Do I need an attorney? Condo purchase

[scubascuba3]

I reckon if you are the type of person who understands your electricity bill you maybe a detailed enough person to do your checks yourself. Those people who get bamboozled by the lecy bill maybe safer to get a lawyer

[newnative]

53 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

you seem to know about these things, if there is a mortgage on a property wouldn't the bank hold the chanote?

I believe they would.  My partner and I bought one condo with a mortgage and a bank representative was there at the transfer.   My Thai partner handled things but once the mortgage was paid off the transfer went through.

[CharlieH]

Troll coomments removed.

[Adumbration]

15 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

No.7 is in Thai so ensure you know how to spell your name in Thai before you go

This is true also but not at all offices.  Twice at different locations the attending land office officer translated my name from my passport.  On another four occasions (all at different offices) I was asked how to spell my name.  I just gave them a copy of a chanote where I am listed on the back (in Thai) as the usufructuary.

[Adumbration]

You don't need a lawyer because you don't need a written contract.  As I stated above just make an oral agreement with the vendor for the sales price with him to pay all taxes and transfer costs.

 

Then arrange a time to meet at the land office.

 

Written contract means a deposit....increasing the risk to the buyer significantly.

 

Oral contract means no deposit, no agent, no lawyer and no drama.

 

Or do you want a written contract because you are scared of getting gazumped in the present white hot Thai condo market?

[smutcakes]

2 hours ago, Adumbration said:

You don't need a lawyer because you don't need a written contract.  As I stated above just make an oral agreement with the vendor for the sales price with him to pay all taxes and transfer costs.

 

Then arrange a time to meet at the land office.

 

Written contract means a deposit....increasing the risk to the buyer significantly.

 

Oral contract means no deposit, no agent, no lawyer and no drama.

 

Or do you want a written contract because you are scared of getting gazumped in the present white hot Thai condo market?

And if you were trying to buy of me you would not get your condo... and if you came back after saying you would leave a deposit after all i would tell you to jog on. Clever dicks thinking they are so clever....

[scubascuba3]

8 hours ago, Adumbration said:

This is true also but not at all offices.  Twice at different locations the attending land office officer translated my name from my passport.  On another four occasions (all at different offices) I was asked how to spell my name.  I just gave them a copy of a chanote where I am listed on the back (in Thai) as the usufructuary.

In Pattaya they translated my name from my passport to Thai, but it's something you want to check, better to have the correct version in advance rather than trying to work it out there and then. They can make mistakes

[Adumbration]

5 hours ago, scubascuba3 said:

In Pattaya they translated my name from my passport to Thai, but it's something you want to check, better to have the correct version in advance rather than trying to work it out there and then. They can make mistakes

That is why I used the chanote with the usufruct.  It is link to my passport a copy of which is kept on file at the land office with the original usfruct documentation.

[Dante99]

On 12/4/2021 at 7:49 AM, Peterw42 said:

Simply put, you dont exchange the money until your name is on the title deed, and the land office wont put your name on the tile deed unless everything is in order.

You want to trust the land office go ahead.  Long history in Thailand of land office irregularities, I would not rely on them when for a small fee I could get a lawyer to review it.

[ed strong]

On 12/4/2021 at 11:21 AM, CygnusX1 said:

When I bought my Thai condo 3 years ago, the super efficient estate agent drew up the sales contract. I made an appointment with a lawyer to review the contract. After taking a few minutes to read it through, he said it was all OK. When I asked him how much I owed him, he said forget it, no charge. Can’t imagine a lawyer in Australia doing that! The estate agent then organised the transfer at the land office. 

if you have had a lawyer check the purchase then i would be sure to get something in writing that they have indeed done sufficient checks on it.

 

The issue being, as has been raised in this post is that you need something to fall back on, just in case.

 

After loosing hundreds of thousands of pounds through family purchases and loans in Thailand to Thai people, please double check everything and get it in writing and signed off by someone who is authorized to do so.

 

 

[digbeth]

On 12/3/2021 at 8:15 PM, Mark Nothing said:

Yes, you need an attorney to ensure the condo is free from debts or liens.

 

My buddy got burned for 5 million baht on his condo purchase.  The developer got paid twice for one condo.  My friend paid in full up front and in the meantime the developer took out a bank loan using the condo as collateral.

 

My friend got the title deed to the condo and lived in it for years.  But then he tried selling it and the real estate lady noticed there was a bank stamp right on the title deed showing the loan plus many years of accrued interest.  All in Thai language.  

 

So he went to the developer who didn't know anything about the loan outstanding and wouldn't make good on the outstanding debt.

 

After the sale went thru, 5,000,000 baht became 115,000 baht.

 

A great guy.  Too Trusting.  Unfortunate.  

 

If you can't read Thai I can see this happening, when a mortgage is recorded on the deed, the buyer name is on it, also the lender of the mortgage is on it in the next column, typically in an actual legit business, the bank/lender would hold on to the chanote, but in this case by the time anyone notice anything the developer would have been long gone with the money, who cares if the buyer is left holding the chanote. so seeing your name in Thai recorded in the back is no guarantee, even fake deed is known to happen too

[BritManToo]

26 minutes ago, digbeth said:

If you can't read Thai I can see this happening, when a mortgage is recorded on the deed, the buyer name is on it, also the lender of the mortgage is on it in the next column, typically in an actual legit business, the bank/lender would hold on to the chanote, but in this case by the time anyone notice anything the developer would have been long gone with the money, who cares if the buyer is left holding the chanote. so seeing your name in Thai recorded in the back is no guarantee, even fake deed is known to happen too

Safest way is to buy with a mortgage, the bank won't let anyone cheat them.

The lawyer is more likely to cheat you than help you.

[CygnusX1]

1 hour ago, ed strong said:

if you have had a lawyer check the purchase then i would be sure to get something in writing that they have indeed done sufficient checks on it.

Very good point. I wasn’t game to tell my brother-in-law back in Australia (who has a law degree) what I’d done!

 

The estate agent made the whole process so easy. Arranging to have my electricity payments auto debited to my bank account was way more complicated and time consuming for me.

[Naamblar2014]

On 12/4/2021 at 8:18 PM, aldriglikvid said:

the land office wont transfer the property unless any mortgage is cleared,

Sorry to jump in on anothers topic but I feel I have a horror story developing on a property that I registered a mortgage on.

 

I bought land in my wife's name many many years ago.  I have been outside of Thailand now for about three years and have recently become concerned that she has sold my car without my permission. Not a big issue on the car,  but the chanote that has the mortgage registered and mortgage documents were in the car.  She wasn't aware of this.  Now if someone were to present these to land office would they be able to purchase the land without clearing the mortgage and paying me the loan and considerable compound interest? I am worried that the mortgage documentation will have an old contact phone number for me.  I have tried to contact land office to update with my phone number so they will be able to contact me if wife attempts to sell.

 

I have emailed the Chonburi land office (may be wrong office) but haven't had any reply.  Does anyone have details of contact at Pattaya land office? Does anybody have any helpful contacts or tips?

 

Maybe I will post a new topic but maybe some answers here can put my mind at ease.

[scubascuba3]

7 minutes ago, Naamblar2014 said:

Sorry to jump in on anothers topic but I feel I have a horror story developing on a property that I registered a mortgage on.

 

I bought land in my wife's name many many years ago.  I have been outside of Thailand now for about three years and have recently become concerned that she has sold my car without my permission. Not a big issue on the car,  but the chanote that has the mortgage registered and mortgage documents were in the car.  She wasn't aware of this.  Now if someone were to present these to land office would they be able to purchase the land without clearing the mortgage and paying me the loan and considerable compound interest? I am worried that the mortgage documentation will have an old contact phone number for me.  I have tried to contact land office to update with my phone number so they will be able to contact me if wife attempts to sell.

 

I have emailed the Chonburi land office (may be wrong office) but haven't had any reply.  Does anyone have details of contact at Pattaya land office? Does anybody have any helpful contacts or tips?

 

Maybe I will post a new topic but maybe some answers here can put my mind at ease.

As you aren't in country you may need a lawyer to do the leg work at the land office, govt orgs are often unresponsive

[TravelerEastWest]

On 12/5/2021 at 2:39 AM, Why Me said:

The guys above listing points to look at don't know all the points. You are going to be at one end of a contract governed by Thai law. No poster in this thread has credible expertise in Thai contract law or the ins and outs of what to look for in a multimillion b. asset sale (prove me wrong - "I bought and sold 5 properties in the last 10 years" is laughable).

 

Get a reputable legal firm on  your side. Think of it as health insurance. You may hate paying the premium each healthy year but that proverbial bus could be around the corner. Heck, even 50k b. legal fees is 1% of a 5mil deal. It's cheap insurance.

Agreed!