What are the risks of buying a property in Thailand that is held in a company's name, especially for expats?

If the company has been set up and audited correctly, your wife could be the 100% owner and only director. Saves you a ton of taxes if you ever sell and is unlikely to be investigated because there‘s no foreign involvement.

The better look -and safer arrangement for you- however would be for you to own the building in your name and to lease the land from that company - or your wife if it’s transferred into her name. At least for the first 30 years you can also register the lease on the land title in this setup.

But in any case you need a good lawyer and accountant to DD not only the land title but also that company. If everything looks correct -and you trust your wife- go for it. Otherwise better buy a foreign-freehold condo.

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How is she going to show the money came from her. They will follow the money and see she had no way to purchase it on her own.

12 years ago I bought a house with my wife in a company name, no issues at all. However having to get the yearly spoof accounts done and various letters enquiring about the company I soon got fed up with it. I decided after a few years that as I was going to leave the house to her anyway I would transfer the house to her. My house in the UK is covered by a UK will and left to my 2 sons. It cost me 180k baht to transfer the house to my wife and 10k baht to close the company. I wish I had done that in the first place as our relationship is strong. It's your call.

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@Lawyers **********************

, they will give you good advice

As she is Thai she can purchase in thai name, forget the thai company, the seller can deal with that hot potato

Rent

Take it out of the company name put it in your wife’s name forget the rent the land bit

If You want to buy the property using a dodgy company that does not really trade, yes lots of pitfalls. This is illegal and the Thai government is actively going after people that have done this right now. If you want to buy a property in your wife's name and the property is currently owned by a company not so many issues. Still get a lawyer to make sure all is above board and the company has released any rights and the property legally transferred to your wife.

It's actually not uncommon for Thais to put property into a company structure, although it is usually foreigners. The problem is that it is technically prohibited to do so unless the property is trading (e.g. rented out) for both Thais and foreigners. Having a property in a company structure comes with a number of regulatory requirements which can be a little complicated and pretty much nobody will be doing this without the assistance of an accountant (who will need to file annual tax returns). The corporate structures being raided at the moment tend to be properties which are being used e.g. to purchase resorts or something (i.e. are being used as real nominee structures to circumvent business ownership laws etc.), rather than the average farang with his 5m pool villa in a company structure (very common in many places).

Lawyer Lawyer Lawyer.

Take care....

Read the news!! All over this at the moment!

Nothing is safe in Thailand as they are always changing the rules when you bring money in you do it at your own risk there are absolutely no safe guards Even renting a property is a risk as a lot of people post on social media that the Landlord refuses to pay the deposit back when they leave

This topic is all over the Thai news at the moment as the Thai Government is clamping down on these 'companies'.

You would need to change the ownership so that you own the house and your wife owns the land. It's also recommended to put a usufruct in place, so that you have the right to stay in the house if something happens to your wife. Get a lawyer involved to get this all in place for you, as it's not going to be straightforward with the current company involvement.

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@Brian ********