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As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai condo ownership in Thailand and we are specifically discussing the notion of the 49 to 51% ratio of Thai Condo ownership. Under the Thai Condominium Act as amended in 2008, it is possible for foreign nationals to gain what could be described as fee simple title or freehold title to a condo in Thailand. They can get a Chanote, that is a title deed for a condo notwithstanding restrictions under Thai law for foreign ownership of real estate. If they do so, it must comply with the provisions of the Thai Condo Act. One of those provisions is that the overall ratio of ownership between Thai and foreign must be no higher than 49% foreign to 51% Thai. Now the interesting thing about this is when you are looking at it just conceptually, view a building with 100 condos and if that is a condo, if it meets the relevant regulations associated with the Thai Condo Act, then foreigners can only own 49 of the units in that building while the Thai ownership ratio must be 51 or above.

It is interesting because a recent article from the Buriram Times, that is buriramtimes.com, and they seem to be sighting Thai Visa News in the article: Thai Government Considers Allowing Foreigners to More Easily buy/own Property. Quoting directly: "Thai Business Media has said that their sources in the Thai Government are suggesting that laws relating to the Condo Act of 2008 and rules about owning land and houses are about to change." Quoting further: "However any changes in the law are likely to be temporary for the next 3 to 5 years as a post-COVID stimulus package." I will circle back to that momentarily. Quoting further: "Firstly, the Condo Act of 2008 is said to be changed they suggested. At present, 49% of condos in a block can be owned by foreigners according to law. This is set to change to somewhere between 70 and 80% though those above 49% who are foreign would not have voting rights at Juristic Person meetings." So that is rather interesting. Then finally quoting further: "The source indicated that changes to all these regulations would only be temporary for the next 3 to 5 years."

So a couple of things to bear in mind here. Clearly this is viewed as something that is probably necessary in an effort to stimulate the economy, especially the real estate economy. The temporary thing, they mention that more than once in this article that this is said to be temporary for 3 to 5 years which sort of begs the question, what happens if you buy into a condo that goes over the 49% threshold? Yes, you have title to it but what if you want to resell it down the road? It is a real concern that if this temporary window ends and the law snaps back to what it was prior to the amendments, you may not be able to sell it. Now if you just want to live in it forever it may not be a big deal to you but definitely a good reason to contact a legal professional before purchasing something that may fall into this kind of gray area. Again, another thing to note is it may go up to 70, may and this is all may; it is speculation. Again a lot of speculation abounds all the time about Thai Government possibly changing the rules with respect to foreigners owning this or that. Often times it comes to nothing so it may do that in this case, it may not. We will keep you updated. Interestingly that they bring up the point that anything that goes over 49% wouldn't have voting rights within the Juristic Person. That would mean policies regarding things like common areas; the future of certain funding or certain common fees where common fees are spent; things within a condo unit, those folks that go over the 49% in the foreign ratio may not be able to vote on that stuff and that may be a problem for folks. That could cause issues down the road, just practical issues living there. 

So again those who are dealing with the Thai Condo situation or they are looking into getting a Thai Condo and they are looking at these possible amendments to the law, yeah definitely I think this is good news and I definitely think for the foreign nationals looking to own condos in Thailand this is something to keep an eye on if it develops further. Again, exactly how this plays out practically remains to be seen. We will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation progresses.