Under the 1991 Condominium Act, non-residents who purchase condominium units must transfer the funds to pay for the unit from overseas, with the money entering Thailand as foreign currency.
Purchasers need to obtain a “Foreign Exchange Transaction Form” certificate for each payment from the beneficiary bank, and all these certificates must be shown to the Land Department in order to register the condominium.
When the money is sent to Thailand, the purchaser needs to include in the transfer instructions that the purpose is to buy a condominium unit.
Banks will only give “Foreign Exchange Transaction Form” certificates for amounts over US$ 50,000. For amounts below this, purchasers must obtain a bank certificate from the bank.
If the foreign purchaser has Thai Permanent Residence status, they can purchase the condominium in Thai Baht (no need for a “Foreign Exchange Transaction Form”).
Transferring Money
The money must be sent by a bank Transfer, with a document identifying the name of the purchaser. Alternatively, it is possible for the buyer to ask a third party to transfer the money for him to buy the property by identifying himself as the receiver.
The purchaser has to include in the transfer instructions that the purpose of this money is to buy a condominium unit with the detail of the condominium and unit number.
The bank that receives money in a foreign currency will issue a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form, which contains the following information:
The transferred amount in foreign currency
The transferred amount in Thai Baht
The name of the money sender
The name of the money receiver
The purpose of the transfer
The Land Department will accept the name of the purchaser as either the sender or receiver of the transferred money.
If the money receiver is an individual but wants to put the unit in the names of two people, the sender must instruct the bank to specify the names of the two people together with the purpose of buying a condominium.
The Land Department also can accept the transfer even if the sender’s name and the receiver’s name are not the buyer’s name but the sender should instruct the bank to put the purpose as being “for the purchase of the condominium by (Purchaser’s name)”.
The amount of money must be equal to or higher than the selling price declared to the Land Department.
In order to obtain a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form, the amount of money must be above US$50,000; lesser amounts require the purchaser to obtain a bank certificate from the bank.
