A resale condominium can be excellent value: finished, inspectable, often in a building whose management record is a matter of fact rather than promise. But you are also inheriting a unit's history. This checklist covers what to verify between liking a unit and placing a deposit — and what to keep conditional until transfer.
What should I check on the title deed and the seller?
Three things, from a copy of the unit title deed: the registered owner is the person selling to you (or has documented authority to sell), the unit and floor area described match what you viewed, and the encumbrance section — any mortgage must be discharged at or before transfer, which is normal and handled at the Land Department on the day, but should be planned, not discovered.
If the seller is abroad and acting through a power of attorney, have the instrument verified — it must be in the prescribed form, and irregular POAs are a recurring source of failed transfers.
How do I check the building's financial health?
Ask for three documents: the debt-free letter, the sinking fund balance and the minutes of the last annual general meeting. Section 29 of the Condominium Act B.E. 2522 (1979) requires a certificate from the condominium juristic person that the unit owes no common expenses before the Land Department will register a transfer, so the debt-free letter is produced in any event. Insist on seeing the position early: arrears follow the unit, and a seller who is behind on fees needs to clear them from the proceeds. While you are at it, ask about the sinking fund balance, any planned special assessments — façade work, lift replacement, waterproofing — and whether the building carries proper insurance. A beautiful unit in an underfunded building is a deferred bill.
Reading the minutes of the last annual general meeting is the quickest honest picture of a building: disputes, projects, budget health and management quality are all there.
Does a sitting tenant or the foreign quota affect a resale purchase?
Both can, and both belong in the contract rather than in a conversation. Confirm the foreign quota position with the juristic person before you commit, and make your deposit conditional on the quota letter being issued at transfer. If you are buying from a foreign owner, the transfer is quota-neutral, which is one of the quiet advantages of foreign-to-foreign resales.
Ask whether anyone occupies the unit. A tenancy survives the sale — §569 of the Civil and Commercial Code keeps a lease alive when ownership is transferred, and §538 means a lease of up to three years binds the new owner even unregistered — so if the unit is tenanted, decide whether you are buying an investment with income in place or need vacant possession, and write the answer into the contract.
What must the reservation and sale agreements say?
Between them, the price, the deposit and every condition on which it comes back. The reservation agreement should state the price, the deposit and precisely when it is refundable — quota unavailable, title defect, seller default. The sale and purchase agreement should allocate transfer fees and taxes explicitly, set the transfer date, and list what stays with the unit: furniture, fixtures, parking space rights, remaining warranty items.
This is the point where a legal review earns its fee: title search, contract review and attendance at transfer are exactly the scope of the due diligence and transfer packages offered by Suwanvara Law Firm under a separate engagement. It is never required — but on a resale with any complexity, it is money well placed.
- Unit title deed copy — owner, area, encumbrances
- Seller identity or verified power of attorney
- Debt-free letter and common-fee arrears position
- Sinking fund balance, planned assessments, building insurance
- Latest AGM minutes
- Foreign quota confirmation, rechecked at transfer
- Tenancy status and vacant-possession terms
- Deposit refund conditions in writing
- Explicit allocation of transfer fees and taxes
- Inventory of what transfers with the unit
How do I buy safely from abroad?
By moving the money and signing the paper exactly as carefully as you would at home, and treating any pressure to do otherwise as a reason to stop. Due diligence answers whether the property is sound; this section answers a different question — whether the transaction around it is being conducted properly. Most difficulties foreign buyers run into in Thailand are not exotic — they are ordinary caution skipped because the buyer was 8,000 kilometres away, in a hurry, and reading a document in a language they could not check.
Money first, because money is the part that cannot be undone. Purchase funds should move by bank transfer from your own account abroad to an account whose name matches the seller named in your contract — the developer company for a new unit, the registered owner for a resale, or a bank escrow arrangement where one is agreed. A request to pay a personal account when the contract names a company, to a third country, or in cash, is a reason to stop and ask why in writing. Keep every remittance advice: you will need it at the Land Department anyway, in order to prove the funds arrived from abroad.
Then the paper. Never sign a document you cannot read. Thai contracts are commonly issued bilingually, but where only a Thai version exists, get a translation before signing rather than after — and be aware that where the two versions differ, the contract usually says the Thai text prevails. Read what the deposit buys you and, more importantly, what returns it: a reservation form with no refund conditions written into it is a reservation form that has none.
Finally, the people. You are entitled to know who you are dealing with and on whose behalf. Ask which company is responsible for the listing, whether the agent acts for you or the seller, and how they are paid — a straightforward business answers all three without hesitation. Pressure to decide today, an offer that only works through a company or nominee structure, or an insistence on going around the Land Department are each, on their own, sufficient reason to walk away.
None of this requires a lawyer. All of it is easier with one, which is the reason legal due diligence exists as a service — available through Suwanvara Law Firm under a separate engagement, or from any adviser you appoint yourself. It is never a condition of buying, and publication of a property on this or any site is not legal verification of it.
- Transfer purchase funds from your own account abroad, in foreign currency, and keep the bank's remittance evidence
- Pay only an account whose name matches the seller in your contract — never a personal account for a company sale, never cash
- Be wary of any request to pay a third party, a third country, or an account added by email at the last minute
- Never sign a document you cannot read; get a translation first, and check which language version prevails
- Get deposit refund conditions in writing before paying anything
- Confirm who is responsible for the listing, who the agent acts for, and how they are paid
- Confirm the foreign quota position with the juristic person, and keep the offer conditional on it
- Insist that the transfer happens at the Land Department, with the price stated honestly on the registration
- Attend the transfer yourself, or appoint someone through a properly executed power of attorney
- Treat pressure to decide, promised returns and nominee structures as reasons to slow down, not to hurry
This guide is general information for foreign buyers, not legal advice. Rules, rates and procedures change and individual situations differ. Legal review available through Suwanvara Law Firm under a separate engagement.