A Lawyer's Take on Thailand's Controversial Foreign Land Ownership Law [S6.E19]

Greg interviews Bangkok-based lawyer Dave Lawrence about
the ins and outs of foreigners owning land in Thailand. Dave
begins with his backstory: he went to law school in Ohio where he
met his future wife while she was getting a master's degree (also
in law), and upon graduating they returned to Thailand for what
was expected to be two years. That has now turned into 12 years,
and in the meantime Dave has worked several different legal jobs
at law firms as well as private companies. Dave then explains his
current venture: Pegleg, a company that matches foreigners in
Thailand with Thai lawyers and law firms. 


Dave then introduces us to the basics of foreigners owning
property in Thailand. As for condos, it's possible as long as
less than 50% of the 'saleable land' in the building is owned by
foreigners. However, in general, owning real property (actual
land) is forbidden to foreigners - but there are some well-known
(but questionably legal) workarounds. Some foreigners start a
company with majority Thai ownership and then have the company
purchase the land. Dave points out that this is a risky maneuver
and potentially illegal if the Thai owners are just 'nominees'
instead of true owners. 


Next, the guys discuss the recent (and recurring) talk of
amending the law to allow foreign ownership in some cases. Dave
argues that such efforts are usually met with skepticism in the
legal community because of their history of being met with
xenophobic opposition, i.e. fear of foreigners 'buying up the
country.' The two discuss the pros and cons of foreign ownership
and whether they think it will ever come to pass for
real. 


As for now, if you are a foreigner and want to own your
home in Thailand, it's condos or trusting your Thai
spouse.:) 


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