Thailand’s Auditor-General Siracha Charoenpanij revealed yesterday that 30 percent of land in the kingdom (pictured) is owned by foreigners.
Speaking at a seminar on disguised legal transactions and foreigners’ land ownership in Thailand held by the Senate committee on economic, commercial and industrial affairs in parliament, he expressed concern that more needed to be done to prevent foreigners from using nominees to own land.
The law in Thailand prevents a foreign entity from holding more than 49 percent of any land. However, since 2002 a foreigner is allowed to purchase a maximum of one rai (1,500 sq m) of land in Thailand for residential purposes if they bring at least US$1 million (S$1.26 million) into the country.
Siracha said, “Right now more than one third of land in Thailand is owned by foreigners,” adding that according to research most of the land in foreigners’ hands is in coastal resort areas.
According to a report in The Nation, National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) lecturer Piyanuch Potawanich suggested the launch of the Asean Economic Community in 2015 would lead to more foreigners using nominees to own Thai land, especially Singaporeans, who the report said were smart, had money and needed to invest for profit. She urged the introduction of laws to punish nominees and deport any foreigners who break them.
Several industry watchers have already ridiculed the claim that 30 percent of Thailand’s land is owned by foreigners.
Andrew Batt, Regional Group Editor for PropertyGuru, said; “It’s simply unbelievable to suggest that one third of land in the country is owned by foreigners. Thailand is a huge country, and the widespread use of legal loopholes to circumvent the country’s land laws just isn’t happening.”
Batt added that with the news yesterday that Indonesia is mulling a relaxation in its foreign property ownership laws, Thailand should perhaps be doing more to make ownership easier rather that making it more unattractive.
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