Americans can own property in Thailand

[annamartha]

Did you try invoking the treaty? Or did you even know it existed?

[synthia]

No, Buzzer, the point of my post was that Americans can buy property without a Thai partner if they invoke the Amity Treaty of 1968. Americans are the only nationality that can do so.

No one in Thailand will tell you about it because (a) a very small percentage of expats are American and (b) the lawyers and agents who do know about it are not about to suggest something that will deal them out of getting annual fees for the dead people on your business license and deed.

Most condos in the US are apartments. Your mother must have lived in a small city or town if you think they are all places with gardens and land. Whether something is a condominium or not has to do with the form of ownership, not the form of the property. You can have condominiums with individual houses, with garden apartments, with townhouses, for office buildings, and for parking garages. I'm sure there are other things that can be owned that way, too. I owned a condo in Washington DC, and believe me, there were no gardens involved other than some landscaping around the building.

[mitchell]

Synthia seeing that there might not be that many people willing to discuss the Amity Treaty of 1968, would you know of someone to contact to discuss this. I also read on some other posts that the Amity Treaty only applies to companies and not actual property.

[synthia]

I put links earlier in the thread. I was told about it, looked it up on the web, and what I read said nothing about needing to be a company.

If the links don't work, goole for Thailand Amity Treaty 1968

Sorry for the lag in my response time. You prompted me to search further regarding the Amity Treaty of 1968. Doing a google on it and thaivisa I got a few hits. I could just suggest you do the same, but it's easy enough to just paste what it says. It seems pretty authoritative. I just pasted in the first part as the second part deals with how to go about applying, etc. What is here will give you the highlights. Apparently, it doesn't allow Americans to own land or houses. It is about being able as an American individual, or group of Americans to be able to operate businesses without the Thai partnership. I opened my corporation to buy a shophouse, so it wouldn't apply to that activity. Here's what I got from the web:

Treaty of Amity Benefits
Sunday, 31 December 2006
How to Register for Treaty of Amity Benefits for American Companies?

The Treaty of Amity and Economic Relations between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Thailand - commonly known as the Treaty of Amity - was signed on May 29, 1968. There are two major benefits of the treaty:

The Treaty allows American companies to maintain a majority shareholding or to wholly own its company, branch office or representative office located in Thailand
American companies receive national treatment. That is, they may engage in business on the same basis as Thai companies, and are exempt from most of the restrictions on foreign investment imposed by the Alien Business Law of 1972.

Restrictions on American investment still exist. They include:

1. owning land;

2. engaging in the business of inland communications;

3. engaging in inland transportation and communication industries:

4. engaging in fiduciary functions;

5. engaging in banking involving depository functions;

6. engaging in domestic trade in indigenous agricultural products;

7. exploiting land or other natural resources

Buzzer

[synthia]

I did google, but I didn't find that at all. Thanks for clearing that up. The person who originally told me about it was planning to use it, so I imagine they are not too happy right now.

[cathyy]

Will this business about Americans being able to own land never die? It is, in fact, true that at one time American US soldiers who had been stationed in Thailand during the Vietnamese War WERE able to purchase the land they were living on with their Thai families. This was a temporary window of opportunity and even this very elite group of people may no longer purchase land. The Treaty of Amity still exists, but it is renegotiated every few years.

[synthia]

Thank you for explaining the history. I imagine that people meet someone who was able to buy land, and they tell someone else, and so it goes on and on. Urban legends about things that were never true last forever, so it isn't surprising that one that has some basis in historical fact lingers on.

[oddball]

The latest from thaivisa on condos , a man paid 41/2 million for a condo a few years ago and got extended visas , now he has been informed his condo has been appraised several thousand below the required acceptance for extensions , they gave mim 7 days to sort it out or leave Thailand , this is ongoing at this time but he looks to be in deep water .Thought they were only trying to kick out the low grade expats and tourists , what a mess .

[synthia]

People keep telling me there are ways around everything. But no matter what you do, it doesn't seem there is any way to feel secure there long term any more.