You will be offered this: a Thai company buys the land, you hold 49% and control it as
director. It is widely done in Hua Hin. We will tell you the risk, because plenty won’t.
The problem
Using Thai nationals as nominee shareholders — people holding shares on your behalf with no genuine stake — is unlawful. It is prohibited under the Foreign Business Act, and penalties
fall on the foreigner and the Thai nominees alike.
A company whose only asset is a house occupied by a foreigner, whose Thai shareholders have no
demonstrable income, and which trades in nothing, is a recognisable pattern.
The structure is lawful only where the company has genuine Thai shareholders with real capital
at risk and a real business purpose. If yours exists solely to hold your house, that is hard
to argue.
The ongoing cost
Even setting the legal question aside: annual accounts and an audit whether or not the company
trades, annual filings, accountant’s fees indefinitely, and a sale that means selling shares
or assets with tax consequences either way.
When it does make sense
If you have a genuine business in Thailand with real Thai partners, holding premises in that
company is entirely ordinary. That is what it is for.
What we suggest instead
For a home to live in, a registered lease — often with a usufruct — gives you secure
long-term occupation without the exposure or the annual costs.
We would rather sell you a leasehold villa you can sleep soundly in than a company structure
that works until somebody looks closely.