SabaiProperty

Buyer guide

Before, during and after: a checklist for buying off-plan

An off-plan purchase runs over months or years. Most problems come from something that was not asked, not written down or not kept. This checklist follows the purchase from the first viewing to the years after you get the keys.

In this guide

  1. Before you reserve
  2. Reserving and signing
  3. During construction
  4. At handover
  5. After the purchase

Before you reserve

Set the budget and the purpose

  • Add the costs at transfer, furniture and fitting-out to the price. Our guide to deposits and instalments shows what is due when.
  • The price is in Thai baht and you pay over a long period. Decide how much exchange-rate movement you can live with.
  • Be clear about the purpose: to live in, for holidays, to let, or a mix. It decides the location, the size and which rules matter.
  • If letting is part of the plan, read the rules on short lets first. They rule out daily and weekly rentals in most condominiums.

Choose the project and the unit

  • Visit the area on a weekday and a weekend, in daylight and after dark. Check the road, the noise and what is being built on the neighbouring plots.
  • Check the developer: finished projects, delivery on time, and the approvals for this one (environmental approval, construction permit).
  • Ask for the full price list, the payment plan, the planned completion date, and estimates of the common fees and the sinking fund.
  • Ask exactly what is included: kitchen, air conditioning, wardrobes, furniture, parking.
  • On the plan, look at orientation (west-facing rooms get the afternoon sun), the floor, and the distance to lifts, refuse rooms and plant rooms.
  • For a condominium bought freehold, get written confirmation that this unit is sold within the foreign quota.

Reserving and signing

When you reserve

  • The reservation form should name the unit, the price, how long the reservation lasts and when the fee is returned.
  • Ask what happens to the fee if you do not go on to sign. Outside the cases the law lists, it is normally kept.
  • Do not pay a reservation fee to anyone but the developer, against a receipt in the developer's name.

Before you sign the contract

  • Have an independent Thai lawyer review the sale and purchase agreement and its annexes.
  • Check the annexes as carefully as the contract: the floor plan with the area, the list of materials and fittings, the payment schedule.
  • Find the completion date and what you are entitled to if it is missed.
  • Find who pays which cost at transfer.
  • Your name on the contract must match your passport and the name on the account you will pay from. The same name will be on the title deed.
  • If two people are buying, decide now whose names go on the contract. Changing it later costs money and sometimes is not allowed.

During construction

While you pay the instalments

  • For a freehold condominium, send each payment from abroad in foreign currency, with the purpose of the transfer stated, and collect the bank's document for every one.
  • Match every receipt from the developer to the schedule in the contract and keep them together.
  • Put payment dates in your calendar. The contract sets interest on late payments and, after notice, the developer's right to cancel.
  • Plan the balance early. If you need a loan or the sale of another property to pay it, start well before completion.

While the project is built

  • Follow construction: ask for progress reports and photographs, and visit the site if you are in the country.
  • Get every change in writing: to the plan, the specification, the price or the dates.
  • If you may want to sell before completion, check whether the contract allows you to assign it and what the developer charges.
  • Keep your address, e-mail and phone number up to date with the developer. Notices have deadlines that run from when they are sent.

At handover

Inspect before you accept

  • Inspect the unit yourself or with a professional inspector before you accept it. Test water, drains, electrics, air conditioning, windows and doors.
  • Give the developer a written, dated list of defects and inspect again when they are repaired.
  • Compare the measured area with the contract. Standard contracts adjust the price if the area differs.
  • Check that what was promised in the annexes is what was installed.

On the day of transfer

  • You pay the balance, your share of the transfer costs, the sinking fund and the common fees in advance.
  • You receive the title deed with your name registered on it, the official sale agreement from the Land Office and the receipts for fees and taxes.
  • Ask for the building's regulations, the house registration book for the unit and the handover of keys, cards and meters in writing.
  • If you cannot be there, a lawyer can act for you under a power of attorney on the Land Office's form.

After the purchase

Papers to keep

  • The title deed, the sale agreement and all receipts.
  • Every bank document for money brought into Thailand. You need them to register a freehold condominium and again to send the money out of Thailand when you sell.
  • The contract with its annexes, for as long as the defect periods run.

As an owner

  • Report defects in writing while the developer is still liable for them.
  • Pay the common fees on time; unpaid fees carry surcharges and block a later sale.
  • Expect a yearly land and building tax bill from the local authority.
  • Insure the contents and your liability. The building itself is insured through the common fees.
  • Go to the co-owners' meeting or send a proxy. It decides the budget, the fees and the building's rules.
  • If you let the property, follow the rules on letting and declare the income. Our guide to renting out covers both in general terms.
  • Make a will that covers your assets in Thailand, and take advice on how it works with the law of your home country.