Skip to content
View in the app

A better way to browse. Learn more.

Thailand News and Discussion Forum | ASEANNOW

A full-screen app on your home screen with push notifications, badges and more.

To install this app on iOS and iPadOS
  1. Tap the Share icon in Safari
  2. Scroll the menu and tap Add to Home Screen.
  3. Tap Add in the top-right corner.
To install this app on Android
  1. Tap the 3-dot menu (⋮) in the top-right corner of the browser.
  2. Tap Add to Home screen or Install app.
  3. Confirm by tapping Install.

Buying Condo in CM Advice

Featured Replies

Ah Poo I though you where asking for my address so you could give me B1.5 mill.

 

john

  • Replies 42
  • Views 2.5k
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Most Popular Posts

  • simoh1490
    simoh1490

    Not many people use a lawyer for a condo purchase but if you do, expect to pay around 15,000 baht.   Don't sign any documents written in Thai that you don't fully understand and the contents

  • In my experience you not need a lawyer. When you bought the Condo, then normally you pay a small about like a reservation fee. The rest will be paid on the land departement with a cashier cheque (easi

  • PingandSingh
    PingandSingh

    It has been repeated endlessly: no need for a lawyer purchasing a condo. It is throwing away money and pay for someone who will do absolutely NOTHING. There is nothing to do! The only thing he/she wil

26 minutes ago, jonwilly said:

Ah Poo I though you where asking for my address so you could give me B1.5 mill.

 

john

If I agreed, would I need a lawyer?

  • Author
On 3/4/2018 at 7:44 AM, simoh1490 said:

Not many people use a lawyer for a condo purchase but if you do, expect to pay around 15,000 baht.

 

Don't sign any documents written in Thai that you don't fully understand and the contents verified.

 

A maximum deposit of about 50,000 baht is sufficient to show good faith, 10% is way too much.

 

The deal can be closed whenever you agree with the owner, 24 hours later or a month later.

 

Agree and understand who is responsible for paying the tax on the sale, this will have to be paid in cash at the Land Office when the sale is completed - a 50/50 split of taxes is not uncommon.

 

Pay for the condo is cash or with a bankers draft at the Land Office when the property is transferred into your name, not before.

 

Property surveys are not common, you'll need to inspect it carefully.

 

Make sure the condo. is in the foreign ownership quota of 49%.

 

Make sure service charges are paid up to the date of transfer.

 

You'll need a letter from your bank or a Foreign Exchange Certificate stating that the funds you intend to use for this purchase came from outside Thailand, the Land Office will not let the sale proceed without this letter.

 

DO NOT pay any money to agents for any reason.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awesome, thanks

Wouldn't a lawyer be expected to investigate if the condo has a proper management structure, with owners paying in and a proper "sinking fund" for anticipated future maintenance needs?  And that there is an owners committee that meets regularly, with minutes, etc?  

1 minute ago, NancyL said:

Wouldn't a lawyer be expected to investigate if the condo has a proper management structure, with owners paying in and a proper "sinking fund" for anticipated future maintenance needs?  And that there is an owners committee that meets regularly, with minutes, etc?  

:cheesy:

12 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

:cheesy:

So, I guess that means, no?  If so, then I guess it's up to the buyer to investigate these issues, which I imagine would be important, right?

7 minutes ago, NancyL said:

So, I guess that means, no?  If so, then I guess it's up to the buyer to investigate these issues, which I imagine would be important, right?

I'm sorry Nancy I couldn't resist. You are of course correct, those things do need to be checked but it's my experience that the lawyer will not do so, not unless you specifically request them, in which case I suspect the fee will be increased.

2 hours ago, NancyL said:

Wouldn't a lawyer be expected to investigate if the condo has a proper management structure, with owners paying in and a proper "sinking fund" for anticipated future maintenance needs?  And that there is an owners committee that meets regularly, with minutes, etc?  

why engage a lawyer ?.where your own diligeince test can provide the same answers   clearly your knowledge and experience on such matters is zilch as per usual

1 hour ago, evenstevens said:

why engage a lawyer ?.where your own diligeince test can provide the same answers   clearly your knowledge and experience on such matters is zilch as per usual

E/S this is one where I will grant that my experience in buying a condo is zilch, but not "per usual" about other matters.

 

Hubby and I are thinking about maybe buying a fixer-uper condo , although the one time in our lives that we hired a contractor and built a house it didn't work out well.  It's always been better for us to get a place where we could see the "bones" and then just do cosmetic makeovers.  

  • 4 weeks later...
On 3/7/2018 at 11:45 AM, NancyL said:

Wouldn't a lawyer be expected to investigate if the condo has a proper management structure, with owners paying in and a proper "sinking fund" for anticipated future maintenance needs?  And that there is an owners committee that meets regularly, with minutes, etc?  

The lawyer would only be able to obtain AGM invitation and meeting minutes from the Land Office.

 

To get the financial report, they need to ask the seller, and if the seller does not have it, the seller should request it from the JPM.

 

For committee meetings, the seller would have to ask the chairman, unless the committee makes meeting minutes available to co-owners.

 

So this is not normally done by a lawyer, and even given the financial report, it might not be straightforward reading.

 

It would probably be best to simply get the JPM to issue a document with answers to relevant questions, like what is the current management fee and is there any plans to increase it, is there any big renovation work planned in the future, how much is in the sinking fund in total and per co-owner, etc.

 

But what should the potential buyer do given answers to the above? It would be ridiculous to cancel a purchase of a nice condo just because the sinking fund has been drained; but it might be reasonable to ask for a discount based on the financial state of the building.

Glad to hear that news, Nancy.  Welcome you and dear other to continue residence in CM.  Forgot about Borneo, too damn hot too often.

Create an account or sign in to comment

Recently Browsing 0

  • No registered users viewing this page.

Account

Navigation

Search

Search

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.