Farang Land Owners To Be Deported From Thailand

[dirtydog]

Land Dept claims 90% of prime Phuket land controlled by foreigners

PHUKET: Phuket leads all of Thailand in the amount of land held by foreigners, with up to 90 per cent of prime beachfront land being illegally held through Thai nominees, claims one of the country’s top land officials.

Speaking at a recent seminar on legal issues relating to land ownership, Land Inspector Sriracha Charoenpanit said Thailand’s positive characteristics, friendly people and hospitality made it an attractive place for foreigners to want to live, work and acquire land.

The cumulative effect of this had been a growing problem of land ownership though Thai “nominees”, he was quoted as saying in a Thai-language report on the state-run MCOT website.

Thailand was one of many countries experiencing this problem, he said.

“Thailand must rectify these problems by tightening up existing laws and adding stricter conditions regarding land ownership by foreigners. This must include penalizing violators, including the nominees,” he said.

In response to the problem, new legislation is currently being drafted and expected to be made law in August. The new legislation will make it easier to prosecute violators, the head of the Land Department said.

Mr Sriracha explained that the law being drafted will be similar in principle to the anti-money laundering laws.

The law would also expand legal measures, better define what constitutes a violation, specify penalties and make it easier to prosecute violators, he said.

Penalties for Thai nominees could as much as double existing punishments, while foreigners found guilty will have their land seized before being deported, he said.

Mr Sriracha said foreigners had already acquired about one-third of all Thai land, about one billion rai.

The land grab was most prominent in resort destinations such as Phuket, Koh Samui and Koh Chang, where foreigners currently hold land to run resorts or have second homes, he said in his speech.

Failure to stop the problem would put Thais at a competitive disadvantage, restricting their access to land and putting the national food supply in jeopardy, he said.

The bill should be ready in August. If passed into law, inspections would follow, he said.

After the speech Mr Sriracha confirmed in an interview that initial surveys by land inspectors found Phuket had more land controlled by foreigners than any other province, with the figure reaching to 90 per cent in beachfront areas.

Similar situations existed in Pattaya, Cha-am, Hua Hin and parts of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, he said.

Phuket NEWS: Land Dept claims 90% of prime Phuket land controlled

[Butterfly]

time for a nice crackdown, mission accomplished

[Dick]

Ohh my ,,,

Stupid ass bitchez who actually thought that nominee scam would hold water here in the Land of Bullshit

[dirtydog]

Mr Sriracha said foreigners had already acquired about one-third of all Thai land, about one billion rai.

And they reckon they have never been colonised

[Chairman Mao]

Great stuff.

Take it all from the dumb fucks.

[Rural Surin]

time for a nice crackdown, mission accomplished

A little late for any such crackdown.
Water under the bridge....

[Albert Shagnasty]

Land Dept claims 90% of prime Phuket land controlled by foreigners

Speaking at a recent seminar on legal issues relating to land ownership, Land Inspector Sriracha Charoenpanit said Thailand’s positive characteristics, friendly people, abundant punani and hospitality made it an attractive place for foreigners to want to live, work and acquire land.

Phuket NEWS: Land Dept claims 90% of prime Phuket land controlled

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fixed that one

[SiLeakHunt]

Thank fuck I'm a landless deadbeat !

[Begbie]

Mr Sriracha said foreigners had already acquired about one-third of all Thai land, about one billion rai.

And they reckon they have never been colonised

They've also acquired Thai passports.

[StrontiumDog]

Land prices in Phuket have been insane for a while...'certain' people aren't happy about it as they have been priced out of the market. No surprise that a crackdown is on the cards, but only the people with poor connections or lacking friends in the right places will lose their land.

It will be interesting to see how much of the alleged 90% of beachfront is still held by foreigners and their nominees in say 6 months. I imagine a fair chunk will be, but they will know the right people...

[Thetyim]

Failure to stop the problem would put Thais at a competitive disadvantage, restricting their access to land and putting the national food supply in jeopardy

Do farangs really eat that much food ?

[Seekingasylum]

What do they mean by controlled? The land is owned initially by a Thai who sells it to a developer who then leases property to foreign buyers. Land prices go through the roof and the Thai sellers enjoy a bonanza. The govt gets more tax, Thai are employed and everyone is happy.
And even if the land isn't owned by any one Thai but is common to the people some Thai just bungs the Land Registry and suddenly it becomes another development but the Thai end up quids in.
So what the fuck are they whingeing about? Folk lucky enough to have owned property in central London are reaping huge windfalls as the Chinese and Russians compete to buy the best properties. You don't hear them whingeing?
So why do the chickenheads bitch?

[baldrick]

Land Inspector Sriracha Charoenpanit

so which resorts has he decided he wants after they have been taken ?

Zimbabwe style , followed soon by south africa and thailand

[Rural Surin]

Land prices in Phuket have been insane for a while...'certain' people aren't happy about it as they have been priced out of the market. No surprise that a crackdown is on the cards, but only the people with poor connections or lacking friends in the right places will lose their land.

It will be interesting to see how much of the alleged 90% of beachfront is still held by foreigners and their nominees in say 6 months. I imagine a fair chunk will be, but they will know the right people...

I recall, years back, when [supposedly] a greater percentage of vast and prime real estate in those particular Phuket hotspots was traditionally owned and directed by the respective local Wats. Which, as we all know, is not to be used for commercial or profit ventures. Myth of fact?

[Mid]

2009 :

Here's Who Owns Patong's Beachfront - Phuket Wan


2011 :

Khun Paitoon said he suspected the article was the Phuket equivalent of what's known in the west as a ''tabloid beat-up''.

http://phuketwan.com/property/phuket...-expert-14347/

[harrybarracuda]

There's going to be a lot of people shitting bricks when some bright spark realises they can confiscate those 50 million baht luxury homes and resell them.

[Bettyboo]

Mr Sriracha said foreigners had already acquired about one-third of all Thai land, about one billion rai.

They've also acquired Thai passports.

Indeed; sino-Thais, and they probably own more than a third of the land (and passports)...

[Chairman Mao]

^^ Nonsense. To quote an old American I knew who bought a 250 rai rubber plantation 'Thais wouldn't rip you off, it's not in their Buddhist nature'.

[FailSafe]

What a load of crap- nothing is going to be done, and it will be business as usual for years to come- this same song-and-dance has been going on for over a decade.

Foreigners are doing quite a bit of buying and selling, but local politicians and land office officials are always ready with their hands out- anyone who tries to kill the 'golden goose' is going to be a marked man- they can't even make a dent in the 'jet-ski mafia'- they're going to take down a business that makes billions for 'connected' Thais? Don't bet on it.

[Tom Sawyer]

I thought it was couched enough. sorry.

[jamescollister]

Think this has been on the cards for years. Once they started the Nation wide survay of land titles. Everything would be on computers, no longer the realm of some local Government official, can't drop a few Baht to a faceless man on a computer terminal in BKK. As more and more land is added the Tax department would get interested. How many of these alleged nominees are paying tax on there very expensive bits of land. Plus how many of these corrupt government guys will be willing to type their password in and do a dodgy bit of input when they know it is a signed confession if anyone up the food chain cares to look. As per normal the big players will get through, but I would not want to be a small player. Jim

[Tom Sawyer]

The Government has been warning about this for years. And that means successive Governments from Thaksin's time on trhough all the others including this Sakdina-backed one. Everyone scoffs that they won;t follow through on their warnings. Maybe-maybe not. I would suggest it's better to understand the Thais don't want you to try to buy THEIR land. Why does anyone want to go through all the BS anyway? Just rent a beautiful place until you get bored with it and then go somewhere else. keep your money in the bank in your own country. Really - I don't get it as most places are over-priced even if you were getting the freehold.

[Rural Surin]

Mr Sriracha said foreigners had already acquired about one-third of all Thai land, about one billion rai.

They've also acquired Thai passports.

Indeed; sino-Thais, and they probably own more than a third of the land (and passports)...

Yes. Of course....Sino-Thai.

[Tom Sawyer]

Yes RS - Sino-Thai. The real Thai aren't Sino.. much as the brainwashing has tried to suggest through the (more recent) years.

[Bettyboo]

^ & they've done a good job RS; come in, work hard and corrupt as fuk, own the place, get a passport (2 to 3 generations) then ban the 'foreigners' from owning anything...

I lived in Kata for 6 months, once upon a time, and the whole area was owned by a second generation sino-Thai/Hokien Chinese fella...