Integrity Legal - Law Firm in Bangkok | Bangkok Lawyer | Legal Services Thailand Back to
Integrity Legal

Legal Services & Resources 

Up to date legal information pertaining to Thai, American, & International Law.

Contact us: +66 2-266 3698

info@integrity-legal.com

Condominium Transfer Fees in Thailand

See transcript of the above video below:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing condominiums in Thailand and specifically the transfer fees associated therewith.

The thing to take away from this video is there may not be just one transfer fee.  Depending on the given circumstances of a given case, there may be multiple different fees associated with transferring or conveyancing of a condominium from one party to another here in the Kingdom.  

Something for foreigners watching this video to be aware of.  Foreign nationals can buy condominiums in the Kingdom outright and gain freehold title pursuant to the Thai Condominium Act and if a given condominium complex falls under the bailiwick of the Act, it may be possible for a foreigner to gain freehold title to a condo.

That being said, there are still taxes associated therewith. There's a transfer fee or transfer tax which is assessed on all types of real estate conveyance here in the Kingdom by what is called the Land Department. Thailand utilizes a Land Department system. It is rather dissimilar to anything that we really have, for example back in the United States although there are some aspects of it which is rather similar to is called the Registrar of Deeds back in the United States, but they also have a sort of a tax collection function which is somewhat dissimilar to any institution I know of Stateside. That being said, the transfer fee results in an appraisal or I should say an assessment of a 2% of the appraised value of the property being transferred or the contract sale price, whichever is higher. So they're going to go ahead and set an appraised value or the contract price and then they are going to go ahead and hit the parties with 2% of that price as basically just a one-off tax associated with the conveyancing.

Now before you start saying "is there any way to circumvent this tax?" Well not really because in order to get the title transferred you have to go through the Land Department and in order for them to do that they are going to want their tax paid so it's essentially sort of like a fee for them signing off on a transfer of the underlying property.  

Generally speaking it is the seller's obligation to deal with this but as a practical matter these things factor into the overall sale price so you know even a buyer needs to kind of be aware of how these transfer fees operate.  It should be noted that this transfer fee is not the same as a duty stamp fee nor is it the same as the specific business tax which may apply, depending on the given circumstances, for example how long that condo has been in the possession of the seller is going to determine whether or not a special business tax is going to be assessed or whether or not a duty stamp fee needs to be assessed. 

But the thing to take away from this video is for condominium purchasers, yes there's a Transfer Tax there may be a Duty Stamp fee and there may be a special business tax fee associated with condominium purchase here in the Kingdom of Thailand.