Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Environmental Impact Assessments. These are often associated with real estate developments here in Thailand. Not unlike Environmental Impact Assessments that occur in development projects in other jurisdictions, for example the United States depending on where you located, may or may not require a rather in-depth EIA. For that reason, it is a good idea to have at least a working knowledge of how this works. 

Here in Thailand, there are some specific issues associated with this and a fine point was brought to my attention on this in an article from the Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com, the article is titled: Real Estate Market in Phuket: Pros and Cons. It is a really good article here; a lot of information in this article. It is quite a long article. It is very lengthy, it has got a lot of insight in it. I urge those who are watching this video to go and check that out because we are just going to be quoting a tiny excerpt here. Quoting directly: "Another point investors should be aware of is that any development has to be approved by an Environmental Impact Assessment before the beginning of construction but that does not stop developers from marketing units already. Changes in legislation or unforeseen problems on the land can lead to changes, delays or even full construction freeze." That is a good point this article brings up. Again when buying "Off plan", when buying something that has yet to be developed here in Thailand with respect to Real Estate Development, with respect to a property purchase, it is a really, really good idea to go ahead and do one's due diligence and in my opinion it is a good idea to go ahead and contact a legal professional who has got some insight and guidance into how these things work; has got some insight and guidance into the inner workings of the market itself, and perhaps there can be some due diligence be done on the developer themselves, their history, whether they have no history whatsoever; whether they have extensive history; if they do have extensive history of doing developments in Thailand whether or not they have a good reputation etc., because making property purchases especially those that are still under construction or have yet to go under construction, I find that a lot of Westerners especially tend to make a lot of presumptions or assumptions about how things work in Thailand because that is how things work in their home country. Then they come to Thailand and they come to find out well it actually doesn't work quite the same way here in Thailand as it worked where they come from. For this reason, they can find themselves falling into some serious pitfalls. 

So again it is probably a good idea if you look to purchase property or you are looking into the Thai Property Market to go ahead and contact a legal professional before making any irrevocable decisions especially with respect to making fund transfers associated with any commitment to the project because due diligence is always a good idea and it is always a good idea that be done sooner rather than later.