If you look at the building industry today in Thailand you note that many condo units are sold by what is called buying offplan. In other words the developer builds the property while taking in funds to complete the project. It can be risky as was shown in 1997!
There are a few things to remember when buying property offplan in Thailand. Firstly not every developer is above-board so to speak. You need to be very careful. The large well-known companies complete their projects however many smaller ones don’t as they don’t have enough funding. The idea is to complete the building on funds which people are paying upfront to buy property that is still going to be built. There are well-known projects all around Thailand where only part of the build has been completed and investors lost all their money. You can recover the money and many simply write off their investments.
When dealing with property never deal with an agent who is not authorised to speak on behalf of the developer. Many people make a commission on selling property however they have no say in the project itself and cannot legally bind the developer to what is being said. Always speak to the developer or their authorised agents only. What has occurred before is that agreements made with an agent was not included in the final contract. Remember that many of the contracts are in the Thai language.
Now there are a few points to remember when looking at property that is not been built as yet. Ask yourself are you willing to write off your money or not? If you are not then firstly approach a property lawyer in Thailand and ask them to do a due diligence of the property. This includes not only looking at the developers and their history in project management but also ensuring that the land has the correct title deed. Note our post on title deeds in Thailand and what can go wrong when you do not ensure that all the legal formalities have been met.
Also ask yourself why you are buying the property and if it is for a view of the ocean or city how sure are you that tomorrow some other developer might build a larger building next to yours blocking your view. These are all important questions you need to ask and when speaking to a property attorney in Thailand you need to be able to find out if there are any other buildings possibly zoned in front of yours that would block the view.
Interesting point was the View Talay development in Pattaya that ended up in court over the blocking of the view of the ocean. It costs huge money to litigate in Thailand and much easier and cheaper to ensure that everything is correct when you start. Ask the right questions!
If you need to speak to a lawyer today then pick up your phone and call us 24 hours of the day on our toll-free US or UK numbers or simply visit our website and speak to us online via live chat. Better yet if you are in Thailand then walk into any of our offices in Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Phuket or Samui for answers.
Do it now!
