When purchasing a property, be it in Thailand or in another country, conducting Thai due diligence must be a standard practice. Any interested party has the right to know everything about the property, its attached documents and the background of the person or entity he is dealing with and Thai due diligence can provide him with the right information.
Surely, it entails expenses on the part of the person wanting to purchase a property but these expenses are necessary to minimize if not to extinguish any possibility of him spending more than what he should because of litigation costs and lawyers’ fees in the future coming from an ill-advised acquisition.
It is understandable that property agents, developers or private persons dealing their properties may use convincing terms primarily because their aim is to sell or to reach a deal. On the other hand, those purchasing properties just have to employ various safety checks including due diligence to protect their interests.
The attached documents must be in order. Meaning to say, the land title must be authentic and it should also be the right type of title allowed to be sold, mortgaged or leased. Also, the applicable permits should be secured by the developer.
Further, if it is a development, the background of the developer must be closely studied like its financial capacity to finish the project and if it is not involved in any previous or ongoing litigation proceedings.
And lastly, due diligence will help determine if the details found in the title deed do reflect physically i.e. the presence of an access between the public road and the property. Additionally, Thai due diligence can help determine if the actual boundaries of the property do coincide with that of the title.
Any discrepancy of the documents and any involvement of the developer to a court case should raise a red flag to property buyers. This makes due diligence crucial to every property purchase as the earlier it is to be conducted, the earlier the discrepancies can be corrected or avoided.
Prior to any commitment or agreement with the seller of the property or before a payment would be made, the interested party must approach and consult with a Thai property lawyer. Apart from the points raised on this article, he must also inquire with the Thai lawyer the procedure that is due diligence and how this would benefit him.