A buyer of an 11.6 million baht condominium paid a 100,000 baht reservation fee, then 2,810,780 baht eight days after signing, and later defaulted. An arbitrator let the developer keep all of it as earnest money (มัดจำ). In Dika 1511/2569 the Supreme Court set the award aside: the 100,000 baht was a true deposit under Section 377 of the Civil and Commercial Code, but the 2.8 million was paid after the contract and was far too large a share of the price to be security — it was part-payment, and treating it as forfeitable was contrary to public order under Section 40(3)(b) of the Arbitration Act B.E. 2545.
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