When buying Thailand real estate, certain costs directly related to your purchase will be unavoidable. Thai Property Group accompanies you in all your procedures and advises you concerning these charges.
In a condominium, the operation of the co-ownership is highly regulated, notably by section 18 of the “Condominium act”, which stipulates that the co-owners must jointly pay the expenses related to the operation and maintenance of the building’s common areas in proportion to the surface area they own.
The Maintenance Fees are these expenses, which are expressed as an amount per sqm. This amount varies according to the age and the different equipments of the building, between 25 and 60 THB/sqm. To help you, you can take as an order of magnitude the value 1€/sqm, or, for example, 75€/month for a modern 3-room apartment of 75 sqm.
For housing estates, the regulations are a little less strict, but the operation is basically the same. However, the calculation is not always exactly proportional to the number of sqm of land. The amount of the charges can be calculated with a combination of the built area and the garden area, or sometimes it can be determined by the type of villa.
What these charges include can vary from one development to another. Some separate the common areas from the private gardens, leaving each owner free to maintain their own garden and swimming pool. While others include this maintenance in the charges to ensure that each garden and/or pool is maintained to the same standards.
As a result of purchasing a new condominium, you will be liable for the “Sinking Fund”. This is a reserve fund payable only once, upon delivery of the building. This fund generally represents 1 year’s expenses. It belongs to the condominium and will be used in case of unforeseen expenses that are not part of the routine maintenance of the building, such as major improvements / repairs to the common areas.
The profession of notary does not exist in Thailand. Therefore, there are no notary fees for a purchase. The registrations are made directly at the “Land Department” in the presence of the 2 parties and/or their representative.
If you call upon a law firm to supervise a resale procedure, in particular for the production of contracts and the follow-up of the registrations, you will have to pay lawyer’s fees which vary from one firm to another and according to the type of transaction. Count between €2,000 and €5,000 for the accompaniment of a purchase / sale procedure by a specialized lawyer.
Another characteristic of the Thai real estate market: agency fees are systematically paid by the seller, and therefore included in the selling price of the property.
There are thus no agency fees on the buyer’s side and the selling prices displayed in real estate agencies include the seller’s commission.
DISCLAIMER : All the information contained in this FAQ is given for information purposes only and is not official information. It is a popularization of problems, some of which (property law and taxation in particular) require the opinion of experts and individual treatment on a case-by-case basis. Although TPG has produced this content in good faith, with the aim of providing information that is as accurate as possible, it cannot be held responsible if certain information proves to be inaccurate.