How to avoid property scams and simply bad deals in Thailand
I am not going to frighten you, because fear is a poor guide to a purchase. In more than five years here the losses I have seen were almost never elaborate frauds. They were ordinary inattention to paperwork, and every one of them would have been caught by a specific check carried out before money moved. Here are those checks, in the order they belong.
Where losses actually come from
The picture people arrive with is a villain with a forged deed. The reality is duller and far more common: a deposit paid to a personal account before anyone read the contract, a unit bought outside the foreign quota, a lease described as ninety years when only thirty are registrable, a company structure sold as ownership, money transferred in the wrong currency so the title cannot be registered in the buyer's name.
None of those is a crime being committed against you in most cases. They are gaps between what was said in a sales meeting and what is written in a register. That is good news, because a gap between speech and documents is something you can check. Fraud is hard to defend against; sloppiness is not.
The paperwork that answers most of the questions
Before any money moves, a small set of documents settles nearly everything. If someone will not show them, that refusal is itself the answer, and it is the only red flag you really need to learn to read.
- The land title. For a condominium project, the chanote for the land the building stands on, and confirmation of who holds it and whether it carries a mortgage.
- The construction and environmental permits. Issued, not applied for. The difference between those two words has cost people whole years.
- The foreign quota position of your specific unit. Not whether the project has foreign quota in general, but whether this apartment on this floor sits inside the 49% of residential floor area held in freehold by foreigners.
- The developer's completed projects. Delivered buildings you can visit, not renders. What was promised and what was handed over, and how late.
- The contract in two languages, with the English matching the Thai, and the penalties for late delivery written in numbers rather than adjectives.
This is exactly the ground covered in how to check a Phuket developer before you pay and, for a finished unit, in the condo due diligence checklist. I run both on every deal I take, including the ones where I already know the developer, because a good history is not a guarantee about this particular building.
Money: the step where a mistake becomes expensive
Two things go wrong with money, and both are entirely preventable. The first is where it goes. A deposit belongs in the developer's corporate account under a signed reservation agreement that states the price, the unit, the payment schedule and what happens to your money if the deal does not proceed. A personal account, a cash handover or a third party's account is not a payment, it is a hope.
The second is how it arrives in the country. For a freehold registration the funds must come into Thailand from abroad in foreign currency and be converted to baht locally, and the bank then issues the document the Land Department needs. Pay from inside Thailand, or through a friend's account, and the title cannot be registered in your name no matter what anyone promised. The mechanics, and the mistakes that stall a registration, are in transferring money to Thailand and the FET form.
Structures sold as ownership that are not ownership
The most expensive misunderstandings in this market are not thefts. They are structures presented as something they are not, and they usually arrive with a confident explanation attached.
- Thirty plus thirty plus thirty. A registered lease term is up to thirty years. Renewals beyond that are a contractual obligation of the landlord, not a right recorded in the register, and the newer rules on registering long land leases are set out in registering a land lease in Thailand.
- Land in your own name through a Thai company. Lawful only as a genuine company with real activity, filed accounts and paid-up capital. A paper company that exists to hold a plot is a different thing entirely, and what that means for a buyer is in nominee structures in Thailand.
- A guaranteed return. A guarantee is a promise by a company, worth precisely what that company is worth, and it is usually priced into the unit you are buying.
- A furniture package included. Fine, so long as its specification is annexed to the contract rather than described in a meeting.
Off-plan: real risks, and how each one closes
Buying off-plan is not the dangerous option, and it is where the growth to handover of 20-30% in my practice comes from. It carries two genuine risks: the building is late, or the building is not what was sold. Both close with paperwork rather than optimism.
- Late delivery. Close it with a penalty clause stating a rate and a date, and with a payment schedule tied to construction stages rather than the calendar.
- A changed specification. Close it with an annexed specification and a handover inspection before the final payment leaves your account.
- An instalment plan you cannot sustain. The normal shape is around 30% down and the balance every six months over some two years, interest-free, or a schedule such as 35/25/25/10/5. Developer credit after handover exists at 3.5-5% over two to five years, and until the last payment the title stays with the developer.
- Buying remotely. Close it with your own lawyer acting on the contract, a properly drafted power of attorney and an inspection by video before the final payment.
The habits that make all of this unnecessary
Use your own lawyer rather than one introduced by the seller, and pay for that lawyer yourself. Never send money against an invoice you received in a chat without matching it to a signed contract. Remember that the developer pays the agent's commission on a new build, so anyone asking you for a fee on a primary purchase is charging you for something you already have. And treat every legal, visa and tax question as a question for a professional: I answer property, and I hand those three to the partners I have worked with for years, personally and by name. That is not caution for its own sake. It is simply how a calm deal looks from the inside.
- Investment property selection — net yield calculated on specific units
- Projects I work with — developments where I hold direct terms from the developer
Legal, visa and tax work is not mine — it belongs to partners I use constantly
I am an investment strategist: I select the property, calculate the net return, check the developer and run the transaction. Anything that needs a legal, immigration or tax qualification goes to specialists I have worked with for years.
- Thai lawyers — document and contract review, land title, registration at the Land Office, wills, powers of attorney, corporate questions
- Visa partners — choosing and filing the right route for your situation: investment-based, LTR, Thailand Privilege, retirement, DTV
- Tax specialists — reporting in your country of tax residence, treaty credit for Thai tax, declarations on foreign assets
- Company formation in Thailand — when a structure is genuinely needed and lawful
- Rental management and concierge — letting the property, transfers, yachts, events
I introduce partners personally, matched to your actual question, so that you speak to the specialist who handles it rather than to a general inbox. Message me and I will make the introduction.
Frequently asked
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Lyubov Fortunova
Investment strategist and founder of Fortunova Capital Group. I have lived on Phuket for more than five years and run every deal myself: I select the property, calculate the net return, check the developer and hold the process together until the keys are handed over. Lawyers, visa and tax specialists come from my own circle.
“I count net, not dreams”
Send me the project and the documents you were given, and I will tell you what is missing from the set before you pay anything.
I answer personally, within the working day, in any time zone. No calls unless you want them. A question about the article is free and commits you to nothing.
