Play stupid games..win stupid prizes. BE LEGAL. SIMPLE

Here is the reality of the 2026 crackdown:

The Restructuring Trap (DBD Order No. 1/2569): As of April 2026, the Department of Business Development (DBD) implemented a trap. If you attempt to amend your company structure (change directors, transfer shares, or alter voting rights) to "fix" your nominee setup, it immediately triggers a mandatory requirement for an Investment Confirmation Letter. Your Thai shareholders will have to appear in person and provide three months of bank statements proving they bought their 51% share with their own money. Attempting to "transition" your paperwork is exactly what flags you in the system.

The Illusion of Compliance: A foreigner cannot own land in Thailand. Period. You cannot restructure a shell company into a "compliant" holding company while keeping 100% control of the villa. True compliance means either giving 51% actual, financial control of your multi-million dollar home to a real Thai investor, or surrendering your freehold title and downgrading to a 30-year lease.

There are ways to make amendments to your contractual status, however, there are costs associated to these amendments.
What is particularly troubling is that in many cases the owners will fall into the hands of unprofessional lawyers who will fail to comply to the legal structure.
To comply with these provisions the land ownership has to become Thai, this transaction will require land registration, a lease agreement will be required between the Thai land owner and the company structure, the lease agreement is for 30 years, legally allowing the Thai owner the rights to require the land to be returned to them, at that point the building structure will have zero value, unless it can be sold, that is unlikely to be the case, therefore, the company will have to demolish it and return the land to the Thai owner.
The issue of transferring the land ownership is a payment from the Thai to the company, at the land office valuation, a figure below the market price, then a lease will have an annual rental fee. Hence there is a triple loss to the company, sale of the land, legal fees and finally the annual rental.

The rules and laws never changed since decades. I am living in Thailand since 2007 and already knew it back then. These nominee companies were never legal. But corrupt layers, accountant companies and officials «sold» that idea to foreigners which were not informed.

If anybody is having issues with the crack down on nominee holdings I HIGHLY recommend a video by jett gunther interviewing a real estate lawyer, it's in english, it was done a month ago, it predicted this crackdown and it goes through possible solutions you can do to stay within the pre-existing legal frameworks.

It is fair

Foreigners can legally own landed properties under their own names in Malaysia under the MM2H visa programme. Terms and conditions apply. Do your own research if interested.

Smart far better asset classes than thai realestate

I wonder if they will apply this retroactively, so for example if someone bought some holiday home 15 to 20 years ago using one of these nominee structures, are they going to seize that under the proposed law change.

Also, it's an act of parliament so will require a vote by the MPs, it's not just going to be amended without going through the parliamentary process and it will be scrutinised to the nth degree.

Do you know if a draft of the amendment ever released?

Foreigners are allowed to buy "property" in Thailand; they are just not allowed to buy/own "land".  "Land" is for Thais only.   Foreigners can "lease" land from a Thai national for up to 30 years, and build a house or whatever, which is owned by the foreigner on that leased land.  And, this lease can be renewed, at the PLEASURE of the landowner up to two more times (totalling 90 years)  SO VERY RISKY, since you don't own the land underneath your house!!!!.   The safest kind of property ownership by foreigners in Thailand would be the purchasing of a condo unit.  And , the foreign quota in a condo scheme is not based on the number of units as stated in the vlog, but on the livable, or unit, space of the project.  So 51% of non-public/non-common space MUST be reserved for Thais, therefore 49% is available to non-Thais. (The land on which the condo is build is therefore majority Thai owned by this formula).  Let's say a condo project has only 2 units; 1 unit must be 51% of the total space of the project and is only available to a Thai buyer, the other units which is 49% of project space can be sold of either Thais or foreigners.   ALWAYS consult a very reputable lawyer/lawfirm.  And, if anyone tells you there are ways to get around the land ownership issue YOU KNOW IT"S ILLEGAL.  Even if you marry a Thai to buy land, the land must be in your spouse's name and you will not get it in a divorce.

Can you not just lease land ?

Why own and be tied down to one place. Lease and have freedom. It’s cheap enough.

What i think a lot of western folk dont realise about this structure is that in Thailand you are not allowed to own a company without two partners, a company (at least a normal Ltd. company) must have two shareholders. Which is clearly insane. How many of us know people who would never have partners in a business.. these people cannot by law operate alone. This means that most Thai companies not just those with foreigners involved are likely by default to require shareholders by name that may or may not have input into running the business

This is one of the most misleading and ill conceived videos about this topic. This channel should be banned.

Expats have always known we can't own land. These issues happen listening two poor legal advice. Blame the Russians they have been buying up fast amounts of Phuket, totally taking the Michael.

Perhaps you should follow the rules in a foreign country instead of trying to skirt them.  I have no sympathy for trying to buck the system.  If you don't like the rules, don't move there.

Thais are pulling the rug

A carefully laid trap...😅

Only idiots think they bought property through a fake company with 49% holding

For the fools who own property in the US, Britain, Australia, or any Freem*son jurisdiction: stop paying property taxes (rent) and you will soon discover that a Freem*son owns your property.  You will own nothing and be happy.