Is the company already in bankruptcy or rehabilitation? Then the deadline for filing your claim is one or two months from publication in the Royal Gazette. Read the bankruptcy guide first.
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Collect your evidence
Your contract and every addendum, receipts and bank transfers, FET forms, any guarantee, cheques (the originals and the bank’s return slips), brochures and adverts (screenshots with dates and web addresses) and chat messages on LINE, WhatsApp or WeChat. Export the chats now: phones get lost and accounts get closed. Then write a one-page timeline of what was promised, what you paid and what was missed.
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Work out exactly who owes you
The company that signed your contract, any guarantor, and anyone who signed or endorsed a cheque personally may each owe you, separately. Look each company up in the DBD DataWarehouse, and check the Royal Gazette and the Legal Execution Department for insolvency.
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Don’t sign anything new without advice
Addenda, settlement offers, swaps of debt for shares, waivers, powers of attorney, proxy forms: each can change or end your rights. Taking a week to have a document read is normal, whatever you are told about urgency.
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Know your deadlines
Thai law sets time limits, and some are short. A criminal complaint for ordinary fraud (Criminal Code, section 341) must be lodged within three months of learning of the offence and who committed it. A claim on a bounced cheque against the person who signed it can expire after one year. Contract claims run longer, but don’t wait. Ask a lawyer to list your deadlines in writing.
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Send a formal demand
A demand letter from a Thai lawyer puts the debtor on notice, creates a record and is usually the first step before court. Sometimes it is what produces an offer.
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Talk to other buyers
Buyers who act together share legal costs and carry more weight, especially when creditors vote. Be careful with chat groups run by the developer’s own staff: check who administers them. We can connect you with buyers in the same project.
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Use the official channels
Where What it can do Office of the Consumer Protection Board (OCPB), hotline 1166, ocpb.go.th Takes complaints about consumer contracts, including condominiums, and can mediate between buyer and developer. Police A criminal complaint for fraud. Fraud on the public (section 343) cannot be settled privately and has a long limitation period; ordinary fraud (section 341) has the three-month window above. Department of Special Investigation (DSI), hotline 1202, dsi.go.th Can take on large investment-fraud cases as “special cases”, and has done so for condominium investment schemes. Civil court Claims for refunds and damages. If you bought as a consumer, the simpler consumer-case procedure may apply, usually without court fees; buyers who invested may not qualify.
If the company goes into bankruptcy or rehabilitation
File your claim with the Official Receiver on time; the deadlines are strict. A bankruptcy also changes who you deal with: the company’s management no longer controls its assets. Read when a Thai developer goes bankrupt.
Watch out for recovery scams
People who have lost money are targeted again: by “recovery agents”, fake lawyers and fake officials who ask for a fee to release funds. Check any lawyer’s licence with the Lawyers Council of Thailand, meet at a real office, never pay into a personal account, and never pay to “unlock” money that is owed to you.
For phone numbers and public records, see official contacts.