Your rights when buying a house or condo in Thailand

Three moments when your rights matter

1. Before and just after you buy. The sale contract, what the developer promised, and defects found after you move in.
2. When residents take over the estate. Buyers set up a housing estate juristic person (นิติบุคคลหมู่บ้านจัดสรร) to receive the roads, parks and other common utilities from the developer.
3. Once residents run the estate. As a member of the juristic person you can vote at general meetings, stand for the committee and hold it to account.

Which law applies to your housing estate

Older housing estates fall under Revolutionary Council Announcement No. 286 of 1972. Projects approved under the Land Allocation Act of 2000 fall under that Act, which was amended again with effect from 1 March 2026.

Both laws have the same purpose. They protect buyers, regulate how developers subdivide and sell land, keep common utilities such as roads, parks, clubhouses and street lighting for the residents, and make someone responsible for maintaining them and running services such as security and rubbish collection.

Condominiums follow the same idea under the Condominium Act. The common property belongs to all unit owners together and is managed by the condominium juristic person.

The standard sale contract

A developer selling land in a housing estate must use the contract form set by the Central Land Allocation Committee. Any term that departs from the form and is less favourable to the buyer has no effect (Land Allocation Act, section 34). If a developer uses its own terms to gain an unfair advantage, the buyer can claim back what was lost.

Two parts of the standard form are worth knowing:

• Taxes on transfer. The form puts the seller's taxes on the seller. See Who pays the transfer taxes when you buy from a developer?
• Defects. The developer is responsible for defects in the structure (piles, foundations, columns, beams, floors, roof frame and load-bearing walls) for five years from transfer, and for fences, walls and fixtures for one year from transfer.

Who counts as a consumer

Consumer law does not protect only people who pay. A consumer is also someone who uses a service, for example parking at a shopping mall, or who receives a free sample from a business. If something goes wrong, they can rely on consumer law too.

Three rights to know

1. A fair contract. Standard-form terms that give the developer an unreasonable advantage can be set aside under the Unfair Contract Terms Act.
2. Promises count. Advertisements, brochures and statements by the developer or its sales staff about what you will receive are treated as part of the contract, even if they are not written in it. See What the sales agent promised is part of your contract.
3. A remedy when things are not as agreed. You can claim if the property is not as described in the contract, falls below standard or is unsafe.

What a consumer court can do

In an ordinary civil case, the court cannot award more than the claimant asks for. Consumer cases are different. Under the Consumer Case Procedure Act the court can:

• award the correct amount of damages, even if it is more than you claimed, or choose a more effective remedy (section 39)
• order the business to replace a defective product instead of repairing it, or to refund the price and take the product back (section 41)
• in cases of injury, reserve the right to increase damages later if the harm turns out to be worse
• order unsafe products to be recalled
• make directors or shareholders liable where company assets were moved out to avoid paying consumers
• order punitive damages on top of actual damages: up to twice the actual damages, or up to five times if the actual damages are 50,000 baht or less, where the business acted unfairly, intentionally or with gross negligence (section 42)

A consumer who files a case is generally exempt from court fees.

Before you pay a booking fee

• Compare the contract with the standard form and ask about any term that differs.
• Keep the brochure, the advertisements and screenshots of the project page.
• Ask the sales staff to confirm important promises in writing. A LINE message is better than nothing.
• Ask to see the land allocation permit and the approved project plan.

Read next: Eight checks before buying a house in a housing estate.