Payment Instruction for foreign purchasers of condominium in Thailand
Under the Condominium Act 1991, non-resident foreigners who purchase condominium units bring in the funds to pay for the unit from overseas. That means that the entire payment must be transferred into the country as “foreign currency”. The beneficiary bank will issue a “Foreign Exchange Transaction” certificate which should be presented to the Land Department when registering the ownership of the condominium.
For each transfer, banks will only provide a “Foreign Exchange Transaction” certificate for amounts of over US$ 20,000. For amounts of less than this, the bank will issue a
credit note, which may be presented, with the confirmation letter from the bank, to the Land Office in order to register the condominium.
In case that you do not have a bank account in Thailand, you will remit the funds directly to the Developer account.
In such case, the developer, as the beneficiary, will obtain the Foreign Exchange Transaction certificate from the bank on behalf of the purchaser. The developer will keep all the certificates and/or credit notes with the letter from the bank until the date on which the ownership of the condominium units is transferred. In the event that the purchaser wishes to keep those documents, a request can be submitted to the developer.
If you have a bank account in Thailand the procedures will be the same but you will be the beneficiary and you will have to obtain the Foreign Exchange Transaction certificate from the bank by yourself.