Thailand’s residential property market has a plentiful supply of new projects allowing an investor to buy directly from the developer. In such transactions, their sales representative will guide the purchaser through the buying stages including any required legal obligations.
However, there is also a healthy supply of resale property. Buying a property either already built or lived in allows a purchaser to visit a physical property rather than inspecting just a show unit for an off-plan purchase.
In Europe and America, resale purchases are more common meaning that foreign investors are accustomed to this type of property purchase and like the reassurance of visiting a physical building to gauge its success.
Buying a resale property follows a similar process to buying off-plan. Once both parties have agreed on a sales price either directly or through a property agent, the next step is to complete the paperwork.
Firstly, a title search is performed to confirm current property ownership. This will also verify the property’s location and vital information like its size, which is important as this determines the property value. The search also ascertains whether there is a home loan on the property confirming how the sale funds will be allocated.
Next, the terms of the sale agreement need to be agreed. This legal document identifies the buyer and seller by detailing their passport or national ID card numbers and identifies the unit through the title deed, house registration, until number and size. Also included are the sale terms: price, relevant taxes due and transfer fee.
Typically a deposit is paid to secure the property while the paperwork is processed. This amount will be listed in the sales and purchase order and will avoid confusion when the remaining payment is due upon ownership transfer at the Land Department.
The norm is that a buyer pays the full price to a seller when the new owner is registered – the last stage of the property transaction. At this time fees are due including the registration fee, withholding tax, stamp duty for properties owned for over five years or the special business tax for those less than five years.
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