buy my flat on the cheap"

^ why you are not buying btw ???

Because its quite similar to what we already have. It is nicer, yes, and I would have been fine paying say THB10 m

If there wasn't all this legal mess, I might have bid.

you didn't make an offer yet ? it's much bigger to what you have, but not as nicely located, you are in prime zone, so 10 is already too high

I asked him what the legal title position was, whether there was a channot etc. And Tal didn't really know what I meant.

I might have gone up to say $300,000, but he's gone away on holiday, I haven't offered, and frankly the Thai Baht is so strong now, I feel like keeping money offshore.

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Originally Posted by The_Ghost_Of_The_Moog

I asked him what the legal title position was, whether there was a channot etc.

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he doesn't know anything, his lawyer apparently does. A perfect example of a farang who bought a project here without giving much thought about the details. He said he is in hurry, but I don't think he is, or else he would take some offers and try to work them out and find out about the details to make it clear.

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Originally Posted by Butterfly

^ and location is so-so

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tsk - best location in bangkok in my opinion. better than On Nut or on a flyover like moog...

Another reason to sell a condo to a Thai limited company is to sell more than 49% of the units to foreigners. But that's technically illegal.

As William said, it is NOT recommended to do it that way. Due diligence is a must if you are interested to continue your purchase.

I am now working in Pattaya and I see many foreigners buying a property with a company. They should use a 30 lease with options of renewal, a usufruct agreement or superficies.

Here's a small article (too alarmist to my taste) about the new FBA and owning a property under a Thai company:

Proposed Amendments to the Foreign Business Act (FBA)

There are few articles by Siam Legal on property that are quite good:

Siam Legal : Siam Legal Property Services : Thai Visa, Thai Work Permit, Thailand Legal Services, USA Visa, UK Visa , Retirement Visa, One year Visa, Thailand Visa, Property contract, buying condo or land, Business in Thailand, Estate Services, work

Maybe I should speak to his lawyer.

I don't mind the location. Its better than Sukhumvit Soi 7 (Soi Beergarden), that my wife wanted to buy in !

Yes Soi Beergarden is close to the beer garden...too close if you know what I mean.

I'm disgusted by the comments about Jews on this thread and disturbed that other posters just ignored them.

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Originally Posted by ricklev

I'm disgusted by the comments about Jews on this thread and disturbed that other posters just ignored them.

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People here have seen the comments a thousand times before, that's why they are ignoring them.