Transcript of the above video: 

There has been a lot of talk recently about changes or possible changes to the so-called quota associated with condos here in the Kingdom of Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: 'No effect' from increasing foreign ownership quota. Quoting directly: "An increase in the foreign ownership quota for condos to 75% is unlikely to significantly impact the Thai property market or economy as very few condo projects have reached the quota, an analyst said." Quoting further: "An increase in the foreign ownership quota for condos to 75% may not be significant for the market nor the economy as demand from foreign buyers for any single project is not that high." What are we talking about here? 

Well for those who are unaware, foreign nationals are precluded from owning real estate, specifically land here in Thailand, highly restricted; it's primarily restricted to Thai nationals only. That said, notwithstanding these restrictions, it is possible for a foreign national to gain what is called Freehold Title, what we call Fee Simple Absolute title in the American vernacular, in the American Common Law vernacular to be precise or Chanote Title in the Thai vernacular, basically Freehold, you want to own it. You can own a condo so long as it comports with the provisions of the Condominium Act of 1991. 

Part of the provisions of the Condominium Act are that the condo ownership structure, so let's say you have 100 units, and I know that there's this analysis of area versus units versus number of units etc. so let's just say there is a hundred unit condo, they are all identical in terms of space, they are identical in every way, there's a hundred units. Under the present makeup of the law, it's 49/51 so the foreign quota, the ownership of that condo complex of 100 identical units, only 49 of them could be owned by a foreign national with Freehold Title. The other 51 would need to be owned by Thai nationals or some sort of Thai national holding company whatever, but they could not transfer Freehold title to those foreigners. Propose changes would change that ratio and move it up to 75%. 

However, as discussed in prior videos, the voting rights associated with the extra, the excess, the difference between 49 and 75%, those folks may not necessarily have the same voting rights. Now exactly how this works remains to be seen; they are still sort of hashing this out. This is one of those changes that I think is probably somewhat due again but you have to make sure, and this is the Thai in me talking, you have got to make sure that you don't allow foreign nationals to come to control real estate here in Thailand; that is the key consideration. As far as just having Chanote title within a condo complex and not having control with regard to votes, for example on the Management Board, the Juristic Person as it's called here in Thailand, again I can see pros and cons to both, but I think for folks that just want to own a place and use it to live here in Thailand, I don't know that there is that much overall concern regarding voting rights. 

That said, this is not a foregone conclusion. It remains to be seen how this is going to be implemented and we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.