How to buy a condominium in Thailand
When foreigners buy a condominium property in Thailand there is some criteria that is needed to get a freehold ownership in the buyers (foreigner’s name). Some buyers are confused about the 30 years lease of an Apartment and why that often is so much cheaper and it’s because it’s not a freehold.
You can buy a condo of-plan and then you have to wait 2-5 years until the unit is complete, that is a good way to get the good units and good prices.
We deal mostly with re-sales of Condominium units. They can range from as little as 50 000/Sqm and units with great locations and views can sometime pass 200 000THB/Sqm. So the first thing to do is to give us you’re spending budget, choice of location, floor level etc. We will then take you to the units that fits you. When you decide to buy you will have to put down a non-refundable deposit of about 200 000THB and we will transfer your unit in less than 30 days. Some customers use a lawyer at there cost to draft contracts, make a Due diligence and help with transfer.
This is what you need to present on the day of transfer to get a freehold.
Nr 1, The money to buy the unit most come from your bank account abroad and the bank in Thailand that receive the money needs to produce a FET certificate (Tor 3) of proof that this money is the buyers asset and that it comes from abroad.
Nr2. The Condos juristic person needs to prove that the ownership in the Condo is not over 49% in foreign ownership. This certificate needs to be asked from the Seller side and is called foreign ownership quota certificate. Takes 14 days. Most condos in Hua Hin has a very high majority Thai Owners, but there are exceptions like Flame Tree and Tira Tira Condo and there you can only buy from foreigners that is already inside the 49% quota.
Nr 3. The Seller also need to ask The Juristic Person for a Debt free certificate that shows that the owner has no debts to the Condo up to date.
These 3 certificates not older than 30 days will be asked for by the land officer doing the transfer together with the original Title deed, Blue Book and previous Sell contract issued by the Land Office.
Normally the buyer and seller share the transfer fees 50/50% and the buyer pays with a cashier’s check to the seller and cash to the fee in the land office.