Online Tools for Buying Property in Thailand

Thailand Property Transfer Tax Calculator

Before agreeing on a purchase, it is useful to understand the costs that may be payable when the property is transferred at the Land Office.

Our Thailand Property Transfer Tax Calculator estimates the main taxes and fees involved in a Thai property sale and provides a breakdown of the likely costs for the buyer and seller.

It can be particularly useful when comparing purchase prices or negotiating how transfer expenses will be divided between the parties.

Useful for: Estimating the total transaction costs before making an offer or agreeing on a sale price.

The final taxes and fees are determined by the Land Office. The calculator should therefore be treated as an estimate rather than a final statement of costs.

Official Department of Lands service

e-QLands Plus

e-QLands Plus is one of the Department of Lands' digital services and includes tools related to Land Office transactions.

Among its functions are preliminary calculations for fees and taxes associated with certain registrations, as well as appointment services for participating Land Offices.

For buyers, the government's own fee calculator can provide another reference when estimating the costs of a transaction.

As with many Department of Lands services, the interface is primarily intended for Thai users and may not be particularly convenient for foreign buyers.

Useful for: Preliminary Land Office fee calculations and accessing certain Department of Lands services online.

Official Department of Lands service

LandsMaps

LandsMaps is one of the more useful Department of Lands tools for researching land in Thailand.

It can help locate land parcels and display geographic and cadastral information associated with them. Depending on the area and available records, additional information may also be accessible.

For someone buying a house or land, this can help establish where a parcel is located and understand the surrounding plots.

It can also occasionally be useful for condominium buyers. For example, if there is a large undeveloped parcel directly in front of a sea-view condominium, investigating the surrounding land may provide more information than simply assuming today’s view will remain unchanged.

Coverage and available information vary, and the service is not especially friendly to non-Thai speakers.

Useful for: Locating land parcels and researching the land surrounding a property.

Official Department of Lands service

CondoMaps

The Department of Lands also provides condominium-related mapping and information services through CondoMaps.

Depending on the building and available records, it may provide information relating to condominium buildings, units, title information or official property data.

In practice, coverage and usability can be inconsistent, so we would treat CondoMaps as a supplementary source rather than something to rely on when making a purchase decision.

If useful information is available for the condominium you are researching, however, it can provide another official source to compare against other documents and databases.

Useful for: Supplementary research into condominium buildings and units.

Official Department of Lands application

SmartLands

SmartLands is the Department of Lands' mobile application and acts as a gateway to several of its digital services.

Rather than being a single property database, it brings together access to tools and information relating to land, valuations, Land Offices and other Department of Lands services.

It is actively promoted by the Department of Lands — including inside Land Offices — and is worth knowing about if you regularly deal with Thai property.

For many foreign buyers, however, some of the individual services available through it may be more useful than the application itself.

Useful for: Accessing several Department of Lands services from one place.

Official Thai government service

Treasury Department Property Valuation

Thailand's Treasury Department publishes official appraised values for land, buildings and condominium units.

One important distinction should be understood:

Government appraised value is not the same as market value.

A condominium selling for ฿5 million may have a considerably different official appraised value. The government valuation is nevertheless important because official values can be relevant when calculating taxes and fees at the Land Office.

The search tools are primarily designed for Thai users and the information required to find a particular property is not always obvious to someone unfamiliar with Thai property documents.

When the relevant property can be found, however, it provides a useful official reference point.

Useful for: Checking the government's official appraised value of land, buildings or condominium units.

Official Department of Business Development service

DBD DataWarehouse+

A developer's website or sales gallery tells you how the company wants to present itself. The Department of Business Development database gives you a different type of information.

DBD DataWarehouse+ allows users to search Thai registered companies and access corporate information that may include:

• Company registration status
• Registered capital
• Registered address
• Directors and corporate information
• Company history
• Filed financial information

This can be particularly useful when considering an off-plan property or buying from a developer you are unfamiliar with.

The information should still be interpreted carefully. A registered company with significant registered capital is not automatically a good developer, and raw financial filings do not tell the whole story.

It is nevertheless one of the more useful official databases for performing basic background research on the company behind a development.

Useful for: Checking the company behind a developer, project or property business.

Official Thai environmental database

Smart EIA Plus

Smart EIA Plus can be particularly interesting for condominium buyers.

Thailand requires Environmental Impact Assessments for many types of larger developments. Smart EIA Plus allows users to search environmental assessment records by criteria such as project name, developer, location and project type.

This can sometimes provide useful information about developments that already exist — or projects that may eventually be built nearby.

For example, imagine you are considering paying a premium for a sea-view condominium in Pattaya and there is a large empty plot nearby.

A search of Smart EIA Plus may reveal that a major condominium, hotel or other development on that land has already entered the environmental approval process.

It can also be useful for researching the environmental approval history of the development you are considering buying in.

There are important limitations. The absence of a project from Smart EIA Plus does not mean that nothing will ever be built on a particular piece of land, and the database should never be interpreted as a guarantee that a view is protected.

The interface can also take some patience to use, particularly if you do not read Thai.

Despite those limitations, this is one of the Thai government databases that can occasionally reveal genuinely valuable information to a property buyer.

Useful for: Researching environmental approvals and looking for significant developments planned around a property.

Shadowmap

The direction a condominium faces can make a significant difference in Thailand.

A west-facing unit may receive strong afternoon sun. Another tower may shade the balcony for part of the day. A swimming pool that looks sunny during a morning viewing may spend much of the afternoon in shadow.

Shadowmap allows you to simulate sunlight and shadows in a 3D environment and change the date and time to see how conditions vary throughout the day and across different seasons.

For condominium buyers, this can help answer questions such as:

• Will this balcony receive strong afternoon sun?
• Does another tower shade this side of the building?
• How much direct sunlight reaches the swimming pool?
• How will the situation differ between December and April?
• Is one orientation likely to be noticeably hotter than another?
• Is paying more for a particular orientation actually worthwhile?

This can be especially useful when comparing several units in the same development.

A computer simulation is not a replacement for visiting the property yourself, and the quality of the result depends on the 3D building data available for the location. But visiting every unit at several different hours and seasons is rarely practical.

Shadowmap therefore provides an interesting additional way to understand a property before making a decision.

Useful for: Comparing condominium orientations and understanding sunlight and shadow throughout the year.

Official Thai government service

GISTDA Flood Risk Assessment Mapping (FRAM)

For houses, land and low-rise property, flood history can be worth checking before buying.

Thailand's Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency — GISTDA — provides flood mapping tools based partly on historical satellite data.

Its Flood Risk Assessment Mapping platform, or FRAM, includes information that can help identify areas that have experienced flooding repeatedly over previous years.

This can be useful when considering property in an area where the flood risk might not be obvious during a viewing in the dry season.

It is particularly relevant for:

• Houses
• Development land
• Low-rise projects
• Property in areas with known drainage problems

Historical flooding does not predict exactly what will happen in the future. Drainage infrastructure changes, development alters water flow, and weather conditions vary considerably from year to year.

But if an area has flooded repeatedly in the past, that is information a buyer should probably know before purchasing there.

Useful for: Investigating the historical flood exposure of houses, land and low-rise developments.