V3 base with Justin's edits applied where they earn their place, plus the friendlier microcopy from the Simple draft. Institutional vocabulary and compliance-flagged claims not adopted. Switch hero angles below.
Thailand's rules and enforcement around property-owning companies have changed. If your Thai company holds property using nominee shareholders, now is the time to understand where you stand and what legal choices remain open to you.
Check my property riskEvery one of Samui's 12,906 companies reviewed; 59 raided, holding 37 plots across 31 rai. Officials set a 90-day verification target for 2,579 landholding companies with nominee characteristics.
Chonburi officials have counted 14,264 foreign-linked companies in the province. Of the first 70 reviewed, 39 were rated high-risk, and the Bang Lamung Land Office has more than 7,000 cases under review. In August two Cabinet ministers led DSI and police searches of three Pattaya addresses, and the DSI accepted the matter as a special case on 15 September.
Sixteen people were accused of acting as nominees in the fourth phase of the Phuket operation. The Land Office has examined 361 companies over foreign-held land, filed 114 lawsuits and issued 39 fines, and the Deputy Interior Minister has said land held through nominees must be sold.
Sixteen prosecuted in a nominee operation; the Land Office is examining 361 companies and land has already been sold off under forced disposal.
Thirteen foreign nationals arrested in nominee raids; over 1,500 companies with foreign shareholdings identified in the province.
The DBD now requires bank-statement proof from Thai shareholders in foreign-linked companies; nearly 120,000 companies flagged across 16 provinces.
A buyer and their lawyer will question the company structure, who the shareholders are and where the funding came from before they proceed.
If the company relies on Thai shareholders with no real control, leaving it untouched will not remove the underlying issue.
Succession becomes more difficult if the property remains inside a structure that later becomes hard to operate, defend or transfer.
Your choice is to jump, or wait and be pushed.
Restructure voluntarily and you hold the pen: the timing, the tax treatment and the future rights are planned on your terms. Wait for enforcement and those decisions are made for you.
Check my property riskBetter-than-Freehold™ gives you a structured route out of the company arrangement and into registered legal rights designed to protect your use, future value and succession.
Registered instruments. Professional trustees. Independent security.
We review your company, title and shareholding, then prepare a plan tailored to your property. You see the proposed structure, the documents and the full costs before anything is signed.
TIN acquires the property title as principal. Your 30-year lease and first-priority mortgage are then formally registered at the Land Office, with the Option Agreement appended to the mortgage and the tax position handled as part of the transaction.
You continue using your home as before. Annual compliance is handled, succession arrangements stay in place, and continuity is built in if you lose capacity.
Your case is handled by a named case manager who you can speak to at every stage, not a chatbot.
Any replacement structure still has to solve five things.
One property. Two independent professional keys.
Split control protects you, not a promise from one Thai lessor.
Better-than-Freehold™ was designed around control, future value, succession, tax and renewal economics, not only the next Land Office transaction.
A structure involving valuable property should survive professional scrutiny.
Structural legal opinion completed by leading tier-one regional and Thai counsel.
Tax opinion completed by a leading global tax advisory firm.
Regulated trustee infrastructure, registered Thai legal instruments and independent professional counterparties.
Yes. Owners on Koh Samui are already moving company-held property into the Better-than-Freehold™ structure, and officials closing the Samui review noted that foreign owners on the island are moving from company ownership to 30-year leases. Better-than-Freehold™ is the structured version of that move, with the option and security layers a plain lease lacks.
Owners elsewhere in Thailand, including on Koh Samui, are already moving company-held property into the Better-than-Freehold™ structure. The same structure and the same process apply to homes in Pattaya and across Chonburi. Better-than-Freehold™ is the structured version of the move from company ownership to registered rights, with the option and security layers a plain lease lacks.
Owners elsewhere in Thailand, including on Koh Samui, are already moving company-held property into the Better-than-Freehold™ structure. The same structure and the same process apply to homes in Phuket. Better-than-Freehold™ is the structured version of the move from company ownership to registered rights, with the option and security layers a plain lease lacks.
We move your property safely into the new structure first. Winding down the old company, including its final tax filings, is then handled by you and your own accountant or adviser, and we provide clear notes and guides to make that straightforward for them.
Matters inside the company are for you and your own advisers to resolve, but the structure is designed to help: moving to registered rights reduces the legal risk carried by the Thai shareholders, which often makes cooperation easier. We provide notes your advisers can share with them.
Yes. Thai law generally bars foreign acquisition of land, not leasing. The structure uses four principal instruments, including a registered lease and mortgage, with a separate Option Agreement appended to the mortgage, and is supported by a completed legal opinion.
It depends on your property, company and transaction. We assess the tax position first and give you a clear picture before you commit to anything, and the Better-than-Freehold™ structure is supported by a completed tax opinion.
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