Condos

Thailand is a country that basically does not permit foreigners to buy land. However, it is possible for a foreigner to buy apartments and condominiums in Thailand. This is on the condition that foreigners don’t own more than 49% of the number of units in a single building. It is possible for a foreigner to sell the condo when required, and deposit the money into an overseas account without any hassles.

Foreigners can invest in property in Thailand if their spouse is a Thai. However, the property has to be in the spouse’s name, and it has to be declared that the money spent for the property is the spouse’s. However, in the eventuality of the spouse dying, the foreigner cannot claim the rights to the property.

However, this is not the case when a foreigner invests in a condo. Here, when the Thai spouse passes away, it is possible to legally transfer the property to the foreigner. If and when a foreigner intends to invest in a condo in Thailand, all the money that will be involved in the purchase, even the down payment, has to be remitted from overseas. The money that is remitted from overseas has to be converted to baht on the settlement day.
And when making this exchange of foreign currency, the Thor Tor Sam is an important document that the foreigner has to keep. This is the document that the foreigner is issued from the bank on the remittance of foreign currency to Thailand to buy the condo.

However, foreigners may face some complications and problems when buying a condo. This usually starts with maintenance charges that the Thai occupants of the condo rarely pay. With this, the foreigners will be expected to pay an increased share of maintenance of lifts, pool and common areas. Even the salaries of staff and over charging of many things will have to be borne by the foreigner.

There have also been incidents of foreigners, who had returned to their homeland, find their condos occupied by outsiders, while paying rent to the management of the condo, on returning to Thailand. The same condo unit is sold twice or sometimes condo units are sold to foreigners with an unpaid mortgage placed on the unit. Or the foreigners may get duped into buying condos that are sold with exaggerations on its area. Sometimes, management of the condo building has also been found tapping into the meter supply of the foreigner, so that they get free electricity for their apartments.

So as a foreigner, legally, buying condos in Thailand is easier than buying land. However, it is necessary that the foreigner be aware of the many ways Thai people may take advantage of the money of the foreigner and use the facilities provided by the foreigner’s condo.