Thai Real Estate Lawyer Answers Property Questions
Jett Gunther: I am sure we can all agree that Thailand’s real estate market needs to provide much more clarity and transparency if it wants to attract more foreign buyers. That’s why I reached out to a leading law firm in Bangkok to help address some of the most common questions pertaining to foreign ownership of property in Thailand. Khun Sirichot is a junior partner at Siam Legal and I was so impressed by how he answered my questions with such honesty and expertise, and I am super excited to share with you this interview session.
Introduction to Siam Legal and Khun Sirichot
Jett Gunther: Khun Sirichot, thank you so much for joining me here. So, let us first start with a brief introduction to Siam Legal and your own legal background.
Khun Sirichot: Okay, our office has been established approximately 17 years, and I have been working with Siam Legal for around 13 years. I currently am a junior partner and the head of property succession law. So, I have been working in this area for 10 to 11 years in the property area.
What are the Most Common Thai Property Law Inquiries?
Jett Gunther: Okay, that’s why we have you here to clarify few issues. My next question is, you say you have been here for a while, and throughout your practice, what are some of the most common issues that your foreign clients come to talk to you about? Can you just briefly list them out and then maybe we will get into each in more detail.
Khun Sirichot: Sure, because our firm, we provide a wide range of services from immigration, corporate, family, property, succession, litigation, visa. So, we have various questions from clients and expats in Thailand and around the world. No any specific nationalities. Just in my area of practice, I was asked mostly about commercial questions including how to purchase property in Thailand? How to protect that interest in Thailand? How to protect their investment? How to prepare the estate and manage the estate in Thailand and plan for the last stage of their life in Thailand? That’s basically what I am working on currently.
There are various questions, so, I cannot specify what are the most but asking for buying properties in Thailand including land, house, and condominium units, they are all quite common. We receive around 5 to 10 inquiries regarding property purchases in Thailand.
Jett Gunther: Great, that is very similar to the questions I get from my audience as well, so we are going to get right into that. It is exactly what you mentioned here. Let us actually start with the broad category of what you said, buying property in Thailand as a foreigner because I think that there is a lot of confusion as to how can a foreigner own property in Thailand. Can you give us an overview of what are the ways that foreigners can own property in Thailand?
Khun Sirichot: Okay, when we talk about property, there can be immovable property and movable property. If I have to talk about immovable property specifically, there would be land and house, condominium units, factory, hotel, and housing like they are going to level up land to be a condominium project or housing estate. So, I am not sure in which area, can you please specify. What kind of property you would like me to clarify?
How can Foreigners buy Thai Real Estate?
Jett Gunther: Sure, my audience based is mostly residential, so, we will be asking about, okay. No. 1, how can foreigners own a condo? And then we can go into actually land and property. Let’s actually start with condos first, so, what are some ways that foreigners can own condos in Thailand.
Khun Sirichot: Okay, good news! It is quite simple and straightforward for a foreigner to purchase and own a condominium unit in Thailand or own condo units of more than 1, 2, or 3 that is fine. Either in his name as an individual, or in a foreign entity, or maybe in joint name with other foreigners or joint name with a Thai national person, there is no restriction and no limitation. As long as you make sure that the building, which is a condominium building, under the Condominium Act the foreign quota in that condo must not exceed 49%, and then the fund that you are going to use to purchase must be brought from overseas into Thailand. You cannot use the fund that you have in Thailand to purchase a condominium unit unless you are a person with a permanent resident card or a person who is under a BOI privilege company or something like that. If you are a privileged person under a BOI company, then yes you can use the fund that you have in Thailand to purchase, but as soon as you do not qualify as this kind of person, or not a person under BOI anymore or you are not a permanent/Thai permanent resident then you have to sell your condominium, as you are duly disqualified.
So, the easiest way to purchase is as an individual, to purchase a condominium unit as an individual unit and then transfer the fund from overseas into Thailand for the amount of no less than the purchased price. The currency can be any currency but not Thai Baht, you cannot transfer Thai Baht from overseas into Thailand to purchase a condominium unit. If you transfer, it may create problems and the land officer will refuse to register the transaction for you because there may be difficulties with the banks to issue a certain form. Someone may call it TT3 like Thor Tor Saam or FET form, which is the kind of documents that you need to produce and present to the land officer on the date of registration of the transfer, without this form the land officer is not going to register the transaction for you. So, if you make sure that the building is a condominium building, and then the foreign quota has not exceeded 49% and is freehold, so, you can buy in your name.
Jett Gunther: So, if it’s under foreign quota, you can buy it under a freehold agreement, basically?
Khun Sirichot: Yes, mostly, I would say but there are some areas. There are some areas that you cannot buy the freehold and there are some projects, for example, the area in Ratchadamri, most of the projects there sell leasehold, they cannot sell freehold because they are not the owner of the land where the condominium was built. It may be acquainted with the king’s property, the crowned treasure, so, they cannot buy a freehold condominium unit in that area, or some other projects, for example, I have to name. Oh, I don’t want to name, okay?
Jett Gunther: That’s fine, but basically if the condo only allows freehold then they would tell you, right? You wouldn’t be able to engage in a freehold contract unless it’s a registered condominium that they own it, right?
Khun Sirichot: Yeah, you need to ask the developer or the seller from the beginning whether this is a freehold or leasehold property. If it’s leasehold then the maximum lease term would be only 30 years at the current law, okay? A renewal clause can be agreed upon but does not automatically become enforceable. You, as the buyer or the lessee, will have to contact the lessor or the developer to renew, you have to request them to renew it for you and register another 30 years for you. It does not automatically renew. If the 1st 30-year lease term end, it does mean that the 2nd lease term will automatically renew, that is not the case. You have to request them to register the 2nd lease term.
How can Foreigners Own Land in Thailand?
Jett Gunther: We talked about condominiums being under the foreign quota, you can own them under freehold, and then you have to transfer money in. So, how about owning land and property, how would you do that as a foreigner?
Khun Sirichot: Land and house or land and villa or something like that. Basically, as you know, a foreigner cannot purchase or cannot own land in Thailand. In principle, they cannot buy land in their name. There are some other options that is commonly used by foreigners, something like lease or maybe leasehold, like a 30-year lease for the land and then buy the villa or structure in their name, provided that the local authorities like the district office or the land office or Or Bor Tor, they allow, they are quite flexible with foreigners, they allow these structures on the area. They can buy a leasehold and then put the ownership of the structure in their name. But, if the local authorities make it harder and play a hard game, then it will be quite difficult to put the ownership of the building or the construction under the foreigner’s name. So, the alternative option would be something like, the foreigner will have to lease both, the land and the house for 30 years with the renewal clause or something like that. But, if you have to fight against the local authorities, I do not recommend it. In some areas, for example, Hua Hin, Cha-am, Phuket, or Pattaya. They know, they are aware that this happens and they allow foreigners to use the structure like a leasehold for the land and put the ownership of the structure under the foreigner’s name, it’s fine in those areas but I cannot guarantee that every part, every province, every district in Thailand will allow you to do the same, I cannot guarantee.
Jett Gunther: Okay, so provided that the local municipalities and the local administrations allow for it. The most common way to own land and property is through a leasehold like you described, and that is typically 30 years and it could be renewed but you have to request it. Is that correct?
Khun Sirichot: Exactly. Exactly.
Jett Gunther: Great, just to summarize that.
How can Foreigners Ensure the Legitimacy of the Seller and the Property?
Jett Gunther: We talked about these contingencies on the locals and the land being owned by the crown property bureaus. So, we talked a lot about a lot of research that needs to be done. So, that moves me to my next question. How can foreigners make sure that the seller and the property that they are buying are legitimate, and that they can legitimately purchase this property?
Khun Sirichot: Well, that’s quite difficult unless you are buying from very reputable developers or first-hand developers, these kinds of developers, they will provide the most accurate information that you can ask. But, for some local developers, you need to do due diligence over the property and if you don’t know how to do the due diligence, I would recommend you find a lawyer, an experienced lawyer to help you do the due diligence. I mean, the barrel of the property is quite high, while you save just a few monies and then not protect you for 10 or 20 or 100 million Baht property, I doubt, right?
I mean, the legal fees are a lot lower than the agent’s commission, right? The agent’s commission is 3%, assuming that the property is THB 10 million, the agent’s commission would be 300,000 when the legal fee is a lot less than that. Even my firm, it should not be higher than THB 150,000 for this entire proceeding, from start to finish, from due diligence to take the ownership and then you do not have to worry, right? You are worry-free.
Jett Gunther: Okay, so, you recommend that getting a lawyer and conducting due diligence on the property is a recommended process because you are paying, potentially, tens of millions of baht on this property. And, I appreciate your honesty in saying, there’s a lot of obstacles going on and then giving all these answers and admitting that it’s difficult.
So, actually, could you briefly outline a little on what due diligence involves generally from a lawyer.
Khun Sirichot: Okay, in case you are buying a condominium unit. Assuming that you are buying a condominium unit. As I mentioned earlier, you need to know where the project is built or is located on is a freehold. That’s the first thing. The second thing is that the condominium should be registered as a condominium building, not an apartment, not a hotel, okay? Because there are some terms, some other terms in western countries where they use the word apartments, they are not normally used as condominium units. So, an apartment in Thailand means a different thing, as you know. It means like a dormitory, right? It is not a service apartment, okay? But it’s a condominium unit. So, a condominium unit in some other country may mean a different thing but in Thailand, a condominium unit is what you know but, in some countries, they may call it an apartment or a flat, something like that, right?
As I mentioned, it has to be a freehold building, the land where the building is located is a freehold, the building should be registered as a condominium building, and the foreign quota should not have exceeded 49%. There Are some projects in Bangkok that the foreign quota has exceeded 49%, so, if you find a seller at a property that you like ends up not being able to buy it because the foreign quota has exceeded 49%, and the seller is, unfortunately, a Thai national person. So, you cannot resume the foreign quota from the seller, so, you may not be able to buy unless you have to buy through some other options for, example, setting up a company to buy, but would it be worth it? It may not be worth it. And then finally, is the fund that you are going to use to purchase the property must be transferred from overseas.
These are the most basic requirements for foreigners to purchase a condominium unit in Thailand. So, if you make sure that these 4 steps are considered properly, then you can look at some other issues. For example, whether the condominium is adjacent to any public road. You may have seen the leasing project like the Ashton Asoke, right? They are not adjacent to the public road. I mean, you may see that it’s adjacent but you don’t know until you do the due diligence and only the lawyer can advise you like, okay look there is a leak, there is a possibility that because the project is not adjacent to any public road, so there is a leak. For example, it is quite common in Bangkok that many developers own land like the road and register as servitude for some other projects around the area. So, you need to make sure that you don’t have to pay for the road fees and you need to make sure of who is the real owner of the road in front of the project. That is something that the due diligence can tell you, okay? If you are not a lawyer, I am not sure whether you would know what it is, especially if you have to deal with the land officer, everything will be in Thai.
The land officer cannot speak good English, the document will be all be Thai. How can you read the map, how can you read the custodial map, you wouldn’t know anything, right? It is not as easy as doing a title search online in the western country where you can type your address and it will show up. No, it is not going to be the case in Thailand.
Jett Gunther: Speaking of the west, there are certain mechanisms, in place, that would protect the buyer in this process such as things like the Escrow companies, title insurance, or things like geological surveys, you know, like that. Do these exist in Thailand and are they effective?
Khun Sirichot: Okay, for the Escrow S4 service, there is an Escrow Act in Thailand since 2008 but that’s theoretically happening, but in practice, it’s not very practical, okay? Only banks can provide this service, they legally provide this service but when we have no other options, as a lawyer, as a reputable law firm, we have to help our clients and protect our clients, not to pay the full amount to the seller. We need to stop; we need to hold something before the condition has been completed. For example, you cannot pay more than 40% to the developers until the project is completed. I mean, 10% is reasonable enough, why do you have to pay for 80% or 90% to the seller or the developer and in the end, they go away they go bankrupt. They just go bankrupt and have nothing, if you file a case, yes you will win but you will win on paper but you won’t have any money. So, why do you have to do that? I mean, if you have a lawyer to help you review the agreement before and have a proper rate and try to protect as much as you can, and advise you not to do something too risky. But if you want that risk, it is up to you, what can we do, right? We have to warn the clients telling them don’t do that, don’t proceed, don’t follow that game. Whether we can have the Escrow, the escrow will be good in case if you engage a lawyer to act as Escrow, that would be good in case you are not in Thailand or that you don’t have any bank accounts in Thailand. If you don’t have a bank account, you cannot come to Thailand. There’s no way that you can transfer the fund, right? And you should not pay the seller 100% before the date of transfer, that’s too risky.
Okay, if you pay, and then what if they just go, or they are just gone? They delay or may play a game, we don’t know. So, if you transfer the fund, maybe almost a month before the date of transfer then your lawyer should be able to help you to transfer and take ownership. Okay, we hand over the payment to the seller, take the ownership on your behalf through the power of attorney and we take care of everything. So that’s the way Escrow will protect you but if you are in Thailand on the date of transfer, you have a bank account in Thailand, there is no need for you to engage any person to act as the Escrow or Escrow agent, to hold your fund. You can transfer your fund from overseas into your account to Thailand but before you transfer, make sure that the currency is not Thai baht and the fund that you have transferred is no less than the purchase price. The instruction or the purpose of the transfer, you have to specify the purpose of transfer as for purchasing a condominium unit number of the project, under your name, something like that. Or you can just simply say buy a condo number and the name of the project in your name, that’s quite important. If you did not describe it properly, we may not be able to obtain a proper document to produce to the land office.
Advice on Buying Property with Thai Spouse?
Jett Gunther: Okay, I see, a lot of people that submitted questions, and I am sure a lot of people are purchasing property with a Thai spouse, and they have asked a lot of questions regarding a Thai spouse, what if I get married and title ownership and all like that. So, my question is how would you advise a foreigner who’s thinking of buying a property with their Thai spouse?
Khun Sirichot: Okay, if you mean the condominium unit, that’s fine. You can buy with your Thai spouse. It can be in your name, it can be in joint name with your Thai spouse or it can be in her name, it is fine. But, if it will be in your name only, then you need a consent letter from your wife. Your wife should acknowledge and consent that you buy this condominium unit in your name only. But in the case of a male party, normally they would declare themselves single. They do not declare themselves married if they are both males. But if they are female then your title will describe your Ms. or Mrs. in Thailand. For the condominium unit, it’s fine, it is quite straightforward.
But for the land and house, I would recommend you buy the land and house before you register the marriage with a Thai national. Then you can structure it properly, okay? If you buy during the marriage, the property may be difficult to control, some of it may be deemed as marital property and some of it may be deemed as personal property. So, recently, it would be maybe 10 years or 15 years back, the land officer requires the foreign spouse to sign a consent letter and acknowledgment that the property, the land, and house, are in the Thai spouse’s name. It’s personal property, not marital property. It’s the personal property of the Thai spouse and the money to purchase is the personal money of a Thai spouse and not from a foreigner, so, you have to sign the form. Otherwise, the land officer will not allow your spouse to buy the land in Thailand. And this consent letter must be signed at the land office or at the Thai Embassy only.
This consent letter cannot be signed before a notary public or a Thai lawyer or anyone or notary public in other countries, it just cannot. It has to be at the land office or Thai consulate office or at the Thai Embassy only.
Jett Gunther: So, it sounds to me that after the marriage, if you are purchasing a property after marriage, it sounds to me that all the laws are in favor of the Thai spouse. Because they have to give consent and they buy it as their private property and you sign it at the Thai Embassy. Wow, it is very in favor of the Thai spouse, okay. Would it be your legal advice, if possible, to buy a property before you get married to a Thai spouse?
Khun Sirichot: Yes, but even if you buy before, you need to have a proper agreement to be crafted between you and your girlfriend or your fiancé, okay? You have to have such kind of agreement like, for example, lease agreement, loan agreement something like that. Just not put in her name, if you put in her name, you cannot claim it as a gift later on. It’s quite difficult, quite challenging I would say. You may, but it’s challenging. Why do you have to waste your time and money in litigation to prove yourself? When you can easily protect your investment before, right? So, you should have some kind of protection before like some kind of agreement or arrangement, it should be at lease agreement for 30 years or a loan agreement. But, in terms of usufruct or superficies, recently many lands officer refuse to register these kinds of transactions because these are the way to circumvent the law, and then the government fee is a lot lower than the lease and the mortgage. So, in terms of the lease, the government fee, the registration fee will be 1.1% of the length for the total years. But the usufruct, if you declare no consideration, then the government fee will be very cheap, it will be less than a thousand baht. So, the government will not get anything, they may not allow you to have the usufruct or superficies to register.
What happens to the Property in a Thai Divorce?
Jett Gunther: Okay, great, I am glad we made an overview of that, and a lot of people are also very paranoid because a lot of people are asking about divorce. What happens with divorce? And could you give us an overview of what happens in divorce and maybe I will get into specific questions in case you do not cover it.
Khun Sirichot: I would recommend, before registering the marriage in Thailand, you should consider having a pre-nuptial agreement to be drafted and register on the date of registration of the marriage. Any agreement drafted between you and your wife after the marriage will be deemed as a marital agreement that can be void by either party. So, it’s not very protective. I do not recommend having a post-nuptial agreement but I would rather recommend a pre-nuptial agreement to be drafted and to be registered on the date of registration of the marriage. So, the pre-nuptial agreement can cover many issues from the property and also in case of divorce.
If you both have a baby, you may also decide on guardianship, but it is not as straightforward as property that you can declare like ‘these are my estates and these are your estates’. And when we marry, what will be deemed as marital property? What will be deemed as personal property? So, if you have the pre-nuptial agreement drafted before, it would be pretty clear who has it or owns it before the marriage.
Jett Gunther: So, just to summarize this, based on what you have just said. The perfect situation would be to sort all these out before getting married. Get a prenup, buy a property beforehand because otherwise if you get married to a Thai spouse and something happens, you are pretty screwed. Mostly going to your Thai spouse’s favor, pretty much right? You need to hope you marry a really nice person.
Khun Sirichot: Exactly, but the other event would be if the marriage is not terminated because of divorce but because of death, so, you can have a will drafted. So, your Thai wife can draft a will for you. Your wife can even say that she gives the lands and house to you, but you don’t have to take the ownership of the land and house, you just hold it as the executor of the estate of your wife in Thailand. So, you hold it as the executor, and you can sell it to any third party as the executor. So, you don’t have to take ownership. As soon as you take ownership then there will be a time frame that you need to sell the land and house within one year. Otherwise, the government will do something, they will force you to sell or sell in an auction or something like that. But it’s not very common, so, try not to take ownership of the land and the house in your name, just follow it as the executor.
What happens to the Property when the Foreigner Passes Away?
Jett Gunther: That’s in the case or situation when your Thai spouse owns it and they pass away, you can either take it on as an executor and then sell it or take ownership but then you must sell it within a year. So, that’s what happens when your Thai spouse passes away. How about if you own property, you bought it in your name, right? Whether it was before the marriage or you just bought a condo, and you pass away. Let’s say you have created a will, is it a straightforward process in Thailand, where they would just honor the will and pass the ownership to the person? Could you explain that a little bit?
Khun Sirichot: The will does not take less time, but it makes things clear. Without a Thai will, the estate can be divided between the statutory heirs, which can be the parents of the deceased, it can be the spouse, it can be the children, the descendants of the deceased. So, assuming that you do not have a will drafted under Thai law, and then the deceased has 2 parents, 2 children, and then spouse, yourself. The personal property, the estate of the deceased will be divided equally between 5 people. So, you have to share the property with other people. It will cause headache, in case the deceased does not have parents and children but the deceased has siblings, so, you have to share the property with the siblings of the deceased, which you may not like. So, if you have a will drafted under Thai law, you can determine otherwise, you can say ‘I want my property 100% to go to my spouse, okay?’ 100% to go to my spouse but if my spouse dies, I want to give my estate to maybe to your children or to your parents or your siblings, whatever. But, without a will, it will make things unclear like we have to share with everyone. What if there is a piece of land, and you don’t want to share the ownership with other people, right? So, you have to wait for someone to sell, I mean, who is going to act as the administrator of the estate? You can point out in the will, that is the importance of the will but does not quickly settle in terms of time. It may take approximately the same time but the distribution is clearer.
Jett Gunther: Great, just very quickly, what if in the case where you don’t have a Thai spouse, but you are just a foreigner and you are just owning it as an individual and your family is all foreigners. So, let’s say you lived here and you passed away, what would happen in that case?
Khun Sirichot: Again, if you don’t have any family members in Thailand. You can make a Thai will if you have estates in Thailand, if you have a high value of an estate in Thailand like maybe THB 1 or 2 million, that is enough for you to consider having a will drafted under Thai law to cover your estates in Thailand. So, you can give your estates in Thailand to your family members overseas and appoint them as the executor of your estate in Thailand, no problem, it doesn’t have to be Thai. It can be his spouse from overseas or one of his children from overseas or one of his friends, it is fine.
Jett Gunther: So, a foreigner can be appointed as an executor, right?
Khun Sirichot: Yes, they can.
Does Thailand’s Political Uncertainty Affect Foreign Property Ownership Laws?
Jett Gunther: So, we covered a lot regarding buying as an individual and buying with your spouse, so, I appreciate that. Now, another common concern that my audience often expresses is their hesitance with the Thai political system and the environment that s happening here. So, the first question regarding this is that many foreigners have expressed concern over the political uncertainty in Thailand, right? So, they think that laws can be changed, can potentially change all like that. So, the first question is, realistic and in truth in the past, has the political uncertainty in Thailand affected foreign property ownership laws?
Khun Sirichot: No, don’t panic. Thai government is not going to do that.
Jett Gunther: But they have not done that in the past?
Khun Sirichot: Yes, especially if you are buying a condominium unit or you have an account in Thailand, don’t worry. You will be treated as a Thai person. But if you are looking to purchase land and a house, make sure that you have an experienced person to guide you or provide you accurate information. So, if you have arranged everything properly, it should protect you somehow but not 100% like the condominium unit. So, for those who buy condominium units, don’t panic, okay? You will be treated as Thai. For example, like Ashton Asoke, you will not be treated differently. If Thai is affected on that, you will be affected on that at the same time.
Jett Gunther: But just to be clear like, in the past 20 years, 30 years where we have seen this military government takeover, this government takeover, this government takeover, the laws have not changed, right? For foreigners.
Khun Sirichot: Yes, they are not going to take effect, they are not going to affect the past. What has been done in the past, legally, don’t worry. But if you are thinking about doing something in the future, sometimes, for example, the government may extend or may allow the foreigners to extend their lease term from 30 years to 50 years, they may extend for the new government, just an example. It’s going to be like a brawl for foreigners, it’s not going to be damage.
Jett Gunther: But there has never been a government that in the past, they say they will pass a law that will ban foreign ownership, that has never happened in Thailand, right?
Khun Sirichot: As far as I know, yes. But maybe I am too young or something
Jett Gunther: But not to your attention, right? So, this is just something I want to address because I know, because foreign ownership has been the same all these years but we just want to talk about that and you say you are confident about the future as well?
Khun Sirichot: Yes, I mean, why do we have to make a foreigner unhappy when we want to keep them happy, right?
Jett Gunther: So, they can bring their money in, right?
Are Foreigners Treated Unfairly in Thai Court Cases?
Jett Gunther: So, one more question. So, we address that political uncertainty and all like that, and we are both pretty confident. So, the last question I have for you and thank you so much in case we do not get to do a sign-off is that there is a perception that foreigners are treated unfairly in court cases against Thais. So, I do not know if this is true or not, you can address that, but if so, what can foreigners do to ensure that they are treated fairly in the justice system?
Khun Sirichot: I have many clients that win the case against high developers, trust me.
Jett Gunther: Oh yeah? And how did they turn out?
Khun Sirichot: How can you be treated unfairly when you win the case? If you lose all the cases, it means you are treated unfairly but there are many cases that the foreigners win over the Thai. Even the well-known developers, if the well-known developers are so powerful why do my clients win the case? So, it means that we treat, we try to treat foreigners the same way. But maybe drug issues or like a prostitute or something like that may sound too dangerous for foreigners but it’s not. I could understand why some foreigners may believe that they have been treated unfairly only in a case against a Thai spouse. In that case, yes, the court may treat differently it’s not because of your nationality or because you are a foreigner, but because, most of the time, the other spouse are Thai women. So, in terms of Thai women, the court will protect, for example, custodianship. The Thai court would think that she is a mother, even in Thai couples the court will still think that she is a mother, she has the priority to guide, to have power as a parent, parental power. Even in Thai court, they will give that privilege to a woman.
The second will be maintenance because she is a woman. She has to rely on you, you are a man, you have a male party. You have to support and maintain your family. So, the court will have to ask the male party to pay for the woman. It is not because you are a foreigner, but because you are a male party.
And third will be the land because it was clearly stated and you know from the beginning that you are not allowed to own the land, but you accepted to take that risk. So, how can the court protect you in that case, it is not fair, right? But if you are talking about fair treatment, it’s a different case. And then, in the case of employment, if you go to a labor court, the judge in the labor court will adjust mostly in favor of the employee. So, if both are Thai nationals, the employer is a Thai and the employee is also a Thai national, the judge will still have adjustments in favor of the employee.
It’s not about your nationality, it’s not about you being a foreigner but just about a different aspect.
Jett Gunther: Yes, different circumstances. The circumstances whether you are the male party or because you are the employer, and that is something that is the case with Thai people between 2 Thai parties, as well.
Khun Sirichot: Yes, exactly.
Jett Gunther: So, Sirichot, this has been amazing. I am sure the viewers find your views very valuable and I seriously appreciate your honesty and your sense of humor with a lot of these questions that people are very worried about and you have been very honest with it. So, thank you so much for this.
Khun Sirichot: Thank you to you too.
Jett Gunther: So, just very quickly, how can people be in touch with you?
Khun Sirichot: You can send your inquiry to Siam Legal at [email protected] or you can go to our website www.siam-legal.com. So, if you go to our website, It would be really easy to contact one of our lawyers.
