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New Year’s Resolution
By Alexander Finch
A New Year
has arrived and many foreign visitors
have already made their New Year’s
resolutions. After a visit to Hua Hin
and seeing the extraordinary beaches and
lush countryside here, one of those
resolutions maybe to buy a home in Hua
Hin to enjoy the local amenities on a
more permanent basis.
Many of us make resolutions each year
that we abandon because they are too
hard, or we don’t know exactly how to go
about achieving them. To help our
readers realize their goals in the New
Year, we’d like to offer some of the
most frequently asked questions of
property law experts here in Hua Hin.
Q: Can foreigners own property in Hua
Hin?
A: The answer here depends on the type
of property you are interested in. A
foreigner can own a condominium in
his/her own name as long as Thai
nationals own 51% of the floor space in
the rest of the condo. Home and land
ownership, however, is a whole different
ball game. As a foreigner, you may own
the house, but not the land. The
foreigner may lease it, however. Land
acquisition is now usually accomplished
through a long term lease on the plot.
Generally, the land is leased for ninety
years total, with three separate leases
of thirty years each. Other methods of
land acquisition include minority
shareholding. Most buyers today,
however, opt for a long term lease deal.
Q: What background information should
I have about a property I might want to
buy before I put my money down and where
can I get this information?
A: Much information on land in Hua Hin
is available from the government land
office. The majority of this
information, however, is in Thai.
Prospective buyers can get this
information from a local attorney as
part of a translated title report. A
good report should include several key
elements. One is a statement of who
actually owns the land. This will tell
you if the person offering it even has
the right to sell it to you the land.
Another important element is the
physical inspection. Has the seller
shown you the same land they are selling
you? Are there squatters already living
on the land? These questions can only be
answered by comparing the land records
to the plot being sold. A good title
check will also include an examination
of the property’s access and utility
availability, along with a thorough
check of the construction permit, if one
has already been issued. Finally, the
report should include assessed prices
for the land and house, as well as an
expropriation and zoning check.
Q: While all this is being checked,
how do I ensure that I don’t lose the
house to another buyer?
A: A great fix in this situation is a
reservation sheet. A small deposit can
win you the right to the house if the
title check comes back favorably. If you
write in a clause, such as, “Deposit
will be returned in full if the land
title report comes back unfavorably”,
you can also get your deposit back if
the title isn’t right. Just make sure
the seller understands the clause first
to save your self a headache later.
Q: I now have my house, how do I work
out my visa situation so I can actually
stay here?
A: There are many different types of
visas that come into play when one is
visiting Thailand. Visas for tourists
are quite different than those for
people wishing to live here. People who
are just visiting generally have one of
three types of visas. A tourist visa
which is valid for 60 days, a 90 day
non-immigrant visa, or a Visa on Arrival
(VOA) which is for 30 days. Thai
immigration practice for residents has
become stricter recently, and the
following is what you need to know about
long term stay. If you have a VOA, you
can, with extensions, really stay for
three months at most. For the other two
types, an additional month can be tacked
on. For a longer stay, one can obtain a
year long visa, but only after
converting to non-immigrant status.
Also, for this extended visa, a person
must state a reason for the extension
which ultimately falls into four
categories. These are education,
business, retirement, and marriage.
There are specific requirements in each
category that need to be fulfilled to
guarantee the right to stay in the
country.
Q: If I buy land with my Thai wife,
how can I safeguard my investment?
An arrangement that can be used between
a Thai spouse and a foreign spouse to
protect the foreign spouse’s interests
is a usufruct. This allows the foreign
spouse the right to occupy the land for
the lesser of the period of the usufruct
(which is usually 30 years) or the
foreign spouse’s lifetime. To file a
usufruct with the land office, the
marriage must be proved either by a Thai
civil marriage certificate or a foreign
marriage certificate. The original of
the foreign certificate maybe translated
into Thai and certified as a true
translation of the original.
Alternatively, a copy of the marriage
certificate that has been legalized at a
Thai embassy overseas and translated can
be used. This is filed at the land
office with the usufruct agreement,
which must be signed by both parties.
Q: What happens to my lease if
something happens to me?
A: If someone else is listed on the
lease, the remainder of the lease goes
right to that person. In effect,
survivor takes everything. If there are
no surviving lessees, Thai law provides
that the lease reverts back to the
leaser. There are steps one can take to
prevent this. One step is to add other
people (for example your heirs) as
cotenants. This can be as simple as
adding a second signature line on the
lease for each heir. Another step you
can take is to stipulate in the lease
that if the primary lessee dies then the
lease is transferred to the lessee’s
heirs. An amendment can also be made (as
long as the landlord agrees) to existing
leases to add in these kinds of
protections, though this is slightly
more complicated. It is also highly
recommended that on top of all this you
make a Thai will, because without this
Thai law will determine who takes your
assets when you die.
The tropical weather is inviting for
many foreigners wishing to escape the
harsh cold of their home countries over
the holiday season. Falling in love with
Hua Hin is easy to do, and whether it’s
buying a condo or leasing land, it is
not hard to see why so many people have
chosen to make a residence in Hua Hin a
priority on their things to do this
year. Either way, we hope that this
article has helped you in achieving your
New Year’s resolution. If only dieting
were as easy.
Chavalit Finch &
Partners, Ltd. are lawyers specializing
in
real estate and business transactions.
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