Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing 99-year land leasing in Thailand. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Nation, that is nationthailand.com, the article is titled: Phue Thai revives 99-years leasehold law as Interior Ministry shift nears. Quoting directly: "A source at Government House has revealed progress on a key legislative amendment that would allow long-term land leases for the private sector - one of the flagship policies Phue Thai has sought to advance since the beginning of its Administration." FYI as a Thai myself, I really have to ask the question, Phue Thai, what is your priority? Is it Thailand? Or like everyone else on a certain level?

Now this 99-year land leasing, I kind of look at this like gambling. I can understand the argument; there may be circumstances where it could be beneficial, but there just seems to be this continued concerted push by Phue Thai to do things to benefit foreigners that may not be the best policy for Thailand. That said, the point of this channel is to get the information out there to expat land and this is a pretty big development if it may come to pass. I will say watching politics as they are developing at the moment, I'm kind of hesitant to think that this is actually going to come off. That said, quoting further: "The draft bill had previously been submitted by the Ministry of Interior for revision and consultation with relevant agencies. However it has remained stalled at the Ministry for over a year. During the previous coalition Government, Phue Thai had made inquiries to the Bhumjaithai Party, which then oversaw the Ministry, but received no response or indication of support to move the Bill forward." Well maybe they didn't think it was good for Thailand. Quoting further: "The source added that with Phue Thai now preparing to take charge of the Interior Ministry, the Party intends to use the opportunity to revive and push through several pending legislative items. These include the draft law on Right over Lease-Hold Asset, which concerns long-term land leases for private use, with proposed amendments allowing leases up to 99 years."

So let's look at this. If this was to happen and I don't think it is even close to a foregone conclusion we are going to see this - the recent protest we saw here in Thailand specifically mentioned issues surrounding foreign land usage. Meanwhile, I've even made a video where I have questioned like why the main Coalition Party was so intent on getting rid of Bhumjaithai Party, especially out of the Ministry of Interior. I think there may be some connection to the Casino Bill. They are trying to allow Casino operations not only to be owned outright by foreigners but also for the underlying land to be owned outright by foreigners. I understand this isn't popular as an opinion in expat land, but the notion of effective land ownership by foreigners in Thailand is something that any Thai, even a naturalized one, is going to be a little skittish about. Now having been a foreigner myself, I understand the inclination and the desire for something akin to ownership of land in Thailand, and 99-year leasing may be the balancing act. And in a residential context, frankly I can actually kind of understand it. But as we already know, when we see changes like this, oftentimes there's abuse, there's all kinds of fraud that comes into play, so I am going to say I am cautiously optimistic about this sort of on a personal level with regard to could it be beneficial to expats? Yeah, absolutely if it comes to pass. But let's wait and see because quite frankly politics right now in Thailand are quite dicey at the minute. I don't think it is safe to say that any legislative agenda is really going to be easily pushed through the Parliament in forthcoming weeks or months. 

So for those who think that this is just going to be some kind of slam dunk, and we are going to see 99-year leases soon, I don't think it's fair to say that. So we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.