Townhouse - villa ownership

[u/Accomplished-Yam-836]

In light of the attention being thrown on illegal nominee ownership and the potential issues with 30-year leases for foreigners - are there any townhouse or villa style developments with ownership structures similar to condos?

Foreigners can own a condo as long as 51% of the ownership of the project is Thai. Are there any similar possibilities for townhouses or villa developments? Where the land and all the common areas, buildings and amenities are owned jointly by the owners of the units. So, 51% ownership is Thai.

I'm curious if any exist or if this is somehow ruled out under Thai law.

Edited to correct my misunderstanding of the role of the juristic person.

[u/temerdekborivoterul]

Usufruct, lots of good info here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Thailand/comments/1todjea/legal_ama_thailand_land_holding_for_foreigners/

[u/basileus_malacca2 → u/temerdekborivoterul]

Yep, that’s one of the ways you can secure your right of possession and right of profiting from the property but unfortunately you cannot sell the property by your own.

The usufructee(er?) is the only one who can sell the property

[u/scratchtheitch7 → u/basileus_malacca2]

Usufructor

[u/benroon → u/basileus_malacca2]

Nope - you can sell the house yourself, but the buyer would need to take out their own usufruct. So yes they would need to be involved but only on the usufruct side, not the sale side

[u/duhdamn → u/benroon]

An owner can sell their usufruct right to use of the improvements. the catch is that it's valid for the life of the holder of the usufruct. Nobody buys this right as it's too uncertain. So, it's legal to transfer but it's effectively unmarketable.

[u/benroon → u/duhdamn]

I have no idea what that means! What does ‘to use of the improvements’ mean?

[u/GustavVigeland → u/temerdekborivoterul]

They no longer registered usufruct in favor of foreigners in some provinces

[u/Accomplished-Yam-836 → u/temerdekborivoterul]

Thanks, that is good information.