Transcript of the about video: 

As the title of this video suggests, well we are discussing basically retirees and property here in Thailand, sort of navigating things if you are a retiree. This video is more for sort of the “beginner” retiree if you will, somebody who is new to Thailand and just kind of getting their feet underneath them of being a retiree. A lot of the guys that have been here for a number of years are going to have a better idea of sort of how a lot of the factors pertaining to Thai law come into play and how that interplay works with just being retired here.

The point of this video though is there are different types of property in Thailand that a foreigner can avail themselves of in terms of ownership. So first of all, the thing to understand is and really understand this, no matter what folks say out there, especially folks who will try to yes you to death in certain segments of the property market and things of this nature, foreigners are not allowed to own land in Thailand. And trying to utilize some sort of work around that has some colour of law implications is not the best idea; I have discussed this in other videos. Corporate structures, although there are limited subsets of fact patterns where it may be appropriate for a corporation to own Thai land and a foreigner may be involved in the running of that Corporation, yes there are some limited scenarios where that works. But just using a company pretextually or you might even argue pretensively, to own land in Thailand is not a good idea. As I have discussed in other videos, those can be seized, they can see the corporation dissolved, they can see the land taken back by the state; that can happen. I have done videos on it in the past where it does happen. 

That said, there are other benefits that can accrue to a foreigner, most notably leasing, long-term leasing can be utilized by retirees here up to 30 years which, I will use the term which I would rarely use but “ironclad”, in the sense that you can lease a thing and it will clearly auger to the benefit of the lessee - the person who's leasing it - for the 30-year period in which it is leased. 

There is also what you can kind of refer to as a life estate or a lifetime lease if you will, in the form of a usufruct - apparently Europeans call it ‘an usufruct’ but usufruct - that's what I call it, so that is kind of akin to lifetime usage. Again the facts of a given case are going to dictate whether or not it is going to be possible to gain a usufruct over a piece of real estate here in Thailand. So you're going to have to figure out again the facts of a case, in order to understand that type of property instrument or instrument for usage applies. 

Meanwhile, it's worth pointing out, foreigners can own condos in Thailand and it is possible for a foreigner to own a condo in Freehold, what's called in Thai “Chanote title”, what we would call in a Common Law legal vernacular, Fee Simple Absolute title or Freehold title, I sometimes hear the Australians call it that, so yeah, it is possible to own a condominium in Thailand. Now I often hear especially, amongst the chatter in the retiree expat community, that it is better to rent. There are a lot of arguments to be made for renting in Thailand, and I can see why people do it. At the same time, depending on the nature of the property, and depending on one person's background and the facts in an individual's case, it may be a good idea to own property in the form of for example a condo here in Thailand. 

Again, each person's case is going to dictate what is going to be best for them in terms of their retirement situation and ownership of property here in the Kingdom of Thailand.