Verify of residential property documents

You need to locate a Department of Lands office because they maintain all property records.  I'm not sure if each Bangkok district has office but using Google Maps zoomed on Bangkok metropolitan area search for "Department of Lands".

Thank you.

In Thailand a condominium is defined as a building that contains units for individual ownership.
Do you know whether only the land on which the building sits (and the developer of the condo) is registered or all individual ownership of the single units?

Thank you again.

Condo building is registered as juristic person and a chanote will be issued by Department of Land that shows the land/building plot in the name of the condo building and should be keep in building management office.

The land office will also issue one chanote for each individual condo unit that will provide dimensions for that unit.  This chanote is proof of ownership and belongs to condo unit owner.  The rear of this chanote is used to track change of ownership for unit.

When looking for condo I would avoid any buildings that are leasehold which means the building is sitting on leased land.  Most buildings are freehold but there are a few in Bangkok that are on leased land.

I suggest you Google search for "samuiforsale" because site has lots of useful info in one location.

Very valuable information.
Thank you very much.

Buying from plan or a brand new building you are dealing with the builder/owner so you are in safe hands.

On a second hand property ask for a copy of the chanote and the owners ID.

If there is al oan the bank/lender's name will be the last name on the back. They must be present at the land office as they get paid before the owner/at the same time really. Then you may be asked to pay a deposit as banks can take weeks to give you an appointment

If there is no loan then do not pay a deposit. Offer to settle in 7 days and go there personally with a Thai who's ability to talk and read is all she/he needs to do.

Have 2000 baht handy and slip it to the person serving you and you will be in and out in no time.

I have done so many of these I have lost count and never had a problem

If you are not paying until the day of transfer you do not have a worry in the world

Chalanda wrote:

Buying from plan or a brand new building you are dealing with the builder/owner so you are in safe hands.

On a second hand property ask for a copy of the chanote and the owners ID.

If there is al oan the bank/lender's name will be the last name on the back. They must be present at the land office as they get paid before the owner/at the same time really. Then you may be asked to pay a deposit as banks can take weeks to give you an appointment

If there is no loan then do not pay a deposit. Offer to settle in 7 days and go there personally with a Thai who's ability to talk and read is all she/he needs to do.

Have 2000 baht handy and slip it to the person serving you and you will be in and out in no time.

I have done so many of these I have lost count and never had a problem

If you are not paying until the day of transfer you do not have a worry in the world

Thank you very much.
Really very helpful.

I have read when foreigners buy a condo, the money must come from abroad (not from a Thai bank). Is that correct?

How does the handover work? The money is not transferred from abroad in a short time. So the transfer (money against deed of ownership) cannot take place during the visit to the land office.

Hi Maverick

I'm Chalanda's better half :0) It's hard fro her to explain everything so she asked for my help.

If you don't already have an account you should tell the bank you want to open one "For the specific purpose of buying a condominium"

You then transfer the fund in whatever currency Euro Pounds $$$$ whatever and the bank here does the exchange.

3 days before settlement you go to the bank and tell them you need a bank cashiers cheque or equivalent.

Note. The bank will also give you a letter of confirmation to say the money came from outside Thailand which you will take to the land office with you.

The Cheque or more likely 2 cheques will be made out to the current owner and you pick them up the next day.

Now the tricky bit :0) This applies to second hand condos not brand new condos where the tax is much less.

There are taxes to pay on 2nd hand properties and they must be paid in cash. Land office don't take cheques cashier or otherwise. They are less but use 6% of the purchase price and you cant go wrong.

They come to around 5.8% of the purchase price Plus if there is an agent involved they get 3%.

The best way is to tell the seller you will pay the agent and he can pay the taxes and make your offer accordingly.

They will know what the value the land office have on the condo. You may be paying say 5 million but the registered value will perhaps be 3 million and that is the amount they will want to pay the tax on. Hence 2 cheques. Common practice in Thailand

So as I say don't get involved with the tax let the seller handle that. All you do is pay them whichever way they ask you to.

So on the day on a 5m Baht purchase all inclusive you would take 1 cheque for 3 million they would show the land office. Plus one cheque for say 1.5 million and 500,000 in cash.

At some point during the transaction they will ask for the 3m cheque as the officer will copy it. They will have been given a tip of 2000 Baht to 4,000 baht because you and the seller 50/50 like the service Duh!!!!! Better knows as a bung :0) Amazing how it speeds things up

when your name is going on the chanote they will ask them to pay the tax at a window within the land office. You then give them the 350,000 and they go and pay usually  at a window within the same room


Make sure you get the receipts. Should you ever sell and want to transfer the money out of a country you will need them.

Don't need a lawyer all you need is common sense.

I know lawyers who will charge  50k but your real estate agent should be able to handle all this for you included in their commission. They usually have a girl and pay her 5 to10.000 baht which ensures they turn up on the day

Don't know if you have an agent but my advice is get one. They know the good and bad areas and condos and can usually get you a decent discount on price to cover their commission. Bangkok can be a nightmare if you don't know your way around.

Geo2k18 wrote:

Hi Maverick

I'm Chalanda's better half :0) It's hard fro her to explain everything so she asked for my help.

If you don't already have an account you should tell the bank you want to open one "For the specific purpose of buying a condominium"

You then transfer the fund in whatever currency Euro Pounds $$$$ whatever and the bank here does the exchange.

3 days before settlement you go to the bank and tell them you need a bank cashiers cheque or equivalent.

Note. The bank will also give you a letter of confirmation to say the money came from outside Thailand which you will take to the land office with you.

The Cheque or more likely 2 cheques will be made out to the current owner and you pick them up the next day.

Now the tricky bit :0) This applies to second hand condos not brand new condos where the tax is much less.

There are taxes to pay on 2nd hand properties and they must be paid in cash. Land office don't take cheques cashier or otherwise. They are less but use 6% of the purchase price and you cant go wrong.

They come to around 5.8% of the purchase price Plus if there is an agent involved they get 3%.

The best way is to tell the seller you will pay the agent and he can pay the taxes and make your offer accordingly.

They will know what the value the land office have on the condo. You may be paying say 5 million but the registered value will perhaps be 3 million and that is the amount they will want to pay the tax on. Hence 2 cheques. Common practice in Thailand

So as I say don't get involved with the tax let the seller handle that. All you do is pay them whichever way they ask you to.

So on the day on a 5m Baht purchase all inclusive you would take 1 cheque for 3 million they would show the land office. Plus one cheque for say 1.5 million and 500,000 in cash.

At some point during the transaction they will ask for the 3m cheque as the officer will copy it. They will have been given a tip of 2000 Baht to 4,000 baht because you and the seller 50/50 like the service Duh!!!!! Better knows as a bung :0) Amazing how it speeds things up

when your name is going on the chanote they will ask them to pay the tax at a window within the land office. You then give them the 350,000 and they go and pay usually  at a window within the same room


Make sure you get the receipts. Should you ever sell and want to transfer the money out of a country you will need them.

Don't need a lawyer all you need is common sense.

I know lawyers who will charge  50k but your real estate agent should be able to handle all this for you included in their commission. They usually have a girl and pay her 5 to10.000 baht which ensures they turn up on the day

Don't know if you have an agent but my advice is get one. They know the good and bad areas and condos and can usually get you a decent discount on price to cover their commission. Bangkok can be a nightmare if you don't know your way around.

Thank you very much.
Very enlightening.
I will follow your instructions.

My goal is to find an apartment in a new building and buy it directly from the developer.
However, my budget is limited (about 2 million Baht).
I will be in Bangkok for about 4 weeks until the end of the year (I don't live that far away) and will look at some projects (completed now or next year).

I have no idea about agents in Bangkok, but I will try to do it alone.

I will also try to get a bank account if possible without a Thai address.

I would be very grateful if you could recommend me a good agent, an interpreter and a bank via PM.

Also I would be interested in recommendations about good projects towards Don Mueang (or on the other side up to BTS On Nut), not far away from BTS or MRT, but a bit away from the center.
I've read your wife's Expat.com profil and think you're also working on new condo projects and will therefore know about the quality of construction.

Thank you very much again.

With your budget I would be a bit wary of buying a new condo from plan or one that is not yet established.

The problem with low end condos is they also keep juristic fees low to help sell and  are aimed at what Thais can afford. or get a mortgage for.

As a result within a couple of years when the hallways need painting or the lift keeps breaking down they don't have the money to fix them.

I have a friend who had a 2 mllion baht condo in @**** in Udomsuk he sold recently. Not the worst building nice pool but 1 lift in his building hasn't worked all year and they told him they won't have enough money to fix it until Feb. The walls in the corridors are very dirty and they have no plans to paint anytime soon.

I don't mean to be derogatory but we call them Thai condos in the trade because they are not kept up to western standards.

So you may buy a nice shiny studio for 2 million and in 5 years it will be worth 1.5 million.

What you should go for is something about 3 years old where the building interior still looks in good condition.

The problem you have is once a condo is on the web it's there till the cows come home.


I have sent you a PM

The following are the list of cost that the land department collects when transferring ownership of second hand property. 

1.  Transfer Fee is 2% - buyer responsibility unless split with seller.
2.  Business Tax of 3.3% - due unless seller meets requirements that make tax not owed - Seller responsibility.
3.  Stamp Duty Tax of 0.5% - due only if Business Tax not owed - seller responsibility.
4.  Withholding Tax of 1% if property company owned or progressive rate if private person - seller responsibility.

Note:  I don't remember which items above are on appraised value or sale price.

Remember the negotiated purchase contract both parties sign determines which cost you will pay.

I did not nor would I ever consider paying taxes or broker commission that are seller responsibility in my opinion.

Straydog wrote:

The following are the list of cost that the land department collects when transferring ownership of second hand property. 

1.  Transfer Fee is 2% - buyer responsibility unless split with seller.
2.  Business Tax of 3.3% - due unless seller meets requirements that make tax not owed - Seller responsibility.
3.  Stamp Duty Tax of 0.5% - due only if Business Tax not owed - seller responsibility.
4.  Withholding Tax of 1% if property company owned or progressive rate if private person - seller responsibility.

Note:  I don't remember which items above are on appraised value or sale price.

Remember the negotiated purchase contract both parties sign determines which cost you will pay.

I did not nor would I ever consider paying taxes or broker commission that are seller responsibility in my opinion.

Thank you.

I will be looking at a few condominiums by the end of the year and hope to find something that fits my budget.

If I only have to pay 2% of the total of about 6% taxes I am already satisfied.