PROPERTY LEGAL CHECK UP

In our experience 15% of sales will fail, delay or end up in higher closing fees than necessary due to sellers being unaware of the sale process, the documents required and the options available to them.

Before a buyer is found for your property and you begin negotiations it is strongly advisable to ensure ‘your house is in order’. We recommend to all owners looking to sell their property that they check the following through a certified lawyer in Thailand;

• That you have all the correct ownership documents to sell your property
• That these documents are up to date and match the records at the land office
• You have the necessary documentation (Tor Tor 3 form) required to take the sales proceeds back out of Thailand once a sale has been completed
• An estimate of the transfer taxes payable upon sale
• An explanation of the selling options available to you: can you sell the property leasehold or freehold, can sell the property with the land owning company.
• Whether or not you need to be physically present to complete a sale or you can give power of attorney to your lawyer now whilst you are here. It is not uncommon that having found a buyer and negotiated the sale price and terms that the seller finds: they are missing ownership documents, the tax will be much higher than they anticipated, they do not have a TT3 form from when they brought funds into Thailand therefore making it difficult to take the sales proceeds back out of Thailand, the freeholder/lessor is required to complete the sale…the list goes on! All of these are most likely to result in a lost sale or at the very least having to return to the negotiating table, delaying the sale and higher closing costs. Checking the above now before a buyer is found will ensure that having done all the hard work to find a buyer for your property you do not lose out. Through SRE we can now offer owners a Property Check Up through a certified lawyer here in Phuket.

Advantages

• Faster sale completion
• Smooth sale process
• Peace of mind for seller and buyer when entering into an agreement
• Property due diligence already completed in advance of finding a buyer
• Vastly reduce chance of losing a sale
• Reduce completion costs / transaction taxes
• Knowledge of sales process to completion
• Estimate of transaction costs / taxes
• No issue of repatriating funds / offshore payment
• Banner on listing showing the ownership has been checked by a certified lawyer: this will increase buyer confidence in your property and make it more marketable

See the options available to sellers below.

Option 1. Full Property Check-Up including land office check Cost – 20,000 THB

• Meeting at lawyer office in Phuket, ongoing telephone contact and email contact
• Check all ownership documents
• Check at the land office that records there match the documents you have
• Estimate transfer taxes
• Review of available sale options (leasehold, freehold, with Thai Co.)
• Confirm land zoning & building regulations (land only)
• Explanation of selling process and a third party needs to be involved (freeholder / lessor)

Option 2. Basic Property Check-Up Cost – 5,000 THB

• Meeting at lawyer office in Phuket, ongoing telephone contact and email contact
• Check all ownership documents
• Review of available sale options (leasehold, freehold, with Thai Co.)
• Explanation of selling process and a third party needs to be involved (freeholder / lessor)