New Property
Park Lane Jomtien Resort
Start price: 1 Million Baht for 36 sq.m. apartments. The concept and planning that went into Park Lane Jomtien Resort was the result of extensive market research within Pattaya and Jomtien areas. The intention of the research was to find out what people really needed and wanted when looking for an apartment in Thailand. Park Lane Jomtien Resort is the result of the vision and dream requirements of the buyer...
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How-to Buy
Thai law allows foreign free-hold ownership of a condo. Forty-nine per cent of a condominium block may be of non-Thai ownership, with some blocks allowing this to rise to 100% if the developer has acquired the appropriate condominium license.
Freehold or leasehold owner- ship options are available to the overseas buyer. A free- hold may be purchased if a condominium is still ...
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Investing in Thailand
Despite the recent setbacks, foremost political changes, property ownership laws uncertainty and the strong Thai Baht, the Thai property market remains one where substantial, best medium-term profits can be made, as property is still much cheaper in Thailand than elsewhere and investors can afford more for their money than in many global locations. For example, taking advantage of the possibility to buy a quality Thai home for approximately 40% of the usual costs for an equivalent property in the South of Spain.
The Thai property market ...
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The Ministerial Regulations
Only a couple of days remain before the ministerial regulations on building examination are enforced on December 29, 2007, and by that time, tens of thousands of hotels and buildings throughout the country will need to have undergone a new physical safety check and have been registered.
The need for the new examination and registration process has been coming for two years, however there is currently a rush among owners of high-rise hotels, buildings and billboards to hire a limited number of building examiners to check their properties and send reports to the Interior Ministry's Public Works and Town and Country Planning Department.
Ignoring the new regulations can be expensive! A fine of 60,000 Baht and a daily additional fine of 10,000 Baht. Delays in compliance may cost a fine of 30,000 Baht as well as a daily additional fine of 5,000 Baht and a maximum 3 months jail sentence.
The new regulations set out to ensure that Thailand's hotels buildings are safe, from an engineering standpoint as well as in terms of fire escapes, emergency exits and the like. Such building checks are already mandatory in the United States and European countries. In Thailand, the department announced in 2005 that almost 30,000 hotels and buildings in nine categories would have to undergo checks at the cost of their owners to ensure that they complied with the law. The checks have to be completed, reported and the buildings registered by the end of this year.
Buildings and structures that must be examined include those that are more than 23 meters in height; those with a floor area of more than 10,000 square meters; those regularly housing more than 500 people or with a floor area over 1,000 square meters, theatres, hotels with more than 80 rooms, entertainment venues with a floor space of more than 200 square meters; industrial plants covering more than 5,000 square meters or more than one floor; and billboards with a height of more than 15 meters or a surface area of more than 50 square meters.
All our buildings comply with the Thai law
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Condos with a floor space of more than 2,000 but less than 5,000 square meters have until October 2012 to undergo the checks, and condos with floor space of more than 5,000 but less than 10,000 square meters have until October 2010.
With time running out for most categories, many hotel, building- and billboard-owners are complaining that they will be unable to complete the examination and registration processes because there is now a backlog of buildings around the country seeking registration before the deadline. In addition, many hotel and building-owners still misunderstand the regulations and there are disputes about the level of examination fees.
Still, the department insists that nearly 30,000 structural examinations must be finished before the end of the year. It emphasizes the fact that the examinations aim to check buildings for safety only, and not to detect inappropriate additional structures.
The department says that before the end of the year, there will be more than 1,000 individual and corporate building examiners working towards the deadline. It has already approved registration of more than 500 individual and 50 corporate examiners.
Speaking for Project Planning Service, one of the companies involved in checking, Prasong Tharachai says he believes there are sufficient building examiners to finish checking all 30,000 buildings, including their condition, their structures and all systems related to safety.
If there is something wrong with certain buildings that might significantly affect their stability, building examiners must instruct the owners to make adjustments and record the points of risk as special notices.
Prasong says one problem so far is that both building-owners and examiners have misunderstood the regulations. Building examiners believe they have to check the buildings in every detail, while in reality they only have to make sure that the owners have a regular regard for the safety of their buildings.
"Building examiners have duties similar to auditors, who have to review whether companies have correctly recorded their financial records. Auditors do not have to deal with all the recording processes," he explains.
Building examiners have to make sure that things like elevator systems work by testing them, rather than accepting information from building-owners.
Lumpini Property Management's managing director Jaran Kesorn points out that there is still no clear framework for the checks required in different types of buildings. Therefore, there is no clear standard for fees charged by examiners. Currently, fees range from 3 Baht to 20 Baht per square meter, depending on negotiations between owners and examiners.
Jaran supports the notion that all owners should pay attention to safety laws, but he believes the department should set up a center to help owners, examiners and local officers to correctly interpret the regulations. At the same time, he says, such a center could help to build a wider awareness of the regulations and their requirements.
Lumpini Property Management provides management services to 100 buildings and half of them fall into categories that must comply with the regulations. Jaran says his company is working on the examining process in all the buildings. Additional expenses from checking fees should not be high as the company sends technicians to check the buildings regularly.
On another level, the ministerial regulations have provided a business opportunity for property developers, property appraisal service providers and other property-related businesses. Many of them have established subsidiaries to provide building examinations. The demand is currently high and providing examining services prompts the claim that they are integrated service providers.
Plus Property, for instance, has established Touch Property, while Thai Property Appraisal Lynn Philips has formed Thai Building Surveyors Lynn Philips.
Touch Property's chief executive Metha Janjaemjaras says that since its formation in March, his firm has been contracted to check nine buildings and it is chasing another 90 such jobs.
With the above in mind the reason to buy a brand new condominium in a pre approved and safe condo building becomes more and more sensible.
Check out your developers construction licensing approvals prior to investing your hard earned money into something that could soon become an official safety hazard!
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Thai Real Estate News
In most countries of the world, property markets are hypersensitive to even the smallest fluctuations in the economic, social and political climates. This begs the questions: Why is Pattaya, Thailand so different? Why is this market so resilient? ...
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SMS us now
For your convenience, instant and efficient feedback and offering an added value to guarantee highest level of customer satisfaction, our online SMS contact service was established.
Any questions you might have in regard to investing or purchasing your domicile in Pattaya, Thailand, will be answered within 24 hours.
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Testimonials
Read the Testimonials Iguana Group has received from Ross-Tara Co. Ltd., Obelisk International and Uni-Serv Co. Ltd., all well established and known in the Real Estate and Investment Market.
Obelisk International
We choose to collaborate with Iguana Group on the Pattaya Heights project for Obelisk International's first project in the Thailand market. The extensive experience ...
Uni-Serv Company LTD.
We at Uni-Serv Company Ltd. have been partnering Iguana Group within the Pattaya Real Estate ...
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