Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, well illegal property businesses. What I am saying here is illegal nominee type structures that are being utilized to basically allow foreigners to use property as if they own it. Again, Thai Law is very clear on this. Foreigners are not allowed to own property in Thailand. Also, and this is the key point of this video, property business, the real estate business. That's another thing that I think a lot of foreigners don't really take into account here when we are talking about these topics. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from Khao Sod English, that is khaosodenglish.com, the article is titled: French Villa operators in Koh Phangan raided in illegal business probe. Now this is the thing to understand. First off, utilizing nominee structures to own Thai property is problematic, but also engaging in real estate services of any kind is also a restricted occupation here in Thailand, explicitly. Quoting further: "Police on Koh Phangan raided four locations linked to a French run Villa business amid allegations of using Thai "nominees" to illegally operate real estate and unlicensed hotels." That's another one. This whole Airbnb thing. If people are trying to buy Thai property, villas and things and then rent them back out again - sort of a letting business - the business model itself is illegal. Only Thais can engage in both property ownership as well as development or anything associated with the property business. It's in the rules, it is in the law; I've cited it in the past. Quoting further: "Investigators said the French nationals leased land from Thai owners on 30-year contracts.." - so, again they may have actually had their legal structure correct insofar as they did the 30-year leasing, so they weren't necessarily using companies then to own the land, they were just leasing it. But this is the problem - quoting further: "... subdivided the plots, and built villas later sold through subleasing rights valued between 3 million and 7 million baht." Again, development and flipping, if you will, land development, the real estate business it's a restricted occupation. Quoting further: "Some buyers used the properties themselves while others hired the French operators to manage and rent them out for a 20% fee." Again, quoting further, and the reason for the video, I've already done many, many videos about companies used to own property; those get dissolved; those are illegal. Again, this is not that situation. The underlying leases are correct. It's the property business activities where these foreigners are engaged in that are causing them the problems with the law. Quoting further: "Police Intelligence indicated the operation generated at least 200 million baht annually from rentals and management income." Quoting further: "Investigation Ongoing: Authorities seized business records for further review and are questioning those involved to determine if the companies violated hotel licensing laws or used illegal nominee structures. Police said the raid is part of a broader crackdown on foreigners running unauthorized businesses in major tourist destinations across Surat Thani province." 

Yeah, the Thais are not messing around with this; I have discussed this in many other videos. Illegal usage of land is something that is being heavily, heavily scrutinized under this Government. Moreover, also being scrutinized are the business activities of foreigners here in Thailand and look property usage, property management, property development; usage, if you are just renting a place for 30 years and you are going to use it as your own private villa, I don't think anybody is going to have an issue with that. But if you are renting it out on a regular basis, if you're having a property management service etc., if it's run by foreigners, you've got a real problem because again this gets into the restricted occupations here in Thailand. And for the record, Americans who may be able to avail themselves of benefits and protections pursuant to the US-Thai Treaty of Amity, even the Thai Treaty of Amity doesn't allow for this stuff. Specifically, again land holding companies, anything associated with real estate development as well as land ownership, all of that is not only restricted under land codes and various real estate laws, but under various labour laws as well.