The transfer-day fee stack
Thai property transactions settle at the Land Office in a single sitting: the buyer pays, the deed is re-registered, and every government charge is paid there and then, by cashier's cheque or cash. As a seller you should know the stack precisely before agreeing a price, because who bears which line is a matter of negotiation, not law, and Thai market convention differs from what foreign sellers expect.
| Charge | Rate | Usual bearer |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee | 2% of appraised value | Commonly split equally, but fully negotiable |
| Specific Business Tax (SBT) | 3.3% of the higher of sale price or appraised value | Seller, where ownership is under 5 years |
| Stamp duty | 0.5% | Seller, payable instead of SBT once SBT does not apply |
| Withholding tax | Calculated at the Land Office; for individuals, on a formula using appraised value and years held | Seller, credited against final tax |
Two features of the stack matter for planning. First, the 5 year SBT threshold is a genuine cliff: selling in year 4 rather than year 6 costs an additional 3.3 percent, less the 0.5 percent stamp duty you would have paid instead, which on a large unit is real money for a matter of timing. Registration on the house papers for a period can alter SBT treatment for individuals, a point worth checking with counsel rather than assuming. Second, the withholding tax for individual sellers is computed by the Land Office on a statutory formula driven by appraised value and length of ownership, not on your actual gain, so it can be higher or lower than economic reality; it is a prepayment of income tax, and in some cases a filing afterwards can recover part of it. All in, combined transaction costs typically land in the 3.5 to 6.3 percent range depending on tenure and how the split is negotiated.
Pricing a foreign-quota unit
If you own a condo in the foreign quota, your unit's quota status is itself an asset, and it should be priced. In buildings popular with foreign buyers, where the 49 percent quota is full or nearly full, a quota unit is the only freehold entry ticket available to a foreign purchaser, and it commands a premium over an identical Thai-quota unit; in such buildings, selling a quota unit to a Thai buyer without pricing that scarcity is leaving money behind. Marketing should say plainly that the unit is available in foreign quota. Conversely, in buildings with quota to spare, no premium exists, and pretending otherwise just extends your time on market. Establish the building's current quota position with the juristic office before you set the price, not after.
Selling to a foreign buyer: their paperwork is your problem
If your likely buyer is foreign, their registration requirements shape your transaction. A foreign purchaser of a freehold unit must present the juristic person's quota letter and evidence that their purchase funds arrived in Thailand as foreign currency, the FET trail, before the Land Office will register them. Neither document is yours to produce, but both are yours to anticipate: confirm quota availability early, allow time in the contract for the buyer's inbound remittance to arrive and be documented, and make the sale and purchase agreement precise about names, amounts and the account receiving funds, since the Land Office and the banks will read them against each other. Sales to foreign buyers fall over more often on remittance timing than on price.
If the property sits in a company
Property held through a Thai company can change hands two ways: the company sells the asset, with the fee stack above applying as usual and corporate tax consequences inside the company, or the shareholders sell the company itself, transferring the property indirectly with no Land Office transfer at all. Share sales are common in the villa market precisely because they avoid transfer costs, but a buyer taking the company inherits its entire history, so expect deeper diligence, warranties and price adjustment for latent liabilities. And where the structure relied on nominee shareholders, a share sale transfers the legal defect along with the asset; serious buyers' counsel will find it, and the discount they demand for it is usually larger than the transfer fees the structure once saved. Sellers in this position should take advice on cleaning up or unwinding the structure before marketing, not during negotiations.
The agent market, honestly described
Thailand has no licensing regime for estate agents and no genuine multiple-listing system. Anyone can sell property, co-broking is improvised, and exclusive mandates are rare, so the default is an open listing spread across many agents, none of whom has invested enough in your property to market it properly. Commissions typically run around 3 to 5 percent, higher in resort markets, and the same unit frequently appears across portals at different prices, which buyers read, correctly, as disorder and an invitation to negotiate downwards. The disciplined approach is to appoint one capable agency, or a tightly coordinated pair, at a fair commission, with a single price, professional photography and an agreed strategy, and to resist the instinct that more listings mean more buyers. In the resale market, presentation and price coherence do more than distribution.
A realistic timeline
- Preparation, 2 to 4 weeks: settle common-fee arrears, gather the deed, FET evidence and your original purchase records, confirm quota status, obtain a current valuation.
- Marketing, 3 to 12 months: prime Bangkok condos in good buildings move in months; leasehold villas and oversupplied resort stock can take a year or more. Price for the market you are in.
- Contract to transfer, 4 to 8 weeks: deposit under a sale and purchase agreement, buyer diligence, then the Land Office appointment.
- Transfer day: fees settled, balance received, deed re-registered. Funds clear same day if payment mechanics were arranged properly in advance.
Sellers who are no longer resident in Thailand can complete the entire process remotely through a power of attorney, but the Land Office is exacting about the form: it must be the official template, correctly witnessed, and where signed abroad, notarised and legalised through the Thai embassy or legalisation chain. Build in several weeks for that paperwork, and have the withholding computation and fee split confirmed in writing beforehand, because your attorney at the counter cannot renegotiate what you did not settle.
If you intend to remit the proceeds abroad, the paperwork for that starts with documents from your original purchase. Our separate briefing on repatriating sale proceeds covers the FET trail; read it before transfer day, not after.
Selling well
A good exit is mostly decided early: the arrears cleared, the fee split negotiated into the contract, the quota premium captured, the withholding computed in advance so transfer day holds no surprises. AGP manages sales for clients end to end, from valuation and agent appointment through to standing at the Land Office counter with the buyer, and the consistent lesson is that sellers who prepare like buyers, with diligence done on their own file, close faster and keep more of the price.
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This briefing is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Thai rules change frequently and individual cases differ. Verify current requirements with the relevant authorities, including the Immigration Bureau, the Board of Investment, the Land Department, the Department of Business Development and the Revenue Department, and take advice on your own facts before acting.
Where a conversation helps.
Briefings generalise; your situation will not. We work with a limited number of private partners, and if any of the above touches a decision you are actually making, we would be glad to consider it with you, privately and without obligation.
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