Thaksin Shinawatra is back in Thailand…
Feb 28th, 2008 by Lillian
Apparently thousands welcomed him in Bangkok, after his 17 months self-imposed exile. He was arrested after his arrival and will have to show up in court. Nice to be a billionaire. He won’t be spending the night in prison.. thats where money comes in really handy. Oh , and where was he the last 17 months? In London! In his OWN HOUSE. Is he, a foreigner allowed to buy land in London? YES. Are we foreigners allowed to buy land in Thailand, no…ticks me off no end.
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I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Aaron Wakling
Yes, as a Brit it gets under my skin that he is allowed to own property and buy a football club outright but there is no reciprocation for us Brits. Incidentally, any Thai can buy property in the UK not just billionaires. Oh well!
Now I fully understand how annoying it is to not be able to buy land here but I have to say that I agree with this decision to a certain extent.
Us falang are generally much richer than ‘most’ Thai’s. If we were all able to be to buy houses and land freely then so many falang would be buying them. This leaves the problem of hugely increased land prices in areas popular with falang - this leads to out-pricing local Thai’s. This is happening in many places worldwide, where foreigners are buying holiday homes (many as an investment) and leaving a shortage for locals.
Besides, if you really want a house here then you can set up a company to buy one.
However, I do feel that there should be some leniency towards falang married to local Thai’s. Property should be available to buy in joint names with equal rights to both especially as these falang are usually actually living here, working here and paying lots of money through local taxes.
Alan, I understand the reasoning, but I’m from Switzerland where all the best plots of land around the lakes have been sold to rich foreigners.. anyway.. this discussion isn’t really one that effects me personally since we we don’t have the money to buy one anyway !
Aaron.. thanxs for leaving a comment !
Nici.. ich habe dir ein email geschrieben
Gizelle … schön hast du vorbeigeschaut !
Transplanting me.. you are welcome. I love moving
Sure Lillian, it’s the same in the UK now - some areas are so full of foreigners that the locals are now a minority.
Maybe one day you’ll be riche enough to buy a place here right?!!