Buying Phuket Land

The land in Phuket is among the most desirable and expensive in the region, if not in all of Thailand. There has been a land-buying boom in recent years that has evolved from seafront tourist spots to the hills behind, where many private villas are going up. The lush hilly landscape and pretty sea views offer up plentiful land for your dream tropical villa.

Phuket is actually a large island and although the prime tourist areas like Patong might seem crowded, there is plenty of land area that is undeveloped and remains relatively pristine. The question is; where is it located? The farther you are from the popular west coast or central Phuket Town, the more affordable it gets. In the northeast of the Phuket, land goes for a fraction of other areas. If you don’t need a sea view, you can get a much cheaper piece of land yet still enjoy nice views and be within 5 minutes of the beach.

However, actually owning the land is tricky, since Thai law does not permit non-nationals to own land anywhere in Thailand. Despite this, many foreigners are ‘quasi owners’ through lawful channels that use proxy owners. The easiest means of doing this is to buy the land in the name of a Thai partner or spouse. Some companies will arrange a trusty local partner, though this should always be backed up by a sound legal agreement about the partnership. For example, your Thai partner can own the land and you can have a 30-year lease and own and live legally in the house.

The lease can be renewed for two more 30-year periods, but any lease would expire if the land was sold, therefore a compensations clause would need to be included. In the case of a Thai spouse, the arrangement is based more on family trust, and pre-nuptial agreements, though the law will always recognise the Thai as the owner of the land in a divorce settlement, so a lease arrangement is also a good idea when buying land together in Phuket.

Some of the developers have complex company structures that include share holders, however, these structures are now being far more closely scrutinised as of late 2006. The authorities need to verify the financial status of the Thai partners and intentions of the company. This has placed uncertainty and a conservative approach on the industry.

When buying land in Phuket, there are several types of land ownership, and we at Phuket Andaman Real Estate will keep you fully informed of the procedure and status of the deeds. You can trust us to conduct the due diligence properly into the history of the land and its legitimacy. There have been plenty of cases of people buying land from Bangkok ‘businessmen’ (speculators) who have acquired the land on shaky grounds and do not have the correct papers.

A few years ago, a land office official was murdered after exposing a scandal in which large amounts of state owned forest land had been issued bogus deeds and sold. The deed in Thai is called a chanote and our lawyers will be able to help with the land transfer. There are two classes of chanote, the Nor Sor 3 (saam) Gor which has been accurately measured by the land office and granted full rights for transfer, and the Nor Sor 3 (saam) which is less desirable since it is part of the old land demarcation records that have not been verified accurately (usually by GPS), and will need further paperwork. Some people try to sell land that has nothing but possessor rights, and although very cheap, we prefer to have nothing to do with these arrangements since they are fraught with risk.

When buying property in Thailand, a foreigner must bring in 100 per cent of the purchase price from overseas. In order to do this, you will need a Tor Tor 3 document (Exchange Control Form) from a Thai bank. You will need to transfer the funds in order to provide evidence of this to the land department in Phuket. Another consideration to bear in mind is that the name of the party remitting the money on the Exchange Control Form and the name of the property buyer must be the same. Guide to Thailand property.

Apartments in Phuket
Houses in Phuket
Villas in Phuket
Buying property –guidelines
Real estate overview

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