Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing buying real estate from another foreigner. So this presumes a foreign national in Thailand buying real estate from another foreign national. 

Now first of all, let's be clear. Thai Law explicitly prohibits foreign nationals owning land in Thailand. We have done a number of videos on that. Meanwhile it is explicitly possible for a foreign national to own a condo in Thailand and we have done another video looking at some of the issues associated with condo conveyancing, foreigner to foreigner, so I would urge those who are looking at this video go check out our channel for that video if condos are specifically what you are looking for. 

With respect to real estate more generally, there are some ways wherein foreigners may have one degree of control or enjoyment or another over real estate in Thailand most notably things like long-term Thai leases, use of Thai usufructs and then there is the somewhat misunderstood in my opinion companies that own property here in Thailand. In all of these cases the biggest issue in my opinion if you are a foreigner, especially buying from another foreigner, is doing your due diligence. You need to understand exactly what rights this foreign person in Thailand has with respect to a piece of real estate. So, if it is a Company, you need to understand everything you can know about the Company; you need to understand who the Thai partner is in the Company; why it owns real estate; what the circumstances are; what kind of business does it do that it is able to do that. Concurrently, if you are dealing with a lease you need to know if nothing else, what is the term of the lease. Is everything properly formalized with the lease? The same could be said for a usufruct and a usufruct can be really interesting because it may be set to the lifetime of the owner. So then you are sitting around going “well when is this person going to depart this mortal coil?” So, there is a lot to think about when you are looking at dealing with the purchase of property here Thailand as a foreigner from another foreigner.