How to check a developer on Phuket
Here is the good news first: genuine fraud on Phuket is rare. The ordinary story is much duller - a timeline slipped, or the finished unit was not quite what the rendering showed. Both are visible in advance if you ask five questions before you pay a deposit. Asking them is not distrust; it is simply how an adult transaction is done, and a good developer answers all five the same day.
1. What they have already delivered
A presentation shows you the future. Completed buildings show you how this developer actually works. Ask for the list of finished projects with addresses and dates, and compare the handover dates they promised at the time with the dates they delivered. That single comparison tells you more than an hour of conversation.
Then do the most useful thing available to you: go and stand in a building this developer completed two or three years ago. The condition of the common areas, whether the lifts work, the state of the pool and how the facade has aged will tell you more about build quality than any rendering. If you cannot come in person, I do this walk-through and film it.
2. Who they are legally
A listed company publishing financial statements and a private developer with a single project are two different risk profiles. That does not mean the second is bad - some of the best work on this island comes from small developers with one thing to prove. It means the second needs checking more carefully, and the checking is entirely possible.
What I want to see is continuity: the same company name on projects delivered five years apart, the same construction partner, a sales office that still exists after handover. A developer who has been on this island long enough to have unhappy owners and to have dealt with them is a better counterparty than one with a flawless record and no history.
Establish exactly who your counterparty in the contract will be: the developer itself, a project company, or a third entity. A contract with an asset-free project company is a different proposition from a contract with the group, and you want to know which one you are signing before you sign it, not afterwards.
3. Land title and permits
- Who owns the plot and whether there are any encumbrances on it
- Whether a construction permit exists, issued for this project at this number of storeys
- Whether an environmental approval exists, where the project is on the coast, on a slope, or large in volume
- Whether what is physically being built matches what was approved
4. The contract: dates, penalties, money
- Whether a specific handover date is stated, rather than a quarter with no year attached
- Whether there is a late delivery penalty, at what rate, and whether it applies symmetrically to you
- The payment schedule: what you pay before works begin and what is tied to construction milestones
- Whether an escrow account is used or the money goes directly to the developer
- The refund terms if the project is not built
- Exactly what is included in the finish and the fit-out, as an itemised list rather than the phrase fully ready to move in
- Whether assignment of the contract is permitted before completion - that is your exit route if your plans change
Instalment terms belong in this conversation too. A normal Phuket schedule is around 30% down and equal payments every six months over about two years, interest free, or a structure such as 35/25/25/10/5. Some developers also offer credit after handover for two to five years at 3.5-5%, with the title staying in the developer's name until the final payment. That last detail is not hidden, but it is rarely volunteered - I cover it in developer payment plans in Thailand.
5. What happens after handover
Who manages the building, what the common area charge is, whether there is a compulsory rental programme and whether you can leave it. A project where you are obliged to rent only through the developer's operator is a fundamentally different asset from a unit you control. Neither is wrong, but the price should reflect which one you are buying.
Ask about the running costs in writing as well: the common area charge per square metre per month, currently around 80 baht on most Phuket projects, and the one-off sinking fund contribution of roughly 1,000 baht per square metre. If a developer will not put those two numbers on paper before the deposit, that in itself is an answer.
Ask separately about the rules on pets, on short-term rental and on alterations. Those three points are the ones that most often differ from what the sales agent said in the showroom, and all three are written down somewhere.
If a guaranteed return is part of the offer, read who guarantees it and out of what. A guarantee from a project company with no assets is a marketing line, not a financial instrument. I explain how to read those in guaranteed rental yield in Thailand.
Where I hand over to a lawyer
I check the developer, the track record, the numbers and the commercial terms. The contract itself is reviewed by a Thai lawyer - my partners handle that, because I am an investment strategist and not a lawyer, and on a document that governs your money you want someone whose profession it is. The same applies to the full unit-level checks in the condo due diligence checklist.
In short
A good developer answers these questions with documents, calmly, and usually within a day. A weak one hurries you towards a deposit and explains that other people are already viewing this unit. The speed of your decision should never matter more than the quality of your checks, and any developer worth buying from understands that perfectly well.
If you are choosing between an early-stage project and something already finished, the trade-offs are in off-plan versus completed property on Phuket. The checks above matter most on off-plan, where you are buying a promise backed by documents rather than a building you can walk through.
I want to leave you with the proportion of this. In five years on Phuket, the problems I have actually seen were delays and disappointments, not disappearances - and almost every one of them was visible in the paperwork beforehand. Checking a developer is not an accusation and nobody sensible treats it as one. It is a few days of ordinary work that happens before your money moves, and it is the part of this process I genuinely enjoy. If the answers do not come back clean, we simply look at the next project.
- Projects I work with — developments where I hold direct terms from the developer
- Investment property selection — net yield calculated on specific units
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
How do I check a developer in Thailand?
What is escrow when buying a new build in Thailand?
What are the penalties for late handover?
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”
Could you check the developer and the contract on the project I am looking at before I pay the deposit?
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.
