Buying off-plan in Phuket: where buyer protection ends

Early October. In the last two weeks I covered three sales launches on my channel: Nai Yang in the north, Sansiri in central Phuket, AssetWise on Kata and Karon. High season starts on 1 November, 25 days from now, and people are already booking December trips to view property. Many of them will be shown buildings that do not exist yet.

So here is the question I want settled before that trip: who protects your money while the building is a fence and a crane? The short answer, as of 7 October 2026: mostly the developer. The bank and the state are not in that picture, and usually neither is an escrow account.

In Thailand there are still no proper mechanisms to protect the buyer during construction. You give money to the developer directly, and if construction stops, you sort it out yourself. (from my post of 12 August 2026)

That sounds harsh. Off-plan can still work, if you choose the developer the way you would choose a business partner.

Is buying off-plan in Phuket safe? Protection stage by stage

Off-plan goes through four stages, and at each one something different protects you. Here is where each protection ends.

The middle two rows are where people lose sleep. The paperwork at the start has improved. The registration at the end is solid. In between, for two or three years, you are lending money to a company.

The reservation rule is worth a second look. It appeared because of complaints about confiscated reservation payments. So before any booking, ask for the agreement in the standard form, and read the termination clause yourself.

Does Thailand have escrow for off-plan condos?

On paper, yes: Thailand has an Escrow Act, B.E. 2551 (2008). In practice, for property it is voluntary. The Condominium Act does not oblige developers to use it, and the default on the market is direct payment to the developer.

The contrast is easiest to see next to Dubai, where off-plan is regulated differently.

That does not make Dubai the better buy. But in Phuket the job escrow does elsewhere falls on you: checking the company before you pay. You can ask a developer for escrow. Some may agree. Just do not expect it as standard.

How much do you pay before the keys?

This is the number that tells you how much is at risk if the build stops. Here are three real schedules from my channel: two launches I covered between 25 September and 6 October 2026, and the Laguna scheme from my post of 11 August. They are cases, not offers.

Usually in Phuket the instalments last until handover, and by the keys you have paid 100%. Laguna is the exception here: half is paid once the building already stands.

Now in money. Take the 29 sqm Sansiri unit at the launch price of 2,840,000 baht (2,990,000 minus a 150,000 discount), about USD 88,800. At contract you pay 852,000 baht. After a year, another 568,000. At the keys, 1,420,000. So 1,420,000 baht sits with the developer before you have anything to live in.

The Nai Yang schedule is interest-free over the build, and the discount depends on how you pay: 4,040,000 baht on the list, 3,840,000 with instalments, 3,640,000 for 100% payment. Paying everything up front buys you a lower price and puts all of it at risk on day one. Weigh that trade before you choose to pay in full.

What I want to see in any schedule: payments tied to construction stages, not to calendar dates alone; any interest clearly stated; the rate fixed in the contract; early repayment without penalties. If the terms are only verbal and the contract wording is vague, I do not go in.

What happens if the developer delays or never finishes?

There is no state body that steps in and finishes the building. No one can guarantee 100% that a project will be completed, and I do not pretend otherwise. Even a reliable project can be delayed: contractors, supplies, documents. A delay alone does not mean anyone planned to cheat you.

What matters is the pattern. A normal construction period in Phuket is 2-3 years. A build running over 4 years is a red flag, usually for financing problems; there are projects here that have been under construction for 6-8 years and are still selling. These are the red flags I look for:

• the build has been going on for more than 4 years;
• investors in the project keep changing;
• the developer pays agents commission in any currency, to any country, without an official agreement;
• the developer has no completed projects.

There is one more thing few buyers know. By Thai law, the company founders will include Thais. So the legal documents tell you only part of the story. Look at the people who really stand behind the project.

How I check an off-plan developer in Phuket

More than a hundred projects are under construction in Phuket right now. Of every ten brought to me, about one reaches my channel. Here is how I filter them.

First, what the company has already built and handed over. Not renders. Buildings that stand, where people live and units are rented out. Banyan Group has worked since 1984 and has built about 3,000 residences in Laguna. You can go and see them.

Second, how long that history is. The shorter it is, the higher the risk. A developer entering Thailand with its first or second project is a high risk for me, and its price must be noticeably below the market to justify it.

There is a company with a second project on the island, and both have stalled. No track record, many questions about the money. Such projects I do not sell, and I tell clients directly: let them finish, then we will talk. (from my post of 31 August 2026)

Third, the questions I ask before any purchase: where the investors are from and who stands behind the project; how many projects are completed; were there delays and how the company got out of them; were delayed projects in the end completed; are the financials transparent. Among the developers I consider reliable are Sansiri, Laguna Property (Banyan Group), Rhom Bho Property (The Title), AssetWise, Wallaya Villas Development, Boat Pattana, Capstone Asset and Origin Vertical.

I do not forbid anyone from buying at the start with a new developer. I name the risk and explain what it is made of. The decision is yours, and so is the responsibility.

Does buying at launch pay off?

Sometimes. Here are two cases from my channel.

Laguna: clients bought 121 sqm for 24.7 million baht before construction even began. Today the cheapest units of that size start from 30 million baht, and those are on lower floors without views. On the price list that is a gap of about 5.3 million baht. It is not profit in hand until someone pays it on resale.

Kata and Karon: AssetWise under its brand The Title is launching two projects, on Kata (135 units, 7 floors) and on Karon (189 units, two buildings of 7 floors). Both are a short walk from the sea; the Karon one I checked myself, see below. One-bedrooms are expected from about 4 million baht; exact prices come with the price list. In neighbouring sold-out projects, one-bedrooms from leftover stock go from 5.5 million baht, and not with the best views. That is the launch logic. Whether this project follows it, nobody knows yet.

The Sansiri launch has discounts until 31 October. I mention it as a fact of that launch. A discount does not change any row in the protection table above.

Two warnings on returns. Developers often promise 10-12% a year; after an honest recount, 5-6% often remains. For the Sansiri project in central Phuket my own guide is 6-8% a year, and it is a different strategy: annual leases to expats rather than holiday lets. Before you believe any figure, read how gross yield turns into net, and check what the unit earns in the low season.

And the question I ask about every project: who will buy this apartment in five years, and why? In locations where land is still free, new projects will keep appearing and competing with yours.

What to check yourself, not in the presentation

On Karon the developer wrote "450 metres to the sea". I took a bike and drove it from the site to the beach. 30 seconds by bike, about seven minutes on foot. This time the presentation was honest.

When a presentation says walking distance, I always go and look myself. Too often it means five minutes by car. (from my post of 3 October 2026)

Remember the Condominium Act here: the brochure is part of your contract. So whatever the presentation promises, distance to the beach, facilities, views, keep a copy of it. If it contradicts the contract, the contract is read in your favour.

Expect a compromise too. A client of mine wanted a high floor and chose the third, after seeing the unit in person. Almost every purchase has one. Off-plan, you choose the compromise from a floor plan, so stand on the site and look at what is around it.

How do you prove the money came from abroad?

If you are buying freehold, you will need to show at the Land Office that the purchase money came into Thailand from abroad in foreign currency. Two practical rules:

• The bank issues the formal Foreign Exchange Transaction form (Tor Tor 3) for a single transfer of USD 50,000 or more. Below that, you get a credit advice. Keep every one.
• The sender's name must match the buyer's name. Money sent by a relative or a company can cause problems at registration.

Off-plan payments are often below that threshold. The 852,000 baht contract payment on the 29 sqm Sansiri unit is about USD 26,600. So expect a stack of credit advices collected over two or three years. Keep them in one folder from the first payment. For more on the quota itself and what freehold gives you, see freehold vs leasehold in Phuket.

What to do before a December viewing trip or the 17 October presentation?

The AssetWise presentation is on 17 October, and prices and bookings open earlier. In December many buyers fly in at once. Either way, do the work at home first:

1. Write down the developer's completed projects and go and see one.
2. Get the payment schedule and work out how much you pay before the keys, in baht.
3. Ask for the reservation agreement in the standard form and read the termination clause.
4. Ask whether escrow is available. Note the answer.
5. Ask how much foreign quota is left for your specific unit and whether it is written into the contract.
6. Plan how the money leaves your bank, in your own name.

If you want to see what I currently consider worth looking at, the catalog has it.

The schedule, the developer's record, the reservation form and the quota are only part of what needs answering before a deal. I have put the full list into a checklist, 30 questions before you sign. Take it to the viewings and ask the developer every question in writing.