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"Splitting a Condo" in Thailand?
Transcript of the above video:
As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing "splitting a condo" in Thailand. I will often get some correspondence or just talk to friends of mine who will ask me about this and they basically, a lot of guys in the offshore industry ask me about this. They say 'look I own a condo, or I am looking to possibly looking to buy a condo or rent a condo and we are going to split it". What are we talking about here? We are often talking about two friends, usually guys who basically spend, they go off and on between Thailand and somewhere else. They work somewhere else, and then they come here for a few weeks and then they go somewhere else. Basically they figure out a way to sort of sync up their schedules or they buy a condo that is big enough where they are effectively roommates but they are not always around each other, so it is kind of like timeshare in a way. It is like a very low level kind of timeshare where it is just between two people. They are kind of agreeing, "okay I am going to be here during this period, you are going to be here during this period". I have seen it work, I have seen it blow up; I have seen people have real problems with that.
When it comes to underlying property title and for those who are unaware, yes it is possible to own a condo 100% in Thailand pursuant to the provisions of the Thai Condominium Act, yes it is possible for a foreigner to have Freehold title, it may be possible for two foreign nationals to have their name on the title deed. It has been my experience that is pretty rare but it is out there, it could be possible, again circumstantially dependent but possible. Again, this whole sharing thing, it really comes down to the relationship between the parties who will be splitting that Condo. That is what it at the end of the day comes down to.
So yeah again I have seen it work out very well but as a practical matter I have also seen it become a major problem. So as with anything like picking a roommate for example is probably something to sit down and give a long hard think about because long-term, there could be ramifications to a relationship like that with sort of unforeseen issues down the road.