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#2 — Buying property
If you rent a property or want to buy a condo, this isn’t an issue at all. But many expats want to buy a house. In Thailand, you’re not allowed to own a house as a foreigner. Or, as the pedantic expats like to point out, you can own a house but not the land that it’s built on.
There are ways around this such as getting a 30-year lease or buying via a company, but some of these methods are loopholes that could be closed at any time.
If you’re married to a Thai partner you can buy the house in their name, although that can lead to huge problems if you break up.
Foreigners can legally own a condo but only as long foreigners don’t own more than 40% of the total floor space in the condo building. This can lead to dual pricing in areas that are popular with expats. For example, if there are 100 condos of the same size in a building, foreigners can only own 49 of them. The other 51 need to be owned by Thais.
So, if the foreign quote is already full you’ll likely need to pay a premium to buy from another foreigner. If the area is not popular with Thais this can lead to big price differences between condos owned by foreigners and Thais.
Another issue is that property can be very difficult to sell. This is especially true in resort towns where many estates are sold mainly to foreigners.
#3 — Pollution
This is something that most foreigners don’t seem to know about. During certain times of the year, many parts of Thailand become extremely polluted. This includes Bangkok and Chiang Mai, two cities popular with expats. If you have any breathing difficulties, Thailand may not be a great place for you to live. During the pollution season, you may have to resort to wearing an N95 mask whenever you’re outside.
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