Thailand is famous for its tight control over foreigners owning property in the country. Much time, as well as parliamentary and Thailand legal service effort has been devoted to creating foreign ownership laws, ensuring they are fair and do not stifle Thailand's property market and economy, and enforcing them. Thai legal services must advise foreigners looking to buy Thai property that their funding must come from overseas, the unit must be used so that it doesn't conflict with local customs, and total foreign ownership of condominium locks cannot exceed 49%. However familiar Thailand lawyers are with these regulations, there is an even greater danger to buyers - unlawfully issued ownership certificates, as a recent case highlights. Law firms in Thailand examine the case to find out how you can make sure you don't suffer the same losses.

The case Thailand lawyers have noted occurred in Hua Hin - a condominium development listed an area in the building as an elevator maintenance room on the construction plans, which are used for the relevant building control authority to give building approval.

The elevator room would have been a common area that all condominium owners can access. However, on the plans of layout that were submitted when the condo was to be registered, the area was actually a unit. It was sold to one buyer, who on-sold the unit, who then on-sold it again to a current buyer, at a price of 4.2 million baht.

The unit owners took legal action with their Thai business legal services against the Land Department for the damage they suffered as a result of the unlawful issuance of the ownership certificate. Of course, the justice in this Thailand law case seems obvious. The owner of the unit suffered damage because the Land Department issued a certificate which was unlawful, and she should receive the purchase price of her unit back. After all, under Thailand law it doesn't exist - the Supreme Court ruled that the change from common to private property was unlawful, and the area would remain common property. However, she now faces a lengthy battle with her Thai corporate legal services and other Thailand lawyers to get her money back - and the outcome is not guaranteed.

Thailand law firms are advising that anyone buying a condo should conduct due diligence on it - not merely checking that the construction plans match the registration plans, but going through the entire checklist. Of course, you can have your Thailand lawyers perform this for you, however if you'd like to undergo the process yourself, you should check the zoning (is it okay for residential developments of the size of the block?), make sure the owner's name matches the title certificate (which you should be able to access through the Land Department), and visit the site yourself. A simple site visit either by the owners or their Thai corporate legal services would have saved a lot of time in this case.