Glossary · Types of home
Condominium
Also called: Condo
In short
A building registered under Thailand's Condominium Act, in which each unit has its own title deed and the owners share the common property. The one kind of home a foreign buyer can own outright.
What it means
In Thailand "condominium" is a legal term, not a style of building. A condominium is a building that has been registered as one at the Land Office. Registration divides it into units that can be owned separately, each with its own title deed, and common property that all owners hold together: the land, the structure, the lifts, the corridors, the pool.
A building that looks the same but has not been registered is an apartment building: one owner holds the whole of it, and the homes in it can be rented but not bought.
How it works in Thailand
Each unit carries a share of the common property and a matching share of the votes and the costs, set by its floor area. The owners together form the condominium's juristic person, which runs the building and collects the common fees.
Foreign buyers may own units freehold, in their own name, up to 49 percent of the total floor area of the units in the building. No other kind of home in Thailand can be owned this directly by a foreign national.
What to check
- That the building is, or will be, registered as a condominium. Off-plan, unit title deeds are issued only after completion and registration.
- That your unit is sold within the foreign quota, in writing.
- The building's regulations, which decide pets, renovation and letting.
- The common fees and the sinking fund, which you pay for as long as you own the unit.