What to inspect when buying a second-hand condo in Bangkok, a checklist before you pay a deposit

Key Highlights

• The largest single number in a resale deal is not the transfer fee. It is whether the seller has owned the unit for five full years. On a unit appraised at 3,000,000 baht the gap between specific business tax at 3.3 percent and stamp duty at 0.5 percent is 84,000 baht.
• For a Thai buyer inside the 0.01 percent fee measure, that gap is 280 times their own transfer fee. For a foreign buyer paying the standard 2 percent, it is only 1.4 times, which changes what you should negotiate first.
• Both answers are readable on the day you review documents, from the registration history on the back of the condominium title deed and from the seller's name in the unit's house registration book.
• The debt-free certificate is the on and off switch for transfer day, not a supporting document, because the Land Office cannot register the transfer without it.
• A professional inspection of a unit up to 35 square metres costs 2,000 to 3,500 baht, roughly 0.07 to 0.12 percent of a 3,000,000 baht purchase price.

How does inspecting a resale condo differ from a new one?

Ask most people what to inspect when buying a second-hand condo and you get a list of walls, floors and air conditioners. That list matters, but it is the less expensive half of the problem. A resale unit carries three histories a new unit does not have, the history of the unit, the history of its owner and the history of the building. Those three decide how much cash you hand over on transfer day and whether the deal closes on the date you agreed.

When you buy from a developer, the closing costs are predictable and nothing on the seller's side moves them. When you buy from a private individual, that person's tax position lands on the negotiating table with you. In practice part of it gets pushed onto the buyer through one short sentence, we split it fifty fifty.

So this checklist is ordered by money rather than by convenience. Documents come before paint. If you are still comparing units, look at the full pool of condos for sale in Bangkok.

What should you check before you talk about price?

Close these three questions before you make an offer. All three can be asked on the first phone call, and all three move the numbers in the contract.

When did the seller acquire the unit. Is there a mortgage still registered against it. How much is owed in common area fees. Those are the items that make a deal collapse or get expensive in the final week. Wall scuffs and a tired floor are repairs you can price in thousands of baht.

The first question matters most because it is the biggest number in the deal. Under the Revenue Code a seller who has held the unit for less than five years from the date of registration pays specific business tax at 3.3 percent of the appraised value or the sale price, whichever is higher. A seller past the five year mark pays stamp duty at 0.5 percent instead. Sources, Amber International and PropertySights.

Put that in baht. On a unit appraised at 3,000,000 baht the two paths are 99,000 baht and 15,000 baht, a gap of 84,000 baht. At 5,000,000 baht the gap is 140,000 baht. At 7,000,000 baht, which is the ceiling of the current fee reduction measure, it is 196,000 baht.

The number worth memorising is that the gap is always 2.8 percent of the tax base, whatever the unit costs. There is one exception to ask about. A seller who has owned the unit for less than five years but whose name has been in that unit's house registration book for at least one year is also exempt from specific business tax and falls back to the 0.5 percent stamp duty. Source, Amber International. So there are two questions to ask the seller, not one.

Which documents and unit records should you check?

The three documents below answer everything in the previous section, and you can ask to see all of them before you pay a deposit. A seller who will not show them until after the deposit is telling you something.

The condominium title deed and any encumbrances

A condo unit has its own title document, the Or Chor 2, rather than a land chanote. The front records the unit number, floor, area and the unit's ownership ratio in the common property. The back is the registration history, and for a buyer that is the most valuable page in the file.

The registration history logs every transfer and every mortgage in date order. Read three things off it. The date the current seller acquired the unit, which is the clock behind the five year rule above. Whether a mortgage is still registered and undischarged. And whether the unit has changed hands unusually often.

A registered mortgage is not a reason to walk away. The normal practice is to discharge it out of the purchase price at the Land Office on the same day as the transfer, but the sequence must be written into the sale and purchase agreement. Source, Der Pattaya Makler, published 20 June 2026. Never work from a photocopy. Verify against the original record at the Land Office, where a title search costs around 200 baht. Source, Condo Reviews Thailand, updated 12 February 2026.

The debt-free certificate for common area fees

The debt-free certificate is issued by the building's juristic person and confirms that no common area fees are outstanding on the unit. Under the Condominium Act, section 29 paragraph two, the Land Office cannot register a transfer of a condo unit without it. That makes this one page the switch that decides whether your agreed transfer date happens at all, not a formality to collect later.

What makes arrears grow is the surcharge. Under section 18/1 the juristic person may charge up to 12 percent per year, rising to up to 20 percent per year once the debt is six months old, calculated without compounding.

In baht, a 35 square metre unit paying 50 baht per square metre per month owes 1,750 baht a month. Twenty four months of arrears is 42,000 baht of principal plus roughly 8,750 baht of surcharge at the 20 percent rate, around 50,750 baht in total. That has to be cleared before transfer day, which is why you ask for the current certificate before the deposit rather than after it.

Ownership history and who is actually signing

Check that the name on the title deed matches the identity document of the person negotiating with you. Where a unit has joint owners, every owner must sign or grant a valid power of attorney. Where the previous owner has died, a court order appointing an estate administrator is required first, and that process runs for months. Ask at the start whether the unit is in probate.

The extra layer for foreign buyers

Two documents sit on top of the standard set. First, a written confirmation from the juristic person that the 49 percent foreign ownership quota in the building still has room for your unit, measured in square metres of floor area rather than in units. Ask for it in writing and ask for the number, not a reassurance. Second, the Foreign Exchange Transaction form, issued by the receiving Thai bank when the purchase funds arrive from abroad, which the Land Office requires for freehold registration. Sources, Der Pattaya Makler and PropertySights.

There is a second reason foreign buyers should read this section twice. The measure that cuts transfer and mortgage registration fees to 0.01 percent applies to Thai individuals only, so a foreign buyer pays the standard 2 percent. On the 3,000,000 baht unit above, that is 60,000 baht of your own money against the seller's 84,000 baht five year gap, a ratio of 1.4 to 1 rather than 280 to 1. A Thai buyer can afford to spend all their negotiating effort on the seller's holding period. A foreign buyer has to negotiate both lines, and the split it fifty fifty convention costs them twice.

Inspection checklist for the unit in five categories

This is the part most people picture when they think about an inspection. Split it into five categories and walk them in the same order every time so nothing gets skipped. If you would rather hire a professional, an inspection of a unit up to 35 square metres runs 2,000 to 3,500 baht, a two bedroom unit of 35 to 60 square metres runs 3,500 to 5,000 baht, and anything above 60 square metres runs 5,000 to 8,000 baht and up. Source, S Inspector, rates updated 2025.

Floors, walls, ceilings and water damage

Walk the whole floor with your full weight on each step. Listen for hollow tiles and look for laminate boards that have lifted at the edges or swollen. Both say water sat under that floor at some point rather than normal wear.

On walls and ceilings look for yellow rings, hairline cracking in the corners, and any patch where the paint is newer than what surrounds it. Inspectors advise watching for paint patterns that may be covering earlier damage. Source, Allwecheck. In a condo the usual trouble spots are the ceiling beneath the bathroom of the unit above and the window reveals that take direct rain.

If you can, view the unit again during or shortly after heavy rain. Most leaks are invisible on a dry day. This is one advantage a resale unit has over a new one, you are looking at a home that has already been through a rainy season.

Electrical and plumbing systems

Switch on every light and test every socket with a charger or a voltage tester. Check whether the consumer unit has a residual current device and press its test button to confirm it actually trips. Many older buildings still have units without one, which is a fair item to raise on price.

For plumbing, open every tap at once to judge pressure, then pour water across the bathroom floor to see whether it all reaches the drain or pools in a corner. Flush the toilet two or three times in a row to check the refill rate, and look under the basin and the kitchen sink for water staining or rust at the joints.

Doors, windows and sound insulation

Open and close every door and window to its full travel. Listen for scraping and check that each leaf seals along its whole edge. A stiff sliding door is usually a dropped track or worn rollers, which is repairable. A twisted frame that stops the leaf sealing is a settlement signal and needs an engineer.

For noise, stand still in the unit for two minutes with every window shut and listen, then open the windows and listen again. A unit facing a main road or sitting next to a plant room will sound obviously different in that test. Come back at least twice, once on a weekday evening and once at the weekend.

Air conditioning and built-in joinery

Run each air conditioner for at least fifteen minutes and feel the air coming out. Air that is not cold or that smells stale means a service or a refrigerant top up. Follow the condensate line and look for drip stains on the wall, then ask when the units were last cleaned.

Open every cabinet door and pull every drawer to its stop. Check whether the board inside has swollen or smells damp. Joinery that photographs well in a listing is often where moisture has been hiding. List item by item in the contract what stays with the unit, with photographs attached.

Smell, damp and signs of pests

Stop at the door on your first visit and smell the place before you do anything else. A stale smell in the first minute usually means accumulated damp or a dry drain trap. If the air conditioning is running cold and an air freshener has been set out for your viewing, ask to switch it off and wait a few minutes before you judge.

Look for insect traces at cabinet corners, under the sink and behind the washing machine. Then ask the current owner directly whether there have been leaks, pest problems or major repairs, and why they are selling. Inspection firms recommend the same set of questions. Source, Allwecheck.

What should you check in the common areas and the building?

A good unit in a badly run building is an expensive deal in the long run, because the costs that follow sit outside your walls and you cannot control them alone.

Building age, lifts and how the juristic person maintains the place

Ask for the latest annual financial statements and the minutes of the most recent general meeting, along with the current sinking fund balance. A fund that looks thin against the age of the building tends to be followed by a special levy passed at a general meeting. Source, Condo Reviews Thailand, updated 12 February 2026.

Then go and look. Ride every lift and check the date on the annual inspection certificate inside it. Look at whether the pool is clear or cloudy, how many machines in the gym actually work, whether the common corridors show water staining on the ceiling, and whether the car park is full enough that residents double park. That last one rarely comes up from the seller.

Ask what the common area fee is per square metre per month. Mid range buildings sit around 40 to 80 baht. Source, Condo Reviews Thailand, updated 12 February 2026. Ask when it was last increased. A building that has not adjusted its rate in many years while getting older has usually pushed that pressure into the standard of maintenance instead.

Red flags that should make you walk away from the deal

These are cases to step back from rather than discount. Each one is written the same way, what you see, what it means and what to do.

The seller will not show the original title deed before the deposit

What you see. Photographs of the front page only, and evasion when you ask for the registration history on the back.

What it means. The back page carries both the acquisition date and any mortgage. Avoiding it usually means one of the two is something the seller would rather you saw after the money moved.

What to do. Offer to verify the original together at the Land Office. If that is still refused, stop there.

Common area arrears the seller promises to clear later

What you see. The debt-free certificate cannot be issued yet, and the seller asks for the deposit first, promising to use it to settle the arrears.

What it means. Your deposit is being used to clear someone else's debt, and if the real balance is larger than stated, transfer day slips while your money is already gone.

What to do. Make issuance of the certificate a condition of the next payment, and write in a full deposit refund if it cannot be issued by an agreed date.

The unit has changed hands several times in a short period

What you see. Three or more transfers in the registration history within a few years.

What it means. It may be ordinary short term investment, or it may be a unit with a recurring problem that no owner stays with. You need to tell those apart.

What to do. Ask the juristic person directly whether the unit has a complaint history or has needed major system repairs. They can answer and they have no stake in your deal.

A price well below comparable units in the same building

What you see. A price per square metre noticeably under other units on similar floors of the same building.

What it means. A discount with no visible explanation usually has one, a hot orientation, a view that a new tower has taken, or an undisclosed liability.

What to do. Benchmark price per square metre against other units in the same area first, then insist on a factual reason for the gap before you go further.

How do you turn what you found into a lower price?

Effective negotiation does not start with asking for a percentage off. It starts by converting each finding into a number with a source behind it, then putting those numbers on the table one at a time.

Start with repairs. Get written quotations from real contractors for the work you found, then propose a reduction equal to those quotations. This is an easier conversation than saying the unit feels old, because both sides are looking at the same figure.

The bigger line is taxes and fees. Write into the sale and purchase agreement, line by line, who pays what. The transfer fee, the mortgage registration fee, specific business tax or stamp duty, and withholding income tax. Do not leave it as we split it fifty fifty. The common convention is that the 2 percent transfer fee is shared. Sources, Der Pattaya Makler and Condo Reviews Thailand. On the day, that phrase is often read as covering the seller's taxes too.

Here is why that matters more now than it used to. The measure that reduces the transfer fee and the mortgage registration fee to 0.01 percent reduces only those two items. It does not touch specific business tax or stamp duty. Source, Banteedin. Once the buyer's own side is pressed close to zero, almost everything left on the table is the seller's tax, so the fifty fifty phrase now means something quite different from what it meant before the measure existed.

The conditions are that the buyer must be a Thai individual, that the sale price, the appraised value and the mortgage amount must each be no more than 7,000,000 baht, and that transfer and mortgage registration must happen on the same day. It applies to both new and resale homes and runs from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027, extended by cabinet resolution on 3 July 2026. Source, Banteedin.

Last point, do not leave agreed figures in a chat thread. Move every number into the sale and purchase agreement with dates and with the conditions under which the deposit is refundable. Deposits commonly run 1 to 10 percent of the purchase price. Source, Condo Reviews Thailand, updated 12 February 2026.

Frequently asked questions about buying a second-hand condo

What to inspect when buying a second-hand condo before paying a deposit

Work through three sets in this order. Documents first, meaning the condominium title deed front and back, the debt-free certificate, and identity documents for every registered owner. Then the unit in five categories, floors walls ceilings and leaks, electrical and plumbing, doors windows and noise, air conditioning and joinery, and smell and damp. Then the common areas and the financial position of the juristic person. All three sets can be requested before any deposit is paid.

What are the closing costs on a resale condo in Thailand

Four main items. The transfer fee at a standard 2 percent of appraised value, cut to 0.01 percent for eligible Thai buyers. The mortgage registration fee at a standard 1 percent of the loan amount, cut to 0.01 percent under the same measure. Specific business tax at 3.3 percent if the seller has owned the unit less than five years, or stamp duty at 0.5 percent if longer. And withholding income tax, calculated on a progressive scale by years of ownership. The last two are the seller's obligation by law but are negotiable in the contract.

How do I find out whether the seller has owned the unit for five years

Read the registration history on the back of the condominium title deed, which records the date the seller acquired the unit. If it is under five years, ask the second question, whether the seller's name has been in that unit's house registration book for more than a year, which is a separate route to the same exemption. The two answers are 2.8 percent of the tax base apart, or 84,000 baht on a unit appraised at 3,000,000 baht.

Do I have to pay the previous owner's outstanding common area fees

In law the debt belongs to whoever owned the unit when it arose, but in practice it becomes your problem at once, because the Condominium Act section 29 paragraph two blocks registration of the transfer without a debt-free certificate. The usual answer is to make delivery of that certificate a contractual condition before transfer day, with a full deposit refund if the seller cannot produce it.

Can a foreigner buy a resale condo in Bangkok

Yes, within the 49 percent foreign ownership quota of the building, which is measured by floor area. You need written confirmation from the juristic person that quota remains for your unit and a Foreign Exchange Transaction form from the Thai bank that receives your funds from overseas. Note that the 0.01 percent fee measure is limited to Thai individuals, so budget the full 2 percent transfer fee. Sources, Der Pattaya Makler and PropertySights.

Is a paid inspection worth it

It is not required, but the proportions favour it. An inspection of a unit up to 35 square metres costs 2,000 to 3,500 baht, roughly 0.07 to 0.12 percent of a 3,000,000 baht purchase and about 2.4 to 4.2 percent of the 84,000 baht tax gap you are already negotiating over. Source, S Inspector, rates updated 2025. The clearest benefit is that you arrive at the table with a written report and photographs instead of an opinion.

Summary

The short answer to what to inspect when buying a second-hand condo is to order the work by money rather than by convenience. Documents come before condition, because documents set numbers in the tens and hundreds of thousands of baht while most repairs sit in the thousands.

Three things to have in hand before any deposit. The seller's acquisition date, the current debt-free certificate, and a repair list with real contractor quotations attached. With those three, the negotiation becomes a conversation about figures both sides can verify.

When you are ready to view units, benchmark price per square metre in your target area first, then go and see the shortlist with this checklist in hand. PropertyScout is free for buyers and tenants.

Prices and availability change and are not guaranteed. Property information is general guidance only. This content is not legal, tax or financial advice. Fees and tax rates cited are current as of 15 August 2026 and should be confirmed with the Land Office and a qualified tax adviser before you commit.