Transferring Thai Land or a Condo by Power of Attorney (2026): TD.21, AorChor.21 and Signing from Abroad

Why only the Land Department's own POA form works

A Thai property transfer is a registered juristic act, executed before a competent official rather than merely signed between the parties. Because the POA authorises someone else to dispose of registered land, officials review its form strictly.

The Land Department prescribes the forms: TD.21 (Thor Dor 21) for land, buildings and rights over land; AorChor.21 for condominium units held under a Condominium Ownership Certificate. Foreign-drafted general powers of attorney are commonly rejected because their wording does not map onto the registrable act.

The authorised act must be named precisely — sale, gift, mortgage, discharge of mortgage, inheritance transfer — and the property described exactly as it appears on the Chanote or the condominium certificate, character for character.

• TD.21 — land, buildings, and rights over land
• AorChor.21 — condominium units with an ownership certificate
• Leave no blank spaces: strike unused lines and initial each strike
• Every amendment must be initialled by the grantor

Signing abroad: the two accepted chains

Route one is the shortest. Attend a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate-General in your country of residence and sign the POA in front of the consular officer, who certifies your signature. Because a Thai authority certified it, the document can go straight to the Land Office.

Route two is used when no Thai mission is practical. Sign before a local notary public, then legalise upward: an Apostille from that country's competent authority if it is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, or that country's ministry of foreign affairs followed by certification at the Royal Thai Embassy if it is not.

Either way, if the document or its certificates are in a foreign language, a Thai translation is required and the translation must be certified by the Legalization Division, Department of Consular Affairs. Land Offices do not accept uncertified translations.

Thailand became a party to the Apostille Convention with effect from 2 December 2025, which shortens the chain for documents issued in member states. It does not remove the Thai-side translation and consular certification step.

• Chain A: Royal Thai Embassy / Consulate-General certifies your signature
• Chain B: local notary, then Apostille or foreign ministry plus Royal Thai Embassy
• Then: Thai translation certified by the Department of Consular Affairs
• Attach a signed passport copy; the signature must match the POA exactly

What the attorney must carry on transfer day

The official verifies the identity of both the grantor (on paper) and the attorney (in person) before accepting the registration, so both sets of documents must be complete.

• Original Chanote title deed, or original Condominium Ownership Certificate
• Original certified TD.21 or AorChor.21
• Passport or Thai ID copy of the grantor, signed as a certified true copy
• The attorney's original passport or Thai ID card
• For a foreign buyer of a condo: the juristic person's foreign-quota confirmation letter and evidence of foreign currency remitted into Thailand
• Debt-free certificate from the condominium juristic person
• Spousal consent where the official requires it for a married grantor

Government-side costs to budget before you commit to a date

Transfer costs are computed at the Land Office on the day, based on the Treasury Department appraised value or the sale price as applicable. Any figure quoted in advance is an estimate until the counter runs it.

The main line items are the transfer registration fee, withholding tax on the seller, and either specific business tax or stamp duty. Sellers who have held the property for under five years without meeting the house-registration condition typically fall into specific business tax rather than stamp duty.

Allocate each line item explicitly in the sale contract. The most common closing-day dispute in Phuket is not the paperwork — it is which party agreed to carry which tax.

Rates and temporary reduction measures change by government announcement. Confirm with the Land Office before fixing a completion date.

Why POAs get rejected

Rejections are almost always formal defects rather than substantive ones, which is good news: they are fully preventable with a pre-check.

• A general or foreign-drafted POA used instead of TD.21 / AorChor.21
• Name spelling that does not match the passport exactly
• The authorised act described too broadly to cover the actual registration
• Blank spaces left to be completed later
• Translation not yet certified by the Department of Consular Affairs
• Title details mis-transcribed: parcel number, survey page, or unit number