Off-Plan Condos in Thailand: Delays, Defects and Your Refund Rights

Last updated on août 5, 2026

You bought an off-plan condo in Thailand two years ago. The brochure promised a rooftop pool and handover last March. Today the site is a concrete shell, the sales office won’t return calls, and your money is sitting in the developer’s account. Not in escrow. Not protected. Just gone, unless you act.

We’ve handled these cases for 20 years, and here’s the good news most buyers never hear: Thai law is unusually kind to condo purchasers. Your contract is backed by a mandatory government form. Delay penalties accrue daily. You can sue as a consumer, without court fees, and claim your money back with interest.

This guide covers what most articles skip. The exact statutes. The Supreme Court decisions. The step-by-step lawsuit process, realistic timelines, and what happens when the developer goes broke.

Why Off-Plan Condo Purchases in Thailand Go Wrong

Off-plan means you pay for a promise. A reservation fee books the unit. A contract deposit follows, usually 10% to 20% of the price. Then monthly installments run through construction, with the balance due at transfer.

Your money funds the construction

Understanding Your Off-Plan Condo in Thailand

Here’s the structural problem. Thai developers typically use buyer payments to build the project. Your installments go straight into the developer’s own bank account. If sales slow down or financing collapses, construction stalls. Your money is already spent.

We’ve seen this pattern in Pattaya, Phuket and Bangkok for three decades. The project that “pauses for redesign” rarely restarts on its own. Buyers who move early recover far more than buyers who wait politely.

Escrow exists but almost nobody uses it

Thailand has an escrow law: the Escrow Act B.E. 2551 (2008). It lets a licensed escrow agent, usually a bank, hold your payments until the developer delivers. Funds held this way sit outside the developer’s bankruptcy estate.

The catch? Escrow is voluntary. Developers prefer direct payment because they need your cash to build. In our experience, genuine escrow arrangements appear in only a small fraction of off-plan sales. If a developer agrees to escrow, that alone says something about their financial health.

Your Contract Is Stronger Than You Think: Section 6/2 of the Condominium Act

Most buyers assume they’re stuck with whatever the developer’s lawyers drafted. Not in Thailand. Since the 2008 amendment, Section 6/2 of the Condominium Act B.E. 2522 (1979) requires every developer’s sale contract to follow a standard form prescribed by ministerial regulation (the Or.Chor. 22 form).

Any clause that deviates from the standard form and favors the developer is unenforceable. The court simply ignores it. Think of it like a consumer bill of rights baked into your contract, whether the developer typed it in or not.

What the standard form guarantees you

The prescribed terms include real teeth. The developer must complete and transfer the unit by the contractual date. Late handover triggers a daily penalty of at least 0.01% of the purchase price, capped at 10%. Once that cap is reached and the unit still isn’t ready, you may terminate and demand a full refund with interest.

The form also makes the developer responsible for its own income tax, specific business tax and stamp duty at transfer. And you can assign your rights to another buyer without paying the developer an assignment fee.

The brochure is part of the contract

Section 6/1 of the Condominium Act goes further. Advertising materials, brochures and show-room promises form part of the sale contract. Where the brochure and the contract conflict, the version more favorable to you prevails. That “infinity pool and 2,000 sqm garden” in the glossy render isn’t marketing fluff. It’s an enforceable term.

Conseil pratique : Keep every brochure, screenshot, LINE chat and email from the sales team. In our practice, advertising evidence has repeatedly turned a weak delay case into a strong one, especially where facilities were downgraded or never built.

Late Handover: Penalties, Termination and Interest

Delay is the most common off-plan complaint we see. Thai law gives you two paths, and choosing correctly matters.

Path one: wait and collect the daily penalty

If you still want the unit, keep the contract alive. The delay penalty accrues at no less than 0.01% of the purchase price per day. On a THB 5,000,000 condo, that’s THB 500 per day, about THB 15,000 per month. The cap is 10% of the price, THB 500,000 in this example.

Send a written notice reserving your penalty claim. Silence can be read as waiver, and under Supreme Court Decision No. 6327/2549 (2006), when both sides ignore the deadline, time stops being “of the essence”. You’d then need to set a fresh reasonable deadline by notice before terminating.

Path two: terminate and demand your money back

If the project is clearly failing, terminate. Under Sections 386 to 391 of the Civil and Commercial Code (CCC), termination for the developer’s breach restores both parties to their original positions. The developer must refund every baht you paid, with interest from the date it received each payment.

Thai courts back this up consistently. In Supreme Court Decision No. 6474/2541 (1998), construction had been abandoned for over a year. The buyer was entitled to terminate and recover all payments with interest. In Decision No. 1188/2549 (2006), the Court held that when the developer plainly cannot finish on time, the buyer may terminate immediately, no grace period required.

No completion date in the contract? You’re still protected

Some older or non-compliant contracts omit a completion date. Developers argue they can finish “when ready”. The Supreme Court disagrees. Decisions No. 277/2553 (2010) and No. 797/2556 (2013) hold that the developer must start and finish within a reasonable time, applying the good-faith principles of CCC Sections 203 and 368.

And if the developer has fallen behind, you can lawfully suspend your own installments. Decision No. 6746/2547 (2004) confirms this under CCC Section 369, the rule on reciprocal contracts. A defaulting developer can’t declare you in breach for withholding payments while it isn’t ready to perform itself.

Delay, Defect and Refund Rights at a Glance

Problem	Your right	Legal basis	Key numbers
Handover later than contract date	Daily penalty while you wait, or terminate and refund	Standard form under Condominium Act s.6/2; CCC s.391	Penalty at least 0.01%/day, capped at 10% of price
Construction abandoned or hopeless	Immediate termination, full refund plus interest	CCC s.386 to 391; Dika No. 6474/2541, 1188/2549	Interest currently 5% per year (7.5% in older cases)
Structural defects after transfer	Repair or damages from developer	Standard form warranty; CCC s.472	5-year warranty from registration
Defects in other components	Repair or damages from developer	Standard form warranty; CCC s.472	2-year warranty; sue within 1 year of discovery (CCC s.474)
Unit area differs from contract	Reject the unit, or accept with price adjustment	CCC s.466	Over 5% difference: right to reject
Project halted by force majeure	Refund of all payments with interest	Standard form under s.6/2	Interest at Krung Thai Bank’s highest fixed deposit rate

Construction Defects and Area Shortfalls

Not every off-plan disaster is a delay. Plenty of projects finish on time and hand over badly built units. Cracked walls, leaking bathrooms, missing fittings, a floor plan that shrank between brochure and transfer.

Two warranty periods, counted from registration

The standard contract form makes the developer liable for structural defects for 5 years from the date ownership is registered. That covers foundations, columns, beams and load-bearing elements. For everything else, fittings, tiles, equipment, the warranty runs 2 years.

Don’t confuse the warranty window with the deadline to sue. Under CCC Section 474, a defect claim prescribes one year from the date you discovered the defect. Found water penetration in month three? The clock is already running. Notify the developer in writing immediately and keep photographic evidence with dates.

The shrinking condo: area discrepancies

Developers measure final unit areas after construction, and the registered area often differs from the contract. CCC Section 466 draws the line at 5%. Within 5%, the price adjusts pro rata. Beyond 5%, you may refuse to take the unit entirely, or take it with a proportional price cut.

Watch for contract clauses forcing you to accept any size difference at the original price. Under Section 6/2, terms less favorable than the law are unenforceable. And in Supreme Court Decision No. 2493/2553 (2010), a serious discrepancy between the contract and reality made the contract voidable as a material mistake.

Getting Your Deposit and Installments Back

Refund cases turn on two things: proving the developer’s breach, and calculating what comes back to you. Thai law splits your payments into categories, and the difference matters if the developer tries to keep your money.

Termination means full restitution

Once you validly terminate for the developer’s default, CCC Section 391 applies. Each party must restore the other to its original position. The developer returns your reservation fee, contract deposit and every installment. Interest runs from the date the developer received each payment, not from the date you sued.

What interest rate applies?

This is where many older articles mislead readers. Before 2021, statutory default interest was 7.5% per year, and you’ll see that rate in older judgments. A 2021 amendment to the Civil and Commercial Code changed the numbers. From 11 April 2021, the statutory rate under Section 7 is 3%, and default interest under Section 224 is 5% per year. Courts now award 5% on refunds unless the contract or the standard form provides better. For force majeure refunds, the standard form applies Krung Thai Bank’s highest fixed deposit rate.

Deposits versus installments: why the label matters

If the dispute flips and the developer accuses you of default, it will try to keep everything. It can’t. The Supreme Court separates earnest money from installments. Earnest money is a true deposit given at signing, forfeitable under CCC Section 377. Installments are simply part payments of the price.

Decisions No. 3301/2547 (2004) and No. 10115/2556 (2013) confirm that installments aren’t forfeitable deposits. At most, a contract may treat them as liquidated damages, and the court can cut any excessive amount down under CCC Section 383. Even a genuine deposit can be reduced if it’s disproportionately high, under Section 7 of the Unfair Contract Terms Act B.E. 2540 (1997).

Step-by-Step: How to Sue a Thai Developer

Here’s the process we run for clients, from first letter to money in hand.

1. Build the file. Contract, receipts, brochures, ads, chat records, photos of the site, and a payment schedule. Get a company affidavit on the developer from the Department of Business Development to confirm who you’re suing and whether it’s still active.
2. Send a formal demand letter. A Thai-language notice by registered mail, stating the breach, the amount claimed, the interest, and a deadline (commonly 15 or 30 days). If you’re terminating, include a clear notice of termination. This letter fixes the developer’s default and starts the pressure.
3. Complain to the OCPB (optional but useful). The Office of the Consumer Protection Board takes complaints against developers, investigates and mediates. It’s free. Some developers settle here to avoid regulatory attention. Don’t let mediation drag past your limitation periods.
4. File a consumer case. A condo buyer suing a developer is a consumer under the Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551 (2008). You file where the developer is domiciled or where the project sits. Claims up to THB 300,000 go to the Kwaeng (district) court; larger claims go to the Civil or Provincial Court.
5. Use the consumer-case advantages. No court fees for the consumer plaintiff. Simplified, judge-driven procedure with case officers helping frame the complaint. The burden of proving facts within the developer’s exclusive knowledge, construction status, financing, permits, shifts to the developer. Courts aim to take evidence in continuous, compact hearings.
6. Ask for punitive damages where they fit. Section 42 of the Act covers developers who acted with knowing dishonesty or gross disregard for your rights. The court may add punitive damages of up to twice the actual damages. Where actual damages don’t exceed THB 50,000, the multiplier rises to five. Selling units in a project the developer knew was doomed is exactly the fact pattern this section targets.
7. Judgment and appeal. First-instance consumer cases typically run 6 to 12 months in our experience, longer if heavily contested. Appeals go to the Court of Appeal; further review by the Supreme Court requires permission.
8. Execute the judgment. A judgment isn’t a bank transfer. If the developer doesn’t pay, the Legal Execution Department seizes and auctions its assets: unsold units, land, bank accounts. Move fast. Other creditors are usually racing you.

Suing from abroad

You don’t need to live in Thailand to litigate here. A notarized power of attorney lets a avocat immobilier thaïlandais file and run the case. Plan one trip for the witness hearing if the court wants your testimony; some courts now allow video testimony. Judgment money can be repatriated through your bank with the judgment and evidence of the original transfer.

Many buyers, same project? Consider a class action

Since the class action chapter was added to the Civil Procedure Code in B.E. 2558 (2015), groups of buyers with common claims against one developer can sue together. Stalled projects produce dozens of near-identical claims, which is what the mechanism was built for. A group also shares costs and gets the developer’s attention faster than one buyer alone.

Costs, Timelines and What You Can Recover

Article	Typical position in a consumer case
Court filing fees	Exempt for the consumer plaintiff under the Consumer Case Procedure Act
Lawyer’s fees	Privately agreed; fixed-fee and staged arrangements are common for refund claims
Demand letter stage	1 to 4 weeks, including the response deadline
OCPB mediation	Roughly 1 to 3 months, depending on caseload and the developer’s attitude
First-instance judgment	Often 6 to 12 months; contested cases can run longer
Principal recovery	All payments made: reservation, deposit, installments
Interest	5% per year statutory default (post-April 2021); from the date the developer received each payment
Delay penalty (if not terminating)	At least 0.01% of price per day, capped at 10%
Punitive damages	Up to 2x actual damages under Section 42, in cases of bad faith
Execution of judgment	Weeks to many months, driven by what assets the developer still owns

One honest caveat from three decades of doing this: winning the judgment is the predictable part. Collecting depends on the developer’s remaining assets. That’s why we check the developer’s land holdings and litigation history before filing, and why acting before other buyers file first genuinely improves recovery.

When the Developer Goes Under

The nightmare scenario: the project is abandoned and the company is insolvent. Your options narrow, but they don’t vanish.

Bankruptcy and rehabilitation claims

If creditors push the developer into bankruptcy, you must file a proof of debt with the official receiver. The statutory window starts running once the receiving order is published, so don’t sit on it. You’ll stand as an unsecured creditor behind banks holding mortgages over the land. Recovery percentages are modest, we won’t pretend otherwise, but buyers who file claims recover something; buyers who don’t, recover nothing.

Sometimes a white knight buys the stalled project and offers existing buyers new contracts. Have those reviewed before signing away your original claims. The replacement terms are often worse than the Section 6/2 standard form you already hold.

Protect yourself before the next purchase

If you buy off-plan again, treat developer risk as the main risk. Check the company’s registered capital, its track record of completed buildings, the construction permit and the environmental approval before paying more than a reservation fee. Our guide to vérification préalable des biens immobiliers en Thaïlande walks through the full checklist. Our overview of buying a condo in Thailand covers the foreign ownership quota and transfer process. Push for escrow under the Escrow Act. Most developers will refuse. The ones that accept are usually the ones you can trust.

Before You Sign: The Off-Plan Checks That Prevent All of This

Everything above is a remedy. Remedies are slow, and a refund with interest is still years of your money sitting in someone else’s project. These are the checks that keep you out of court in the first place, and they all happen before the reservation fee is paid.

• The developer, not the building. Registered capital, shareholders and directors at the Department of Business Development, plus a litigation search against the company and its directors. A developer with a history of defended delay claims will have another one.
• The construction permit, and the EIA where the project size requires one. A project selling units before it holds these is selling you a planning application.
• The project mortgage. Most projects are built on land mortgaged to a lender. Ask in writing how and when your specific unit is released from that mortgage, and what happens to your unit if the developer defaults on the loan.
• The contract against the standard form. Compare clause by clause with the section 6/2 form. Every departure that reduces your rights is a clause the developer knows is unenforceable and is hoping you will honour anyway.
• The completion date and the penalty clause. A contract with no completion date, or one that lets the developer extend at will, is the single loudest warning sign in this market.
• Escrow, under the Escrow Act B.E. 2551. Ask for it. Most developers refuse, and the refusal itself is information. See how escrow works in Thailand.
• The foreign quota on your specific unit, confirmed in writing by the juristic person, in square metres. Off-plan buyers often discover at transfer that the quota filled while their building went up.

Foire aux questions

Can I get my deposit back if my condo is delayed in Thailand?

Yes, if the developer missed the contractual transfer date. You can terminate and claim everything back with interest. The Supreme Court confirmed in Decision No. 1188/2549 that no grace period is needed when the developer clearly can’t deliver.

How long do I have to sue a Thai condo developer?

Refund and breach-of-contract claims generally prescribe in 10 years under CCC Section 193/30. Defect claims are far shorter: one year from discovery under Section 474. When in doubt, get advice early.

Do I pay court fees when suing a developer in Thailand?

No. Condo buyers sue as consumers under the Consumer Case Procedure Act B.E. 2551, and consumer plaintiffs are exempt from court fees. Your main cost is your own lawyer.

Can I sue a Thai developer without coming to Thailand?

Mostly, yes. A power of attorney lets your Thai lawyer file and manage the case. Budget for one appearance at the witness hearing, though courts increasingly allow remote testimony.

What interest rate applies to my refund?

5% per year for defaults from 11 April 2021, under the amended CCC Sections 7 and 224. Older cases applied 7.5%. Force majeure refunds under the standard form carry Krung Thai Bank’s highest fixed deposit rate.

What if my finished unit is smaller than the contract says?

CCC Section 466 governs. A difference over 5% lets you reject the unit or take it at a reduced price. Within 5%, the price adjusts proportionally. Clauses forcing you to swallow any shortfall at full price are unenforceable.

Is my off-plan payment protected by escrow in Thailand?

Almost certainly not. Escrow under the Escrow Act B.E. 2551 is voluntary and rarely offered. Unless your contract names a licensed escrow agent, your payments sit in the developer’s own account.

Comment ThaiLawOnline peut vous aider

We’ve been litigating against Thai developers since before most current projects broke ground. Our team reviews your contract against the Section 6/2 standard form and drafts the demand letter in Thai. We file the consumer case and pursue execution until you’re paid. We act for clients worldwide by power of attorney.

Facing a stalled project or a silent developer? Contactez un avocat thaïlandais for a case assessment. You can also explore our bilingual database of Thai Supreme Court decisions and our guide on consumer law in Thailand. Planning another purchase? Start with acheter un bien immobilier en Thaïlande en tant qu'étranger.

Points clés à retenir

• Your off-plan contract must follow the government’s standard form under Section 6/2 of the Condominium Act. Developer-friendly deviations are unenforceable.
• Late handover earns you a daily penalty of at least 0.01% of the price, capped at 10%. Terminate instead, and you get a full refund with interest.
• Defect warranties run 5 years for structure and 2 years for other components, but you must sue within 1 year of discovering a defect.
• You sue as a consumer: no court fees, a simplified procedure, a shifted burden of proof, and possible punitive damages under Section 42.
• Interest on refunds is currently 5% per year, counted from the date the developer received your money.
• Speed matters. Early claimants recover from developers with assets; late claimants queue in bankruptcy.