Keller Henson

Keller Henson is a professional real estate agency founded in 2016, based in Thailand, Bangkok, with offices and representatives across the country’s hot spots : Pattaya, Hua Hin, Phuket, Chiang Mai.

Keller Henson, is an independent licensed and renowned, family sized, real estate agency, specialized into new market development for residential or investment purposes : villas, houses, apartments, condominiums, offices and commercial properties in Thailand. Keller Henson offers to future investors a comprehensive set of advice, an introduction to the best properties for sale, market analysis, and professional assistance to purchase properties in Thailand like an insider.
Keller Henson helps you achieve the best deals for your real estate investments according to your plans and budget.
Keller Henson is working hard at managing the potential risks for its clients, by doing a check up on developer’s profile, reputation, financial health, by hiring third parties services when necessary : lawyers, architects, legal, and  by assessing all risks wisely together through an educated decision.

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Short answer is yes,
foreigners can purchase properties or land in Thailand with different purchasing terms options, namely freehold or leasehold terms

– Buy a Condominium in Thailand: Thanks to the “Condominium Act” – foreigners are allowed by law to own fully a condominium unit, IF, the “Foreign Quota” within the condominium is below 49%. To say it differently, the ratio of foreign’s owned units in a condominium shall not exceed 49%.  Within the 49% ratio, it is possible for foreigners to purchase a condominium unit in freehold terms – your foreign name appears on the title deed as the sole owner of the property. Out of the Foreign Quota, purchasing terms would be leasehold terms

– Buy a house in Thailand:  As opposed to freehold terms, leasehold ownership is technically a long term lease contract, usually a 30 years lease, renewable up to twice. When you buy a house in Thailand, or a villa, or an apartment, or a condominium unit out of the Foreign Quota, a lease contract is made between the lessor, managing the property, and the lessee, you, being granted with the long term lease.

– Buy a property in Thailand with a Thai company limited: Another option is to set up a Thai limited company, where you would remain the main shareholder and director, and buy the property / land in freehold terms in the company’s name. This comes with extra fees to set up the limited company and yearly company maintenance legal fees.

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Yes, Thailand is very favorable to foreign property investments.
Foreign investors can purchase real estate in ownership terms we’ve just outlined above, freehold or leasehold as a property investment, whether it is aiming at future capital gains, or regular rental incomes. Property investments from abroad in Thailand account for a huge share of the market, as investors see the benefits of Thailand’s strategic position, growth and fair taxation scheme.
In practice, highly touristic areas like Phuket or Pattaya see continuously new hotel developments to support the ever greater number of visitors, some of the international hotel groups and even local companies offer investors the chance to own a property within the hotel development project and get a yearly return from this piece of real estate once the hotel is built and welcoming customers. The rental program is entirely managed by the hotel, you can get up to 7-8% guaranteed ROI yearly (return on investment). Bangkok, on the other hand, offers lower rental yields, but applicable for luxury or high end properties, with greater value. 

To buy a condominium or to buy a villa Off the Plan is another genuine property investment practice in Thailand that allows for great capital gains in the long run and flexible payment terms. Off-Plan property projects consist in buying a property before it’s being completed. Somehow, the associated risks of buying a property that is not yet tangible, are compensated with the “pre-sales” low prices offered to own the property. Usually, and depending on developers, estimated time of completion, total amount, ect, when you buy a condo or villa off plan, you are likely to get flexible payment terms, often, with payments according to construction progress up to final handover of your property. In practice, this allows for payments installed on up to several years, at an under market average price per sqm, which leaves room for capital gains at time of the resell, even if there is an additional resale tax if you resell the property within the 5 first years – (SBT Tax)

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The short answer is yes, you can
Yes, you can buy a condo or buy a villa in places like Bangkok, Phuket, Koh Samui, Pattaya and rent it out to get a passive rental income stream, providing that it is in accordance with your ownership contract terms, authorizing you to sublet the unit, and providing that you are not already part of an exclusive rental program within the project development.

In practice, Airbnb is not officially accepted in Thailand, due to hotel license issues but is however tolerated in highly touristic areas : Pattaya, Phuket, Samui. Most of Bangkok’s condominiums would not allow owners to use Airbnb services, because it is perceived as a burden for other condominiums’ long term residents. You can possibly hire a third party rental management company to rent out your condominium or your villa on your behalf for you when you do not occupy your property. The rental management company obviously takes a share of the rental revenue as management fees, around 30% average.

You cannot rent out your property by yourself when you buy a condo or you buy a house in Thailand that is part of a real estate development offering exclusive rental programs, ex : hotel projects or hotel managed residences. You cannot rent out the unit by yourself since it is exclusively done by the hotel management. On the other hand, the rental programs offered by the hospitality industry sometimes feature very attractive conditions, precisely a guaranteed net revenue per year – or rental pool programs where owners share equally the pooled rental revenue, without mentioning the hassle free and peace of mind it represents not to handle at all the rentals management.

Rental incomes in Thailand for a foreigner are to be declared in your Personal Income Tax declaration and are taxed at 15% by default without a Thai TaxID.

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Not necessarily,
if you buy a new condominium or a new house directly from a developer or a promoter, opening a bank account in Thailand is not required, you can transfer the funds to the developer’s bank directly.
Yes, if you buy a second hand condominium or a second hand house from an individual, not a new unit, it is recommended to have a personal bank account in Thailand prior to the purchase since you will need to actually pay for the property at the time of transfer at the Land department.
When you purchase a newly built property, completed or off-plan, the funds can be transferred to the developer’s bank account directly, including all transfer and registration fees that occur at the handover, and you can open a bank account later at your convenience, with the evidence that you own a property in Thailand.
Keller Henson is happy to assist with the bank account opening in Thailand for non-residents which has lately been a harder task than it used to be for security reasons.

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Beyond the general information about foreign ownership conditions offered to non-resident in Thailand and buying process, a best practice to start with is to do a due diligence of the real estate project you have interest in, checking for instance the developer’s profile, reputation, financial stability, tracked records, construction and environmental permits status for the project, and who owns the land ultimately.
Unfortunately, Thailand is also famous for hosting an important number of buildings and infrastructure construction projects that have never been completed, for multiple reasons. You can still see today kilometers of elevated highway or even skyscrapers’ concrete skeletons in the middle of Bangkok, and this shall call for extreme caution when buying a house or a condo anywhere in Thailand, as a reminder that this first due diligence work is to be taken very seriously.
You should also pay close attention to the sales and purchase agreement contract and its clauses, especially the ones giving details about what happens in case there is a delay, or if there are any defects at delivery. Also, you should be aware of regulations, and taxation schemes, in the event you plan to rent out your property.

We strongly recommend you get assistance from a professional real estate agency specialized and up to date with foreign ownership practices and taxation schemes in Thailand. At Keller Henson, we only list in our website real estate projects in Thailand from developer’s that successfully passed our internal due diligence process. We’re here to help you understand and identify the clauses that might bring potential inconvenience later on. We can advise and recommend third parties, architects, lawyers, legal firms, to make sure everything goes as safe as smooth with your purchase real estate plans in Thailand.

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