Purchase

In the area of villas for sale you can buy an already built home, or you can select a free plot of land on which we can build the mansion of your dreams.

 

 

Lease arrangement

If you opt for the so-called lease arrangement the Land Department will provide you with a certificate which gives you the right to use that land and any buildings erected on it for a maximum of thirty years. Even if the owner of that land wishes to sell it, your right to use that land does not expire.
The law allows for an extension of the lease for a further thirty years, but such a contract will not be registered with the Land Department and is therefore a matter subject to civil rights.

 

 

Renting

You choose which property you wish to call your new home, then you can enter into an timeless rental agreement similar to the ones in your homeland. There is one condition: The rental period has to be at least one year. After that the contract can be terminated with three months prior notice.

 

Advantages and disadvantages when buying

In recent years Thailand has seen a lot of development. Therefore land and house prices have gone up. If you buy a property you automatically profit from this rise in values.

However, as mentioned before, foreigners can not buy land in this country. No matter what sort of property you decide on, a maximum of 49% will ever be yours. The rest must be in the hands of Thai citizens. But there are several ways to ensure that you remain in control of your property. Indeed thousands of expats have already made use of these possibilities. If you live in Thailand for a while and have established a few connections, you'll find that these problems will solve themselves. We will certainly be ready to help you in finding a solution suitable to you.

 

 

Advantages and disadvantages when leasing

 

The big advantage with leasing is that this is at the moment the only legal and safe way to "own" land in Thailand, even if it is only for thirty years plus another thirty years. When leasing, you are absolutely safe for the first period, and even for a second period there are contracts that are legally sound.

The disadvantage of leasing is actually only an emotional matter because the lease holder feels that the land he lives on is not entirely his own. He also cannot pass it on to future generations, and even when reselling the property there are certain things to be considered. For many expats this time limit seems to be an important reason not to opt for this kind of deal, even though it is slowly gaining in popularity.

This section of our website answers all relevant questions concerning the purchase of a property in Thailand. Naturally, the main focus of this page is directed towards the purchase of a house within a particular complex. However, there will also be information about other forms of accommodation, which hopefully will be of interest to you.

 

 

General guidelines

In the beginning there is a dream, the dream of living in the tropics, to escape the cold European winters and to enjoy life to the fullest.
In order not to turn the dream of purchasing a home in Thailand into a nightmare, it is important to keep certain thing in mind:
 

 

 

House or apartment

You obviously have to decide yourself whether you wish to buy a house or an apartment.
An apartment has the often mentioned advantage that you can just turn the key without having to worry about anything while you are spending time abroad.
But do you really escape the cold European winter, only to spend your days here in aircconditioned rooms? Besides, you may not have to worry about things while you are AWAY, but you may have problems while you are HERE, for example about the noise your neighbour makes, whose daily waking hours may not be the same as yours.

 

 

The search for the dream home

After having decided on the kind of accommodation and the preferred location, it's time now to find the property of your dreams.

The best thing would be to rent a car and start your own search. Take your time and look at as many objects as possible, making detailed comparisons. In order to keep the prices down interior fittings and furnishings of Thai houses are often very basic. The officially quoted price may not include the  kitchen or the swimming pool, the airconitioners etc. etc. So what at first appeared to be a bargain very often turns out to be quite a costly project.

Whether you want to undertake these exploration trips on your own or with a real estate agent is entirely up to you. Just keep in mind that an agent's foremost concern will always be his commission and not necessarily your longtime happiness.
 

Once you have decided which property you wish to buy, you'll have to deal with all the legal procedures.

 

Land ownership

In Thailand you will be confronted with the hard and fast fact that foreigners are not allowed to purchase land. This law. For a long time this law had its good reasons, as a great deal of available land would have been aquired by foreigners, so that the Thais would now be renting their own land - so to speak.
Let us point out that similar rules exist, or have existed for a long time, in other countries around the world.

However, for some time now efforts are being made to relax these restrictions a little. It has been mentioned that foreigners should be allowed to by a plot of land in their own name for their own private use with a  maximum size of 1 Rai (1.600 sqm.). The pressure on Thailand is increasing in regard to this matter, as other southest asian countries allow foreigners more land rights. There are already several exceptions which allow foreigners to buy land, yet for our target customers these hurdles are still too high, so at this point we won't talk about them any further. 

Why then are there so many foreigners in this country who call themselves house owners? And why do we at Silverhill offer houses for sale? The answer is simple. Not only can individuals purchase land and real estate objects in Thailand but also juristic entities. Therefore one establishes a Company Ltd. and this company will then be the owner of the land one whishes to buy. According to Thai law 51% of this company must be in Thai hands, which means the foreigner is not a majority shareholder. But let us explain this in more detail. It is in the nature of things that one cannot really own land anyway. If you decided one day to move somewhere else, you could not pack up your land and take it with you, which means you really have to kiss it goodby if you are no longer willing to use or to occupy it. The important thing is therefore not the ownership but the fact that you have control overe that land. With 49% of the shares of a company, no matter where in the world this company is located, you will have control over that land. Just imagine you held 49% of a huge international company. Who do you think would actually run thaat company? Who would select the CEO?

Silly would it be, however, to place the other 51% into the hands of only one person or a group of people with a common interest. If, on the other hand, you divide those 51% among several people who have no connections to each other, and you name yourself as managing director, then you will have sole control over your plot of land.

 

 

 

Leasehold 

This is comparable to the building right in Europe. You get into an agreement with the owner of the land that gives you the irrevocable right to use that land. The maximum time period for such a lease is 30 years. The contract will be registered at the local land office so that the leaseholder's rights are secured and he cannot be evicted even if that land is being sold while the lease is in force. Leasehold is the only form of contract where the foreign occupier of the land is fully protected by Thai law.
Quite often an additional 30 year lease period is being agreed to. However, that contract will not be registered at the land office but at the local municipality, and is therefore also quite safe.

Leasehold contracts can be sold and are inheritable.
 

 

Title deeds in Thailand

In Thailand there is a variety of land deeds. For foreigners it is of UTMOST importance to select a plot of land that is registered under the highest category of land deeds, the so called Chanod. Only plots with this kind of deed have absolutely correct border demacations which can be checked at any time by GPS. With any other type of deed one could have future disputes with the neighbours.

In any case you should ask to see this chanod before you sign a contract to buy any real estate in Thailand. The fact that the seller can actually show you the chanod is a sign that the property is free of debts, as the chanod for a mortgaged property is always in the hands of the creditor.

Any encumbrance on a property (not only of the financial kind) is being registered on the chanod and is legally binding. You should therefore scrutinise this document very carefully, before you decide to buy a property in Thailand.

 

 

Development license

Should you decide to aquire a property within a project like Silverhill-Residence, please make sure that the project has been built with a legal development license. This is the official approval given by the Thai authorities to develop such a project. Only this license gives you the guarantee that all plots of land will be or hav been already issued the above mentioned chanod. This license will only be handed out when all the infrastructure of the village has been completed or there is a bank guarantee, saying that there is enough money to complete the necessary works. Infrastructure that is mandatory includes all services that are necessary for the independent functioning of each plot. These are:

 

• Connection of the project to a public road
• Connection of each plot to a road within the village
• Connection of the project to the public drainage system
• Connection of each plot to the village's internal drainage system
• Connection of the project to the public electricity grid and the water mains
• Providing each plot with water and electricity
• Building an enclosure wall around the entire project

 

The presence of a development license is therefore one of the most important documents that you should look at when buying a property in Thailand. Should there not be such a license you'd be wise to look for another project.