The short answer
Buyers from the United States, Australia and other markets where a neutral third party holds the money on every sale often assume Thailand works the same way. It does not by default. Escrow exists in Thai law, but nobody is required to use it. The table gives the position on each point, with the section it comes from.
| Question | Position in Thai law | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Must a sale use escrow | No. The parties may agree to appoint an escrow agent | Escrow Act, section 5 |
| Who can be the agent | A financial institution holding a permit from the Minister of Finance. Eight banks hold one | Sections 9 and 10; Fiscal Policy Office list |
| Where the money sits | In an escrow account opened for that one contract, in the agent's name for the benefit of the parties, funded within one business day of receipt | Sections 3 and 17 |
| If the agent gets into trouble | The account and the property under escrow cannot be seized for the agent's debts or shared among its creditors | Section 25 |
| The property during escrow | The land or condominium official records the escrow and may not register a transfer until the agent writes | Section 17 |
| When the seller is paid | When both sides have fully performed and there is no dispute | Sections 19 and 20 |
| If there is a dispute | Nothing moves until the parties agree or a court gives a final judgment, unless the escrow agreement says otherwise | Section 23 |
| Cost on a property sale | Not more than 0.3 percent a year of the value of the escrow agreement, split equally unless agreed otherwise | Committee notification on fees; section 8 |
Section numbers refer to the Escrow Act B.E. 2551 (2008) as amended to Act No. 2 B.E. 2562 (2019), read in Thai in the latest consolidated text on 14 November 2026. English wording on this page is our own rendering.
Escrow matters most where money is paid long before ownership passes, which is the normal pattern for a condo bought before it is built. Our guide to buying off-plan property in Thailand covers payment schedules and how to judge a developer, and our guide to developer delays and refunds covers the rights a buyer has when a project runs late.
The Escrow Act in brief
The Escrow Act B.E. 2551 was published in the Royal Gazette on 20 February 2008 and took effect ninety days after publication. The note attached to the Act explains the reason: contracts to buy and sell real estate, and other contracts where each side owes the other something, rested mainly on trust between the parties.
The Act defines escrow business as acting as an intermediary that oversees the parties' performance as agreed in an escrow agreement, done as a regular trade and for a fee. Section 7 gives the agent its core job: to see that each side performs on time and on the agreed conditions, by keeping the money, property or documents handed to it, and then delivering the money or arranging the transfer of ownership.
- It is optional. Section 5 says that in making a contract of this kind the parties may agree to have an escrow agent, by signing an escrow agreement and following the Act.
- The Minister of Finance is in charge. Section 4 puts the Act under the Minister of Finance. A supervisory committee chaired by the Permanent Secretary of Finance includes the Director-General of the Department of Lands and representatives of the Office of the Consumer Protection Board and the Bank of Thailand. The Fiscal Policy Office is its secretariat.
- It was widened in 2019. A Ministry of Finance release of 10 April 2018 said the amendment would bring condominium unit sales into the same Land Office procedure as houses and land, so that the Act would be used more. A Fiscal Policy Office article says the amendment also lets an agent hold only money, only property or only documents, where it previously had to hold money and property together.
The Act has no rule that a developer must offer escrow or say in its contract or advertising whether escrow is used. The only provision aimed squarely at real estate is the Land Office procedure described below.
Banks that hold an escrow permit
Section 9 requires a permit from the Minister of Finance, given on the committee's recommendation. Section 10 says an applicant must be a financial institution, meaning a commercial bank, a finance company or a bank set up under its own law, or another legal entity named in a ministerial regulation. The only permit regulation on the Fiscal Policy Office list of escrow rules is the one for financial institutions.
The Fiscal Policy Office list dated August 2019 names eight permit holders. An article by the same office published on 6 August 2025 names the same eight:
- Bangkok Bank
- Kasikornbank
- Siam Commercial Bank
- Bank of Ayudhya
- Standard Chartered Bank (Thai)
- The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Bangkok branch
- Citibank N.A., Bangkok branch
- Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Bangkok branch
Holding a permit is not the same as selling the service to every customer. This guide did not check whether each bank takes escrow instructions from an individual home buyer today, so ask the bank's head office before you build a purchase around it.
Section 11 bars anyone who is not a permit holder from using the business name escrow agent or any word with the same meaning. Running escrow business without a permit carries a fine of up to 1,000,000 baht under section 44, and misusing the name a fine of up to 500,000 baht under section 45. A law firm, an agency or a developer that offers to hold your deposit “in escrow” is offering a private arrangement, not escrow under the Act.
An agent may not act where it has a stake in one side. Section 12 bars an agent with a direct or indirect interest in a party, and the committee notification read for this guide treats a parent, subsidiary or affiliate of either party as interested. Where the agent bank is also a lender to the side that must hand over the property, the notification requires it to tell the parties.
The escrow agreement and its required contents
Escrow adds a second contract beside the sale contract. Under section 17 the agent prepares it once the parties have agreed to use one. Section 6 says the escrow agreement must be in writing, signed by the parties and the agent, and must contain at least:
- The names and addresses of the parties and the agent.
- The date of the escrow agreement.
- The name of the underlying contract between the parties, for example the contract to sell and buy a condominium unit.
- The period or conditions for handing over the property, the documents or the money.
- The rules for moving money out of the escrow account.
- The rights, duties and liability of the parties and the agent.
- The remuneration and any other fees.
- Any other item the committee prescribes.
Items four and five carry the weight. The Act leaves it to the escrow agreement to say what counts as performance and who receives the money if the deal ends early, so a vague release clause gives little protection. Have a lawyer read the escrow agreement and the sale contract side by side. Our guide to hiring a lawyer in Thailand explains how to choose one.
The escrow account and the protection around it
Where the contract involves a payment, section 17 has the agent open an escrow account for that particular contract and deposit the money it receives from the paying side within one business day. The Act defines an escrow account as a deposit account the agent opens with a financial institution in its own name for the benefit of the parties.
- Proof of every deposit. The agent must give the paying side evidence confirming each deposit. Section 17 treats that evidence as proof that the buyer has performed the payment duty under the sale contract. The agent must also tell the other side promptly.
- Statements. Section 18 requires the agent to report deposits, transfers and the remaining balance to the parties.
- Separation. Section 14 requires the agent to keep the parties' property apart from its own, with a separate record for each party.
- No fees from the account. Section 8 bars the agent from collecting its fee out of the money in the escrow account.
Section 25 is the provision that sets escrow apart from an ordinary deposit held by a seller. If the agent becomes a judgment debtor, is placed in receivership by a court, or is ordered by a regulator to suspend all or part of its business, the money in the escrow account and the property under the escrow agreement are protected. They are not open to seizure or attachment in a civil case against the agent, they are not divided among creditors in the agent's bankruptcy, and they fall outside a ban on payments under a suspension order. The receiver and the committee then return the money and property to the parties or move the escrow to another agent.
Staff are covered too. Under section 48 a director, manager or employee of an agent who embezzles escrow money, or lets the account fall below what the parties deposited, faces up to five years in prison, a fine of up to 500,000 baht, or both.
The Land Office note that blocks a transfer
Holding the money is half of escrow. The other half is making sure the seller cannot pass the property to someone else in the meantime. Section 17 deals with this where the property is real estate with a land title document or a condominium unit title deed.
- The agent writes to the official under the Land Code, or to the official under the condominium law for a condo unit.
- That official records that the property is subject to an escrow agreement.
- From then on the official may not register a transfer of rights in the property until the agent gives notice in writing.
The practical effect is a registered block that only the agent can lift. It applies to property that already has a title document. Our guide to Thai title deeds explains the document types, and our Land Office guide explains how transfers are registered.
The Act speaks of a unit title deed. A condo that is still being built has no unit title deed yet, and this guide found no official text saying how the note works before the building is registered. For an off-plan purchase, ask the bank and your lawyer what, if anything, can be recorded against the project land.
Release, refund and disputes
The Act gives three outcomes, and the escrow agreement fills in the detail of each.
| Outcome | The agent's duty | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Both sides have fully performed and nobody disputes it | Transfer the money with its yield out of the escrow account, or arrange the transfer or delivery of the property or documents, as the escrow agreement states | Section 19 |
| Money leaves the account | Pay it directly into the account of the party entitled to it and send that party proof at once | Section 20 |
| The escrow agreement ends without a dispute | Pay the money and yield to the paying side or to the side that was to hand over the property, as the escrow agreement provides, without delay and within 30 days | Section 22; committee notification on the time limit |
| A dispute arises over rights or duties | Pay nothing and transfer nothing to either side until the parties agree or a court gives a final judgment, unless the escrow agreement says otherwise | Section 23 |
| Everything has been paid out | Close the escrow account and tell the parties at once | Section 24 |
The 30-day limit is from the committee notification published in 2008. Act No. 2 of 2019 called for the notifications to be issued again, and no later version was found for this guide.
Two points follow for a buyer. First, the Act does not decide who is in the right when a deal falls apart. It only tells the agent to follow the escrow agreement, so the refund conditions have to be written there in plain terms: the dates, the events that count as default, and who receives the money in each case.
Second, a dispute freezes the account. The Act sets no notice period for a defaulting party and no procedure for paying the money into court. An agent that pays out during a dispute, or pays to the wrong account, faces a fine of up to 500,000 baht under section 46. If you and the seller cannot agree, the money stays where it is until a settlement or a final judgment, which is safer than losing it but can take a long time.
Fees and who pays them
Section 8 sets the default split and leaves the rates to the committee.
- Equal shares by default. Unless the parties agree otherwise, each pays half of the agent's remuneration for its core duties.
- Extras are paid by whoever asks. A party that requests an additional service pays for it.
- A ceiling for real estate. The committee notification on fees says that for escrow in a sale of real estate the agent may charge not more than 0.3 percent a year of the value of the escrow agreement. For other kinds of escrow the rate is whatever the agent and the parties agree.
- Rates must be shown in advance. The same notification requires the agent to post its rates openly at its place of business, tell the parties the rates before the escrow agreement is made, and state them in the agreement.
As arithmetic on invented figures: on an escrow agreement valued at 1,000,000 baht the ceiling is 3,000 baht a year, or 1,500 baht each on the default split. On 3,000,000 baht held for two years the ceiling is 18,000 baht in total.
The ceiling was read in a consolidated copy that runs to the third amendment in 2013. A Fiscal Policy Office article of August 2025 repeats the 0.3 percent figure, but this guide did not find a re-issued notification after the 2019 amendment, so treat the bank's own posted rate as the figure that counts. Escrow fees come on top of the taxes and fees of the transfer itself, which our guide to condo transfer costs sets out.
Use in Thai property sales so far
The law is on the books, and the Fiscal Policy Office's own numbers show how little it has been used for property. The table is from an article by the office published on 6 August 2025, with data as of 1 May 2025.
| Type of transaction, 2008 to first quarter of 2025 | Escrow contracts | Value under escrow (million baht) |
|---|---|---|
| Capital market | 42 | 870,996.38 |
| Real estate | 4 | 852.87 |
| Other sales of assets and services | 14 | 5,984.08 |
| Total | 60 | 877,833.33 |
Source: reports from escrow agents compiled by the Fiscal Policy Office, as published in the FPO Journal. Real estate is 6.67 percent of contracts and 0.10 percent of value.
Four real estate contracts in about seventeen years means a buyer should not expect a developer's sales office to have an escrow option ready. The same article says business makes little use of escrow, in real estate above all, compared with capital market deals.
The reason is built into section 5. Escrow needs both sides to agree, and money that sits in an escrow account is money the seller cannot spend until it has performed. For a buyer that is the whole point. It also explains why the request usually has to come from the buyer.
Asking for escrow on your purchase
These steps follow from the texts read for this guide. They suit a purchase where a large sum will be paid before the Land Office transfer.
- Raise it before you pay a reservation fee. Escrow has to be agreed by both sides, and your leverage is highest before any money has moved. Our reservation agreement checklist covers what else to settle at that stage.
- Ask the seller in writing whether it will sign an escrow agreement under the Escrow Act B.E. 2551. Use the name of the Act so that a private holding arrangement is not offered in its place.
- Approach a permit holder. Ask one of the eight banks whether it accepts escrow for a property sale of your size, its posted rate, and its standard form of escrow agreement.
- Check for a conflict. Ask whether the bank is a lender to the seller or developer. The committee notification requires the agent to tell you.
- Write the release and refund conditions in plain terms. State what the seller must do before any money is released, the date by which it must be done, and that the money returns to you if it is not.
- Keep the proof of every deposit. Section 17 treats it as evidence that you have paid under the sale contract.
- For a title that already exists, confirm the Land Office note. Ask the agent for a copy of its letter to the land or condominium official.
A refusal is not unlawful, because the Act is optional. It is information. You can still reduce what is exposed: keep early payments small, tie later payments to construction stages you can inspect, and check the project and the developer with our condo due diligence checklist. A buyer who wants no gap at all between paying and owning can buy a completed unit and pay at the Land Office on the day of transfer, as our guide to the buying process describes.
The Act was read in its latest consolidated text. The three committee notifications were read in copies that predate the 2019 amendment, and whether newer versions exist was not established, so confirm the fee ceiling and the 30-day limit with the bank or the Fiscal Policy Office. This guide did not check which banks sell escrow to individual buyers, how the Land Office note works for a unit that is not yet built, or how escrow fits with the rules for bringing foreign currency into Thailand to buy a condo, which our guide to foreign condo ownership covers. No court decisions were read.
Buying from abroad adds a transfer step before the money reaches any Thai account. Our guide to sending money to Thailand and our guide for American buyers cover that side.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, but only if both sides choose it. Section 5 of the Escrow Act B.E. 2551 says the parties to a contract may agree to appoint an escrow agent. Nothing in the Act makes a seller or developer use one, and a Fiscal Policy Office article of August 2025 says escrow is an option and not a mandatory rule.
Only a business that holds a permit from the Minister of Finance. Section 10 limits applicants to financial institutions, or other legal entities named in a ministerial regulation. The Fiscal Policy Office lists eight permit holders, all of them banks. A law firm, an agency or a developer that holds your money is not an escrow agent under the Act.
Section 25 protects it. If the agent becomes a judgment debtor, is placed in receivership or is ordered to suspend business, the money in the escrow account and the property under the escrow agreement cannot be seized for the agent's debts and are not shared among its creditors in bankruptcy.
For a sale of real estate, the Committee notification on fees caps the agent's remuneration at 0.3 percent a year of the value of the escrow agreement. On an agreement valued at 1,000,000 baht that is at most 3,000 baht a year. The copy read for this guide is a consolidated text to 2013, so ask the bank for its current posted rate.
Section 8 says that unless the parties agree otherwise they pay the agent's remuneration in equal shares. A party that asks for extra services pays for those alone. The fee may not be taken out of the money in the escrow account.
Not through the Land Office. Under section 17 the agent writes to the land official, or to the condominium official for a condo unit, who records that the property is under an escrow agreement. No transfer of rights may be registered until the agent gives written notice.
When both sides have fully done what the escrow agreement requires and there is no dispute about their rights and duties. Section 19 then has the agent transfer the money with its yield, and section 20 says it must go straight into the account of the party entitled to it, with proof sent at once.
Unless the escrow agreement says otherwise, the agent must not pay or transfer anything to either side until the two reach agreement or a court gives a final judgment. That is section 23. The Act sets no shorter route, so a contested escrow can stay frozen for as long as the dispute lasts.
Where the agreement ends without a dispute, the Committee notification read for this guide says the agent must finish paying out without delay and within 30 days of the day the agreement ended. Who receives the money follows the escrow agreement.
Rarely. A Fiscal Policy Office table counts 60 escrow contracts in Thailand from 2008 to the first quarter of 2025, and only four were real estate transactions, worth 852.87 million baht. Most escrow by value was capital market business.
No. Section 11 reserves the name escrow agent for permit holders, and the account protection in section 25 applies to an escrow account opened under the Act. Money held by anyone else is governed by whatever contract you sign with that person, not by the Escrow Act.
See condos you can inspect before you pay
Live condos for sale with asking prices, photos and the agency that lists each one, for buyers who would rather pay at the Land Office on a finished unit than fund a project in stages.
General information only, not legal or financial advice. The Escrow Act sections are from the latest consolidated Thai text on the Office of the Council of State law search. The fee ceiling, the 30-day limit and the conflict rules are from committee notifications on the Fiscal Policy Office website in copies dated before the 2019 amendment, and later changes were not established. The list of permit holders is the Fiscal Policy Office list of August 2019, repeated by the same office in August 2025, and says nothing about which services a bank sells today. Usage figures are from the FPO Journal. The fee examples use invented figures. A lawyer should review any escrow agreement or sale contract that matters to you. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal: homes on this site are listed by independent owners, agents and agencies, and BAANLYY is not a party to their leases or sales and does not hold buyers' money. Legal rules are from the sources named below, read on 14 November 2026.
Sources
- Escrow Act B.E. 2551 (Thai, latest consolidated text, status in force, Royal Gazette 20 February 2008, amended to Act No. 2 B.E. 2562): section 5 escrow is by agreement, sections 6 and 7 the escrow agreement and the agent's duty, section 8 fees, sections 9 to 12 permit, name and conflicts, section 17 the escrow account and the Land Office record, sections 19 to 25 release, termination, disputes and protection of the account, sections 44 to 48 penalties ↗Office of the Council of State · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Law index entry for the Escrow Act B.E. 2551 (Thai), linking to the consolidated text ↗Office of the Council of State · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Escrow: related laws and rules (Thai), the list of the ministerial regulation and committee notifications issued under the Escrow Act ↗Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Notification of the Escrow Business Supervisory Committee on remuneration and service fees (Thai, consolidated copy to No. 3 B.E. 2556, 3 pages): clause 2 ceiling of 0.3 percent a year of the value of the escrow agreement for a sale of real estate, clause 4 rates posted, disclosed before signing and stated in the agreement ↗Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Notification of the Escrow Business Supervisory Committee on the period for acting when an escrow agreement ends (Thai, Royal Gazette 28 October 2008, 1 page): within 30 days of the day the agreement ended without dispute ↗Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Notification of the Escrow Business Supervisory Committee on having an interest in a party (Thai, consolidated copy to No. 3 B.E. 2556, 3 pages): parent, subsidiary and affiliate companies, related directors and managers, and the duty to disclose lending to the transferring party ↗Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Ministerial Regulation on applying for and issuing an escrow business permit for financial institutions B.E. 2551 (Thai, Royal Gazette 8 August 2008, 3 pages) ↗Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Escrow agents (Thai): the page carrying the list of eight financial institutions holding an escrow permit, list dated August 2019 ↗Fiscal Policy Office, Ministry of Finance · Accessed 14 November 2026
- FPO Journal article on escrow by the Bureau of Financial Protection Policy (Thai, 6 August 2025): the eight permit holders and the table of escrow contracts from 2008 to the first quarter of 2025, data as of 1 May 2025 ↗Fiscal Policy Office (FPO Journal) · Accessed 14 November 2026
- Ministry of Finance press release 51/2561 of 10 April 2018 (Thai, 3 pages) on the draft amendment to the Escrow Act adding condominium unit sales to the registration record ↗Ministry of Finance · Accessed 14 November 2026
Official primary sources are listed above with the date we last checked them. Thai rules, fees, thresholds and procedures change and can be applied differently by individual offices and embassies — confirm the current requirement with the responsible authority before relying on it. General information only, not legal, tax or medical advice. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.