How to Safely Buy Real Estate in Thailand

Buying property in Thailand is easy. Buying it safely is not.

Most foreigners who lose money on property in Thailand do not lose it because the law is impossible. They lose it because nobody told them what to check — before the deposit, before the contract, before the view made the decision for them.

This one-volume edition brings the buyer’s guide and the law together: the practical side of the purchase and the legal rules behind it, drawn from more than thirty years of real transactions.

First-time developers, off-plan purchases and the butterfly effect
The title deed illusion, and roads that are too narrow for the building
Leasehold, renewal clauses, “perpetual” leases — and the tenant who becomes his landlord’s shareholder
Land tenure, Thai companies, nominees and the 2026 crackdown
Condominiums, the 49% foreign quota, taxes and transfer fees
Rental guarantees, “my” agent, banking, financing, visas — and what happens on death

Sixty-one chapters, the checklists you need, and the twenty questions to ask before you pay.

I am a Swiss lawyer, qualified in Geneva in 1990. I came to Thailand in 1995, and from 2002 to 2013 I ran my own law firm in Bangkok, advising foreign buyers and investors. The Bangkok Post called me “the real-estate veteran”. Today I run FintechLex and Venture Capital Studio and share my time between Switzerland and Thailand