Category: FAQ (17)

The most frequently asked questions.

The choice here is depends on your specific requirements and opportunities. You are buying something almost completed or under construction on the middle stage, or on the pre-sale when the project even not started yet, in this case the buyer can get the cheapest price, and will need to wait about 2-3 years until the project will be completed, but at the same time you receive interest-free payment by the installments for the whole period of construction.

If you interested in the secondary market of real estate and you want to buy something ready, in this case you have to pay full amount at once. After you find the right property, you have to pay booking deposit during signing of the contract, which is usually 10% from the selling price, but this amount always discussable. Then, after all the documents for the transfer is ready, transaction should be held in the Land Office, where the buyer will get Chanote (Title Deed) with his personal name and the seller will get the rest amount in the same time. Usually the deal takes from 4 working days to 3 weeks.

1) Transfer Fee:

This Fee is paid for transfer of the property rights and should be paid in the Land Department where the property is registered.

This Fee is 2% from the market price of the Land Office.

2) Specific Business Tax (SBT):

The tax is raised from all individual persons and legal entities/companies when selling the property with less than 5 years of the ownership. There are some cases in which transfer of the property rights won’t be assessed with a SBT, for example, if the property is sold to the government and the deal is caused by the forfeit; if the property is gifted to the government or exchanged with another state property, and of course if the property owned more than 5 years.

This tax is 3.3% from the Land Office price.

3) Stamp duty:

This Fee is collected in that case when the SBT isn’t collected during the transaction (ref. to article 2).

Stamp Duty rate is 0,5% from the price in Land Office.

4) Withholding Tax (WHT):

Withholding Tax for individual persons doesn’t exceed 0.35%, based on the estimated rate according to the appraisal value of the property; the period of holding the property is also taken into consideration.

For the legal entities, if the company selling the property WHT rate is 1%.

Buying a condominium unit in Thailand is an easiest option for the foreigners, and they can own an apartment in the condo under his personal name and get a Chanote (Title Deed). In this case foreigner owns a unit 100% Freehold. But there also are some restrictions, according to the Thai Law there is only 49% of the total number of units that foreigners can register under private name, and the other 51% have to be registered under Thai or company name.