Most guides to buying property in Thailand explain what a foreigner may own. Fewer explain what they actually sign, and in what order, between choosing a unit and receiving the title. That order matters more than it looks, because several of the steps only work if the previous one has been done properly, and a buyer who moves money before the paperwork is ready can find the transfer stalled at the Land Department. The 3,227 listings on the site span Pattaya, Phuket, Koh Samui and Bangkok, and the sequence below is the same in all four.

The description assumes the common case: a foreign buyer, a condominium unit held on a freehold basis, and funds arriving from abroad. Where a villa on leased land changes a step, the text says so.

Step one is a quota check, not a deposit

Before any money moves, the building’s remaining foreign quota has to be confirmed. Foreign owners may hold up to 49% of the total floor area of a condominium, and the figure is tracked by the building’s juristic person, not by the seller. A unit in a building that has used its quota can only be transferred to a foreigner on a lease, which is a different purchase with a different title, so the confirmation belongs before the reservation, not after it.

For a villa, the equivalent check is the title deed to the land and the structure that will hold it. Land cannot be owned by a foreigner. The building can be, and the land beneath it is leased, normally for a registered term of 30 years. Since a Supreme Court decision in March 2025, the renewal clauses that developers attach to those leases cannot be treated as automatically enforceable, so the registered term is the one to plan around.

The reservation and the sale agreement

The reservation. A deposit holds the unit, and for an off-plan purchase the developer has been required since 31 January 2025 to use a standard controlled reservation contract set by the Consumer Protection Board. The form fixes what the deposit covers and when it is refundable, which removed a good deal of the variation between projects.

The sale and purchase agreement. This is the contract that sets the price, the payment schedule, the completion date and the penalties for late delivery. For a completed unit, it is signed once and followed by the transfer. For an off-plan unit, it governs a schedule of instalments that runs to handover, and current completion dates on the site reach into 2028 and 2029.

Due diligence in parallel. A lawyer checks the title deed, the developer’s building permit, any encumbrances on the land and, for a completed building, the outstanding common area fees on the unit, which pass to the new owner if unpaid.

Moving the money is a documented step in itself

A foreign buyer who wants freehold title has to bring the purchase funds into Thailand from abroad in foreign currency. The receiving bank converts the money and issues a foreign exchange transaction form for each transfer above the reporting threshold, and the Land Department asks for those forms at registration as proof that the funds qualify. Money that arrives already in baht, or through a third party, does not produce the form, and the registration cannot proceed on it.

The practical consequence is that the payment route is decided before the first instalment, with the buyer’s name on the transfer, the purpose stated as the purchase of a specific unit, and the amount matching the contract. Buyers who have used a company account or a relative’s account for the deposit tend to discover the problem at the end, which is the most expensive moment to discover it.

Registration at the Land Department

Transfer takes place at the provincial Land Office, with both parties or their representatives present. The office records the new owner on the title, collects the fees and issues the deed.

A temporary reduction of the transfer fee to 0.01% ran to June 2026 for homes under 7 million baht, and it applied to Thai citizens only. A foreign buyer pays the standard rate, and a contract that assumes otherwise should be corrected before signing.

After the deed

Two items remain once the title is issued. The unit’s utilities and common area account are transferred to the new owner, which the juristic office handles upon presentation of the deed. And a buyer who intends to stay for longer than a tourist entry allows should note that ownership by itself does not change their immigration status. Since October 2025, a purchase of 3 million baht or more has opened a route to an annually renewed long-stay visa, and the ten-year long-term resident visa has its own asset thresholds, but both are separate applications with their own paperwork.

The purchase process on Tranio is set up to be completed remotely, with the local office in Phuket handling the quota confirmation, the contract review and the Land Office appointment on the buyer’s behalf, and the buyer’s transaction costs reimbursed on completion. For a buyer who cannot be in Thailand for each of the steps above, that is the difference between a purchase that takes a few weeks and one that takes a few trips.

The sequence is not complicated, but it is strict. Quota before deposit, contract before money, foreign currency before registration, and the fees settled at the counter where the deed is issued. A buyer who keeps that order will find the Thai system reasonably quick. One who reverses any two of the steps will find out why the order exists.