Integrity Legal - Law Firm in Bangkok | Bangkok Lawyer | Legal Services Thailand Back to
Integrity Legal

Legal Services & Resources 

Up to date legal information pertaining to Thai, American, & International Law.

Contact us: +66 2-266 3698

info@integrity-legal.com

ResourcesThailand Real Estate & Property LawThailand Condominium LawShould Thailand Amend the Condo Act to Remove the Foreign Quota?

Should Thailand Amend the Condo Act to Remove the Foreign Quota?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Condo quota. This is the foreign quota. For those who are unaware, under the Thai Condominium Act of 2008 which actually amended a prior Act and this requirement has always been present, it is my understanding, for example if you have a condo complex with 100 units, 49 of them can be sold in freehold title, so full title deed to that condo can be sold to a foreigner so long as it only adds up to 49% of the overall project. So within a complex of 100 units, only 49 can go to foreigners. Meanwhile, 51% would need to go to a Thai National. Now as we have discussed in other videos on this channel, there has been a lot of talk recently about making changes to property law including the Thai Condominium Act to possibly spur demand, interest if you will in the real estate market here in Thailand. 

A recent article from ASEAN NOW, that is aseannow.com, the article is titled: POLL: Should Thailand scrap the quota on foreign condo ownership? Quoting directly: "Perhaps a bigger issue is still about the 2008 Condominium Act which states that at least 51% of a condo project must be owned by Thai nationals.” Quoting further: “Now that COVID has decimated the tourist market, foreign buyers are a scarcity and Thais are not willing or financially able to take up the slack."  Quoting further: "It is likely that thousands of these units are left unoccupied and unsold because of these unmanageable quota regulations." Quoting further: "The 2008 Condominium Act does not seem to serve anyone especially if the building is located in a resort like Pattaya, Hua Hin or Phuket. What should be done?" It is kind of a cliffhanger there. It kind of begs the question what should be done. 

There has been a lot of discussion about amending the Condo Act. One thing I saw, I was reading something and I can't honestly remember where it was. I looked forward in anticipation of making this video. It may have been a comment on one of our videos I can't quite recall, but there was some talk about possibly allowing foreign nationals to own a larger stake in complexes without providing voting rights within the condo complex, within the juristic person. I had read that and I have discussed this with some of the Attorneys in our office as I do regarding all these videos frankly and their kind of thinking was "yeah, maybe but even if you did that it would require a change in the law and even then there are overriding laws that may conflict with the change of that type." In essence they basically told me it remains to be seen whether or not that is going to be legally possible. 

From where I sit and again this is pure speculation, I think that is probably the most likely scenario. They may say "yeah we will allow 65% foreign ownership of a given condo complex but anything between 50% and 65% that is foreign owned, there are certain condos that just aren't going to have any voting rights for example within that complex. I could maybe see that. Again pure speculation. Don't take that to the bank but maybe we will see something like that in an effort to spur demand in the condo market here in the Kingdom of Thailand.