Selling a condo in Thailand as a foreigner is legal and routine: a unit registered in your name under the foreign quota can be sold to another foreigner or to a Thai buyer. On transfer day the Land Office collects the seller’s taxes: personal income tax withheld on the official appraised value, plus either 3.3% specific business tax (if you have owned the unit for less than five years and no exemption applies) or 0.5% stamp duty. Who pays the 2% transfer fee is set by the contract; it is often split with the buyer. In our illustrative example of a condo sold for 3.5 million baht, the seller pays about 5.3% of the price in the fifth year of ownership and about 3% after five years.
The money can leave Thailand: the Bank of Thailand allows non-residents to repatriate their investment freely. Your bank will still want documents: the sale contract, proof of the registered transfer and the FET (foreign exchange transaction) evidence from your purchase. Below is the seller’s full path under the rules as of October 2026.
Before you list: the documents a seller needs
Start with the paperwork, not the listing. Without some of these papers the Land Office will not register the transfer:
- The unit title (Or Chor 2, อ.ช.2), the condominium ownership certificate. If it is lost, the Land Office issues a replacement only after a 30-day public notice with no objections; a theft needs a police report.
- A debt-free letter from the condominium juristic person. No transfer is registered without proof that no common fees are owed (Condominium Act s.29), and the manager must issue it within 15 days of your request once all fees and late surcharges are paid. Ask the Land Office how recent it must be.
- Land and building tax paid up. Local authorities send arrears lists to the Land Office, and unpaid tax can hold up registration.
- Your purchase file: the purchase contract and the FET or bank credit advices for every transfer you made when buying. Your bank will need them when you send the proceeds abroad.
- An Or Chor 21 power of attorney (อ.ช.21) if you will not attend. The Land Office uses its own form for condos and normally refuses general or lawyer-drafted powers of attorney. Abroad, you sign it at a Thai embassy or consulate, or before a notary with legalisation; confirm the signing requirements with the Land Office handling the transfer.
Selling an inherited unit? No SBT applies and the income tax deduction is a flat 50%. How condos pass to heirs, and when foreign heirs must sell, is covered in our guide to Thai wills and condo inheritance for foreign owners.
Pricing your condo
Buyers compare your unit with similar listings in the same building and area, not with what you paid. Our Pattaya property price index shows medians by district and unit type, and our breakdown of how much an apartment in Pattaya costs in 2026 goes deeper. Listings on our site in October 2026 had a median asking price of about 3.7 million baht across 410 apartments; these are asking prices, not transaction prices, so leave room to negotiate.
The official appraised value is set by the Treasury Department. It drives the transfer fee and the income tax, not your price; look it up on the Treasury’s site (assessprice.treasury.go.th) or ask the Land Office. A new appraisal cycle for 2027–2030 is due to start on 1 January 2027. Developers expect higher values and are lobbying for a delay, so neither the figures nor the date are settled. If a sale is close anyway, registering it before the end of 2026 may cost less, unless the new cycle is postponed.
Who can buy your unit: a foreign buyer or a Thai buyer
Foreigners together may own no more than 49% of the total floor area of all units in a condominium. The quota belongs to the building, not to a particular unit, and the Land Office checks it on every transfer to a foreigner. Your unit is already counted in the building’s foreign share, and the buyer decides whether it stays there.
| What matters | Foreign buyer | Thai buyer |
|---|---|---|
| Quota | The Land Office will want a recent letter from the juristic person on the foreign-ownership ratio. The unit passes from one foreigner to another and stays in the foreign share, so, on a logical reading of the rule, the building’s foreign share does not change | Can always buy. The unit leaves the foreign share, which frees quota in the building |
| Money | Must come from abroad in foreign currency (or from a non-resident baht or foreign-currency account), with bank evidence covering at least the price | Any lawful funds, including a Thai bank loan, in which case the sale depends on loan approval |
| Transfer fee | 2% of the appraised value | 0.01% until 30 June 2027 for an individual buyer if the price and the appraised value are each no more than 7 million baht; otherwise 2% |
When you sell to a foreigner, the law makes the seller tell the Land Office how much of the building is foreign-owned, so order the quota letter, like the debt-free letter, close to the transfer. Our article on foreign quota condos in Pattaya explains the check.
Selling to a Thai buyer widens the pool, and the reduced fee, where it applies, almost wipes out the registration cost (the taxes stay the same). The trade-off: the unit leaves the foreign share, so a later foreign buyer could take it only if the building then has free quota. The fee conditions concern only the buyer and are silent on the seller’s nationality, so confirm with the Land Office that the cut applies to your sale.
Selling a condo in Thailand: taxes and fees, line by line
The Land Office calculates and collects everything on transfer day. For an individual seller:
| Payment | Base | Rate | Who pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Withholding income tax | Appraised value | Progressive 5–35%, years-held formula | Seller, by law |
| Specific business tax (SBT) | Higher of registered price and appraised value | 3.3% if owned less than 5 years and no exemption applies | Seller, by law |
| Stamp duty | Higher of price and appraised value | 0.5%, only when no SBT is due | Usually the seller |
| Transfer fee | Appraised value | 2% (0.01% for qualifying Thai buyers) | As the contract says; split equally if it is silent |
What people call capital gains tax on Thai property is really this income tax, worked out on the appraised value rather than on your profit:
- Deduct a standard expense percentage set by years held: 1 year 92%, 2 years 84%, 3 years 77%, 4 years 71%, 5 years 65%, 6 years 60%, 7 years 55%, 8 years or more 50%.
- Divide by the years held: calendar years, a part year counts as a full one, maximum 10 (buy in December and sell in January, and that is two years).
- Apply the progressive rates without the usual 150,000-baht tax-free band: 5% up to 300,000 baht, then 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 and 35% (above 5 million).
- Multiply back by the years held; the tax cannot exceed 20% of the appraised value.
Up to an appraised value of 3.75 million baht, the yearly amount stays in the 5% band whatever the holding period, so the formula reduces to appraised value × (100% − deduction) × 5%: from 0.4% of the appraised value for a one-year holding to 2.5% for eight years or more (our calculation).
The five-year SBT test is counted differently, day by day from acquisition. Before five years are up, stamp duty replaces SBT if your name has been in the unit’s house registration (tabien baan) for at least a year in total; whether a foreigner’s yellow book (Tor Ror 13) qualifies is not officially confirmed.
After five years only SBT disappears: income tax is withheld at any holding period, even on a loss-making sale. A company seller is taxed differently: 1% withholding on the higher of price and appraised value, usually plus 3.3% SBT. Annual owner taxes are covered in our guide to real estate taxes in Thailand in 2026.
How much you pay: a worked example
Take a condo sold for 3.5 million baht, close to the median asking price on our site, with an appraised value of 2.5 million baht (check your unit’s real figure). The seller is not in the house registration and the transfer fee is split equally. The numbers are illustrative; the Land Office’s figures on the day are final.
| Item | Bought June 2022, sold November 2026 | Bought 2019, sold 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Years held for income tax | 5 (2022–2026), deduction 65% | 8 (2019–2026), deduction 50% |
| Income tax withheld | 2,500,000 × 35% = 875,000; ÷ 5 = 175,000; × 5% = 8,750; × 5 = 43,750 baht | 2,500,000 × 50% = 1,250,000; ÷ 8 = 156,250; × 5% = 7,812.50; × 8 = 62,500 baht |
| SBT or stamp duty | SBT, owned under 5 years: 3.3% × 3,500,000 = 115,500 baht | Stamp duty: 0.5% × 3,500,000 = 17,500 baht |
| Half the transfer fee | 2% × 2,500,000 ÷ 2 = 25,000 baht | 25,000 baht |
| Seller’s total | 184,250 baht, about 5.3% of the price | 105,000 baht, 3.0% of the price |
By our arithmetic, waiting past five years raised the income tax (a smaller deduction), but dropping SBT outweighs it: the seller keeps about 79,000 baht more, and if the contract puts the whole transfer fee on the seller, the totals become 209,250 and 130,000 baht. If the buyer is Thai and the reduced fee applies, the fee for both sides is 250 baht instead of 50,000.
Timeline and the Land Office day
The time to find a buyer depends on price and building; the fixed steps are these:
- debt-free letter: up to 15 days after the request and payment of any arrears;
- Or Chor 21: an embassy or notary appointment, dated close to the transfer;
- a foreign buyer’s remittance: depends on the banks, with a separate bank document for each payment;
- the Land Office visit: from half an hour to a full day, depending on the queue.
On the day, both sides or their attorneys hand in documents and queue; the officer assesses the taxes and fee, they are paid, and the buyer receives the title endorsed with the new owner’s name. You are paid as agreed beforehand, by cashier’s cheque, bank transfer or cash. The full sequence is in our guide to property transfer in Pattaya and the Land Office process.
Three dates matter. Whoever owns the unit on 1 January pays that whole year’s land and building tax, so for a sale early in the year agree compensation in the contract. Appraised values may change on 1 January 2027. The 0.01% fee for Thai buyers runs until 30 June 2027 unless extended again.
How to transfer money out of Thailand after selling property
A foreign buyer has to bring the money into Thailand, so you are normally paid inside the country, into your Thai account or by cheque. Decide where the money will land before you take a deposit.
From there, Bank of Thailand exchange-control rules apply: repatriation of non-residents’ investment is freely allowed, and foreign exchange goes through authorised banks. For transactions of USD 200,000 or more (about 6.7 million baht at the 17 October 2026 cross rate, our conversion) the bank requests supporting documents unless it has completed a know-your-business review; below that it may still ask under its own rules. Have ready:
- the sale contract and the Land Office transfer documents;
- receipts for the taxes paid;
- your purchase contract and the original FET or credit advices for each transfer you made when buying.
In practice the bank matches the outflow to the money you originally brought in plus the gain on the sale. So neither myth holds: that only your FET amount can leave, or that repatriation needs no paperwork. The “USD 50,000” figure people link to the FET comes from a 2010 Bank of Thailand relaxation; today it is bank practice, not statute, and each remittance gets its own document. If you no longer have yours, ask the bank that received your transfers whether it can confirm them; our step-by-step FET guide shows what they look like.
If you are tax-resident in another country
Thailand taxes the sale because the property is in Thailand, wherever you live. Your home country may tax it too, and whether the Thai income tax can be credited depends on its law and its tax treaty with Thailand. Check with an adviser at home before you sign, and keep the Land Office tax receipts as proof of the Thai tax paid.
Common mistakes
- Declaring a lower price to save tax. The income tax uses the appraised value anyway, SBT and stamp duty use the higher of the two figures, assessors can reassess on a higher actual price, and false statements to land officials are criminal offences.
- Throwing away the FET and purchase papers. Without them the bank struggles to confirm where the money came from, and the transfer home drags on.
- Budgeting for the 0.01% fee with a foreign buyer. It is for Thai individual buyers only; a foreign buyer means the full 2%.
- Leaving common-fee arrears to the last week. Late surcharges of up to 12% a year (up to 20% after six months) must be paid before the debt-free letter is issued.
Summary: how to sell property in Thailand as a foreigner
In short: papers first, a price based on real listings, the right buyer, taxes calculated from the appraised value with the split written into the contract, and a bank ready for the outgoing transfer. Rules and rates are as of October 2026 and change, so have a lawyer or tax adviser confirm your specific case.
Thinking of selling a condo in Pattaya? Write to us in Telegram or WhatsApp: we can suggest a price based on listings in your building, check the documents and quota position, and work out the taxes before you name a price to a buyer.
