From the first viewing to the keys, a straightforward purchase on Koh Lanta takes six to ten weeks. The transfer itself is a single morning at the Land Office, and everything that decides whether it is a good morning - the deed, the contract, the money crossing the border - happens in the weeks before it. The parts that go wrong are almost always the parts somebody hurried.
How buying works, step by step
See it, in person
Photographs are honest and still not enough. Stand in the soi at the hour you would actually live there, check that the road to the gate is one you have a legal right to use, and see whether the boundary markers match what you were shown. The paperwork behind all of it is your lawyer's job.
Agree the price and the structure
Not just the number. Freehold or leasehold, company or personal, what furniture stays, and who pays which tax at the Land Office. The structure is as much the deal as the price, and it is far easier to settle now than to unpick later.
Appoint your own lawyer
Yours, not the seller's and not the agent's. Thailand licenses no one to sell property, so anyone can print a card and call themselves an agent, and the only person in the room paid to protect you is the one you hire. This is the step people skip to save money, and it is the step that saves them money.
Reservation deposit
Usually ฿50,000 to ฿300,000 to take the property off the market. By default a Thai deposit is forfeit if the buyer walks away, so make yours conditional on the due diligence and on the deed being what the seller said. Get the condition in writing before you pay a satang.
Due diligence
One to three weeks for a clean title, longer for rural land or an older deed. Your lawyer checks the deed, the encumbrances registered on the back of it, the boundaries, the legal access and the permits. The title-deeds guide walks through exactly what they are looking for.
Sign the contracts
The sale and purchase agreement, plus the lease or the superficies where those apply. It should spell out what happens if either side fails to complete, not only if you do. Read every page in a language you are fluent in - a Thai-only contract you cannot read is not one you have agreed to.
Move the money
Into Thailand in foreign currency, converted to baht here, with the bank's Foreign Exchange Transaction form issued for the full amount. Start it the day the transfer date is set, not the week of - the wire and the paperwork need a clear week or two. The costs guide covers the form and why you keep it forever.
Transfer at the Land Office
Buyer and seller both attend, in person or by power of attorney. The taxes are settled at the cashier, the deed is endorsed into your name, and any lease or mortgage is registered at the same sitting. The endorsed deed is usually in your hand before you leave, and it really is done in a morning.
After the keys
The keys are yours the same day, or within a few of it. Put the electricity and water accounts into your name, and file the Foreign Exchange Transaction form somewhere you will still find it in ten years - you will need it again to sell, and to send your money back out of Thailand.
Every horror story on this island is the same story told twice: the buyer paid the deposit before the lawyer read the deed.
How long it actually takes
A straightforward resale on Koh Lanta, from an accepted offer to a deed in your name, runs about six to ten weeks. Nobody can promise the figure, because it depends on where you start counting and, mostly, on how fast your money crosses the border. Published estimates range from three weeks to three months; the honest answer is a month or two.
Two things stretch it, and neither is the transfer.
- Off-plan. Buying a place that is not built yet is measured in months, often a year to three, because you pay in stages tied to construction rather than to a calendar. It is rare on Lanta, where the market is finished villas and land, but if you are buying a plan on paper, budget for the plan.
- A lease or a company. If you are buying leasehold, or holding land through a Thai company, there is an extra thing to register or set up, and that adds anywhere from a fortnight to a couple of months on top. It runs alongside the due diligence, so it is not all dead time, but it is real calendar you should plan for.
The shape never changes. The Land Office morning is a morning. What sets the date is the due diligence and the money, and both reward starting early.
Questions about the process
Start with a house you actually want
The process is the same for every property. The house is not.
General orientation only, and not legal, tax or financial advice. Thai property law changes, and every transaction turns on its own facts. Always engage a qualified Thai property lawyer, who is not the seller's, before you commit to anything.