Transcript of the above video:

 As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing real estate contracts here in Thailand. For those who are unaware, we are talking about a contract or an agreement between two parties for the purchase or conveyancing of property. Now you could be talking about this in the context for example of a Thai Condo, Thai Sale and Purchase agreement of maybe a villa or a house depending on the context that may or may not be possible. You could also be talking about it in the context of land, okay? 

The reason I am bringing this up is a lot of foreigners bring their presumptions from wherever they are from regarding their legal system. They bring those presumptions into Thailand and think that that applies to Thailand. Oftentimes, in very significant ways that may not be the case. In a more specific context of this video, a recent article from the Phuket News, that is thephuketnews.com brought this whole issue to the forefront of my mind. That article is titled: Real Estate Market in Phuket: Pros and Cons. I urge folks to go check out that article on their website again thephuketnews.com, because it is very insightful. There is a lot in there but this particular excerpt brought this to the forefront of my mind and I thought I would make a video. Quoting directly: "It certainly is possible to purchase property in Thailand without the assistance of a lawyer but you must not do it." I am quoting directly, maybe "must" should be "should". It is certainly possible to do it. "Must” may be said a little a little bit too assertively but I understand the context they were saying it in. Quoting further: "Thailand is a country with a completely different language, culture and legal system and Thai contracts can differ a lot from Western contracts." That is very true. Quoting further: "It is extremely important to work with a local lawyer who knows the rules to play by to avoid misunderstanding and deliberate rip-offs. Make sure the Law Company you pick has a good reputation." Nothing could be further from the truth. Again that is thephuketnews.com, it is a really good article. There is a lot of insight in there and that is just one of many insights in a really deep article here.

I would add a further comment on this. Talking about for example in a real estate context although most people don't think this is necessarily possible, unfortunately Thailand has a little bit less regulated system to combat some of these more blatant types of fraud but just one example in having Attorney assistance in due diligence is things like a Property Title search to ascertain the actual name of the owner of the property in order to ensure that that person's name is actually on the real estate contract; it is not someone else, it is not some company that is not actually on the title of the property. This can be extremely important, again it is going to depend on context. There may be certain rights that may be assigned over to a third party but you have got to do your due diligence and ascertain whether or not you are actually buying what you believe you are buying. I know that that seems a little bit alarmist especially to those probably in a western context but yes unfortunately Thailand has a very different legal system and unfortunately there are some bad actors out there who do look to scam unsuspecting foreigners here. It is not all that common but it can happen and for this reason it is good idea to try and mitigate that possible harm by in my opinion, seeking the assistance of competent legal professionals in order to gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.