Buying a condo in Thailand: eight steps from choosing the building to holding the title

Step 4. Where must the money come from?

From outside Thailand, by bank transfer. To register freehold in a foreigner’s name, the land office needs a bank certificate confirming that the whole amount entered the country from abroad.

The country of origin does not matter: a citizen of one state may pay from an account in another. What matters is that the funds crossed the border through a bank.

Cash handed over locally, or a transfer made inside Thailand, closes the road to freehold. The practitioner was explicit that offers to arrange the certificate after the fact are known to the land office and are challenged there.

Step 5. Why is the unit inspected before the final payment?

Because that is how Thai practice works. Instalments follow the construction schedule, tied either to dates or to stages, and the last and largest one is paid after inspection. With many developers it is 40–50% of the price.

Until the defects are fixed, the buyer is entitled not to pay. It is a strong lever, and it is the main protection a buyer has in a market without escrow.

Do not confuse the lever with delay. Buyers sometimes postpone acceptance by six months or a year, and developers tolerate it. In one case described at the session the developer went out of business while waiting, and finished but unregistered units were sealed until the owners proved payment in court, which took about a year.

Step 6. How is title registered, and how long does it take?

Ownership arises at the land office, and only once the building is complete. Until then the buyer holds nothing but an unregistered contract with the developer; there is no interim registration of an off-plan unit.

The transfer fee is 2%. It is usually split equally between buyer and developer, though no rule fixes this, and a developer may absorb all of it. A contribution to the building’s future repair fund is paid at the same time.

The title deed itself is often late. During construction the developer pledges the deeds to a bank and redeems them as final payments arrive. The usual wait is 3 to 8 months after completion; in bad cases it has run to 5 years.

Step 7. What to do straight after the purchase

Write a will with a Thai lawyer, in Thai. Heirs have 6 months to claim an estate; if nobody comes forward, the unit passes to the state roughly a year after the owner’s death. With a Thai will the court deals with it in a single hearing.

Tell your family the address and hand over copies of the contract and the deed. Units are lost precisely because relatives never knew they existed.

Find out who manages the building. Owners meet once a year, vote on how the common fund is spent and may replace the management company after its first year. A proxy can attend on your behalf.

Step 8. How do you get out?

Slowly. Selling a completed unit takes from 5 months to 2 years. There is no single listings portal, agents prefer new-build commissions, and buyers are found through social media groups, agency sites and messaging lists.

On the resale market the deposit is almost always non-refundable, and settlement normally takes place at the land office on the day of registration. The main fraud risk is a seller acting under a forged power of attorney, so the owner should be contacted directly.

The conclusion for a buyer is simple: Thailand is a market for long ownership. It suits someone who will live in the unit part of the year far better than someone who may need the money back within twelve months.