Taking Handover of a New Condo in Thailand: A Practical Checklist

The email arrives: the building is complete and your unit is ready for inspection and transfer. It is tempting to book a flight, collect the keys and celebrate. Treat it instead as a working day with a plan: what you notice and put in writing before you accept the unit is far easier to get fixed than anything you find later.

This article is the checklist. The full explanation, including registration at the Land Office and what to ask about the warranty, is in our guide to condo handover and inspection. It is general information, not legal or engineering advice: an independent Thai lawyer should review your contract, and a qualified inspector should assess the unit.

Before you book a flight

Start with the handover clause in your contract. It says how long you have to respond to the completion notice, when the balance falls due and what happens if you are late. Then ask the developer, in writing, for the following:

• Dates for the inspection and for the transfer, and the name of the person who will meet you.
• A final statement: the balance, common fees billed in advance, the first sinking-fund contribution, transfer fees and taxes, and who pays each line under the contract.
• The as-built floor plan showing the final area of the unit.
• The furniture, kitchen and appliance list that forms part of your specification.
• Confirmation that the building has its occupancy approvals and is registered as a condominium.
• If someone will sign for you, the form of power of attorney the Land Office will accept.

Pass the final statement to your lawyer before you travel. The kinds of charges due on transfer day are explained in our guide to taxes and fees. Check your own file too: for freehold registration in a foreigner’s name, the purchase money generally has to have come from abroad in foreign currency, with a Thai bank’s confirmation for each transfer. A missing confirmation is better found now than at the Land Office; see our guide to sending money to Thailand.

What to bring on inspection day

Inspect in daylight, with power and water connected, and leave some time in town afterwards in case a re-inspection is needed. In your bag:

• The contract, the specification and the floor plan, printed or on your phone.
• A charged phone and a power bank, because every defect is photographed close up and from a distance.
• A small phone charger or a socket tester to try the sockets.
• A tape measure, a torch and coloured masking tape to mark faults.
• Your independent inspector, if you are using one, once the developer has confirmed they will be let in.

Walking the unit: start with water

In a tropical climate, water is where problems hide, and damp found late is expensive to put right. Begin there, then work through the rest of the unit room by room:

• Water: run every tap and shower, flush the toilets, fill and drain the basins. Look for low pressure, slow drains, sewer smells and drips under the sink, and check the water heater works.
• Damp: stains on ceilings, around window frames and in corners; standing water in the shower or on the balcony.
• Electrics: every socket, switch and light, and a labelled consumer unit.
• Air conditioning: each unit cools, and the condensate drains away rather than into the wall.
• Windows and doors: they open, close and lock, the seals are intact and the balcony door slides freely.
• Balcony: a solid railing and a floor that falls towards the drain, not towards your living room.
• Finishes: tap the floor tiles and listen for a hollow sound, and look for cracks, paint runs and badly fitted cabinets.
• Furniture and appliances: tick them off against the list in your contract, item by item.

An independent inspector with a moisture meter and a thermal camera finds what an untrained eye misses, such as damp inside a wall or a socket with no earth. Choose someone with no link to the developer or the managing agent, who reports in English and will come back to check the repairs. Fees are agreed directly with them.

Do not stop at your front door. Walk the lifts, pool, gym, car park, access control and fire equipment. A common-area defect belongs to every owner, so report it to the developer and to the juristic person, the body that runs the building. Ask the juristic person for the house rules too: they set what the building allows, from renovations and pets to letting.

A snag list the developer cannot ignore

A remark made in the corridor is soon forgotten; a numbered list with photographs is a document. A snag list that works looks like this:

• One defect per line: a number, the location, a short description and a photo.
• Delivered to the developer in writing, by email or on their own form, with confirmation that they received it.
• A written commitment to carry out the repairs, with a date for re-inspection.
• At the re-inspection, the same list, with each item marked fixed or still open.
• Any open items attached to the handover record.

Then comes the form you are asked to sign. Do not sign it as accepted without remarks if significant defects remain. But refusing handover or skipping the transfer can have consequences under your contract, for example on when the balance falls due, so agree the wording with your lawyer, not under pressure in the hallway. If the unit is far from finished, document everything and ask the developer in writing for a new date; what you are entitled to for a delay depends mainly on your contract.

The unpaid balance is usually your strongest lever while repairs are outstanding; how it fits into the schedule is explained in our article on developer payment plans in Thailand.

Taking handover from abroad

You do not have to fly in, but someone has to do the work in your place:

• An independent inspector who walks the unit, photographs it and writes the snag list.
• A lawyer who checks the final statement and documents and deals with the developer.
• An attorney who signs for you at the Land Office.
• A live video call from the unit on inspection day, so you see with your own eyes what the report describes.

A power of attorney signed outside Thailand has to meet form and certification requirements. Check them with your lawyer before you visit a notary, not after. Our article on buying property in Thailand without flying in covers the practical side of working at a distance, and the guide to buying remotely goes into more detail.

After the keys

Handover and ownership are not the same event. Ownership passes only on registration at the Land Office, and before you leave the counter it is worth checking the unit title deed: your name exactly as it appears in your passport, and the unit number and area as in the contract.

Collect the keys, access cards, remotes, manuals and appliance warranties, and photograph the meter readings. Register with the juristic person, move the utility accounts into your name and insure your contents. Keep the contract, title deed, transfer confirmations, final statement and handover record together, on paper and in the cloud: you will need them for letting, tax reporting and the day you sell.

Some defects only appear once the unit is lived in or after heavy rain. What the developer must repair after handover, and for how long, is set by your contract and Thai law: ask in writing what the warranty covers before you sign, and claim in writing, with dates and photos, if something appears later. If you plan to let the unit, start with our guides to rental and property management and ongoing ownership costs.

A ROMA ThaiProperty manager can request the final statement, the as-built plan and the inspection and transfer dates from the developer, explain in English what the handover and warranty clauses say, pass your snag list on and follow up on the repairs. Whether and when to sign remains your decision, made with your lawyer. Still choosing a unit? Start with new developments in Pattaya or new developments in Phuket: where the completion date is recorded in our database, the project page shows it as a planned completion.