Thailand Condo Purchase Foreign-Quota & FET Form — The 49% Rule, TT3 Rejects, and Phuket Transfer-Day Checklist

The 49% rule — how it is actually calculated

Section 19 of the Condominium Act limits foreign freehold ownership to 49% of the total unit area (not unit count) of each condominium juristic person. A 100-unit building where units range 30-150 sqm may have foreign availability of anywhere between 40 and 55 units depending on which sizes are foreign-held.

Before signing a reservation, always request from the Juristic Person Manager the current Foreign Quota Certificate (นส.7) — a stamped letter showing current foreign-owned sqm, total sellable sqm, and available foreign sqm. This document is the only proof that will hold up at the Land Office on transfer day. Developer sales-office claims are not legally binding.

Foreign Exchange Transaction (FET) form — the 2022 threshold change

Bank of Thailand raised the FET issuance threshold from USD 20,000 to USD 50,000 per single inward remittance in 2022. For transfers USD 50K+ per single wire, the receiving Thai bank must issue an FET form on request (formerly Thor Tor 3, now often issued electronically).

Below USD 50K: the bank instead issues a Certificate of Foreign Remittance (bank-letter format). Both are accepted at Phuket Land Office, but the letter format must state: sender name, sender bank, sender country, receiver name (must match buyer), receiver Thai bank, THB amount received after conversion, and purpose 'Purchase of condominium unit at [project name].'

Purpose codes — 318 vs 315 vs 199

Code 318 'Purchase of condominium': the correct code. Land Office accepts this without follow-up questions.

Code 315 'Real estate investment': commonly mis-selected by sending banks abroad. Phuket Land Office rejects — buyer must go back to the Thai receiving bank and request an amended FET with correct code 318.

Code 199 'Other': always rejected — treated as inadequate evidence.

Fix in Phuket: Bangkok Bank Chalong, Kasikornbank Central Phuket, and SCB Bang Tao all have Foreign Exchange Officers who can re-issue an amended FET with code 318 in 3-5 business days. Bring the original FET, a signed letter from the buyer requesting correction, and the sales & purchase agreement showing the condominium project name.

Aggregating multiple wires

If your total purchase price arrived across multiple wires (common when funding from several personal accounts abroad), each wire USD 50K+ needs its own FET; wires below USD 50K each need their own Certificate of Foreign Remittance. Aggregate a single 'combined' FET letter is not acceptable to Land Office.

Best practice for Phuket transfers: instruct all remittances to arrive to a single Thai bank account held in the buyer's own name, use identical sender name across wires, and settle everything at least 30 days before the target transfer date to allow FET amendment time.

What Phuket Land Office (Chalerm Prakiat) actually checks

Chanote (Nor Sor 4 Jor) or Condominium unit title deed — for foreign quota confirmation, they will cross-check with the building's foreign-quota register.

Sales & Purchase Agreement — must state THB price matching FET totals.

Passport originals + copies (buyer and seller).

Foreign Quota Certificate (นส.7) from Juristic Person, dated within 30 days.

FET forms / Credit Advices — originals only, no copies.

Tax receipts — Specific Business Tax or Stamp Duty, Withholding Tax (calculated by Land Office cashier).

Crypto, USDT, and 'personal loan' funding — why Land Office rejects

The Condominium Act requires proof that funds were brought into Thailand in foreign currency and converted to THB by a Thai bank. Cryptocurrency wallets, USDT transfers to Thai exchanges (Bitkub, Binance TH), and 'friend-of-friend' peer transfers do not produce an FET. Even if you off-ramp crypto to a Thai bank, the FET purpose code will not be 318.

Solution: sell crypto to fiat OUTSIDE Thailand (Kraken, Coinbase, Bitstamp), receive USD/EUR to a bank in your own name abroad, then wire that fiat inbound with purpose 318. This preserves the FX-conversion audit trail Land Office requires.

Due diligence before you pay a reservation fee

Title check: obtain a certified copy of the unit title deed from the Land Office and confirm the seller's name matches the passport or company documents presented. For resales, check the reverse of the deed for mortgages and registered servitudes.

Juristic person debt certificate: the building manager must issue a letter confirming the unit has no outstanding common-area fees. The Land Office will not register a transfer without it, and unpaid arrears follow the unit, not the seller.

Foreign quota certificate dated within 30 days — an older letter can be overtaken by another foreign buyer registering first. Quota is allocated at the moment of registration, not at the moment of contract.

Building permit and completion: for off-plan, verify that the condominium juristic person is registered and the building has an occupancy certificate. Until the juristic person exists, no foreign quota exists to allocate.

Structure check for older buildings: sinking-fund balance, common-fee arrears across the whole building, and any pending litigation recorded in the annual general meeting minutes.

Transfer-day costs — who pays what

Transfer fee: 2% of the Land Office appraised value. Customarily split 50/50 between buyer and seller, but this is contractual, not statutory — put it in writing.

Specific Business Tax: 3.3% of the higher of appraised or declared price, payable when the seller has held the unit less than five years and is not registered in the household register for at least one year. Where SBT does not apply, stamp duty of 0.5% applies instead.

Withholding tax: calculated by the Land Office cashier on a progressive scale for individual sellers, or 1% of the higher value for corporate sellers.

Sinking fund and advance common-area fees on a first transfer from the developer, charged per square metre.

Budget on the buyer side for translation and, where used, a registered power of attorney. Land Office cashiers accept cash and cashier's cheque; personal cheques are not accepted.

Buying by power of attorney when you cannot attend

Land Office transfers can be executed by an attorney-in-fact using the Land Department's own form (Tor Dor 21). A generic foreign POA is normally refused — the Land Office wants its own form, completed in Thai, with the unit's title details filled in before signature.

If signed abroad, the form must be witnessed at a Thai embassy or consulate, or notarised locally and then legalised through the chain accepted in Thailand. Once the Apostille Convention enters into force for Thailand on 28 February 2027, an apostille from a contracting party will replace the consular leg for documents originating in those states; until that date, the existing legalisation route applies.

Leave blanks at your peril: an unfilled Tor Dor 21 is effectively a signed blank cheque over the property. Every field should be complete before signature, and the attorney's passport copy must be attached and signed.

Allow four to six weeks for a POA executed abroad to arrive in usable form. This is the single most common cause of missed transfer dates for overseas buyers.

After registration — the obligations most buyers miss

House book (Tor Ror 13): foreigners may be recorded in a yellow house book, which simplifies later dealings with utilities, banks and the Land Office. Application is at the district office with the title deed and passport.

TM.30 notification: as a property owner or possessor you take on the residence-notification duty for yourself and any foreign guests. Failure is a fineable offence.

Rental income is Thai-source income and is assessable regardless of where the tenant pays. If you let the unit, register for a tax identification number and file the annual return.

Keep the FET forms and Certificates of Foreign Remittance permanently. They are required again on resale to repatriate the sale proceeds in foreign currency without further approval.

Verify the current fee and tax schedule at dol.go.th and rd.go.th before transfer day — rates and temporary reductions change by ministerial regulation.