Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing real estate conveyancing and contracts for real estate sale and purchase here in Thailand. Basically the point I am trying to make in this video is we get a lot of folks that contact us and they will send us all kinds of contracts to review and then we will end up oftentimes doing the due diligence and the conveyancing.

Frankly some of these contracts are kind of ridiculous and I don't even know why they get written other than maybe they are trying to sell to foreigners - and we primarily deal with foreigners - they are trying to sort of sell the foreigner on something that they might not otherwise want and so they are trying to make it look better in the contract; maybe that's it. We end up, to be frank, the process of doing conveyancing of basically, so for example condos. 

As we have discussed in other videos, it is possible for foreigners to own condos in Thailand notwithstanding the restrictions on foreign land ownership here in the Kingdom. Under the Condominium Act, it is possible if certain formalities are met, to receive what we call Fee Simple Absolute Title in the American Common Law vernacular sometimes call Freehold Title, what the Thais call Chanote Title, it is possible to receive that in Thailand for a foreigner if you meet certain formalities. But then we will see these contracts that are written either disregarding the need of those formalities or like it is almost as if they don't exist. 

Meanwhile, there are other types of instruments a foreigner can use to benefit from or enjoy I should say, Thai property for example leasehold setup; you can do a 30-year lease in Thailand. There is also what is called a usufruct (or usufruct) which is perpetual right of use; you can basically use the land for the lifetime of the person to whom it is granted, and that can be granted to a foreign national. So those exist, but again we will read some of these contracts and it's like they want it to be the way they want it to be but it is not in line with the law. And then it ends up being our task to have to explain this to the client who is oftentimes angry - sometimes that anger is pointed at us, I still don't understand why that is when somebody is trying to tell you the truth about something that could cause a problem for you down the road - but that's neither here nor there; we have to end up dealing with it. 

The point I am trying to make with regard to this video is take certain real estate contracts here in Thailand with a big grain of salt. Also understand, when it comes to conveyancing, when it comes to perfecting the sale of a given property or perfecting for example the drafting and effectively the registration of certain property rights like a lease, the actual process of doing that may not look like what's envisaged or envisioned in the contract itself, so probably a good idea to contact a legal professional before even jumping into all this stuff, because you want to really have your expectations in line with reality as early on in the process as you can possibly get.