Can you hand your purchase contract to someone else? Assignment of claims under CCC Sections 303-309

Can you sell or hand over your rights under a reservation or purchase agreement before the property is registered in your name? Thai law has a general mechanism for transferring a claim, but the formalities are strict and it is easy to assume it does more than it does.

The rules

• Transferable by default (Section 303) — a claim may be transferred unless its nature does not admit it. The parties can agree otherwise, but that restriction cannot be set up against a good-faith third party.
• Security follows (Section 305) — mortgages, pledges and suretyships attached to the claim pass to the new holder.
• Writing and notice (Section 306) — a transfer of an obligation owed to a specific creditor is not valid unless in writing. It can be set up against the debtor or third persons only if written notice was given to the debtor or the debtor consented in writing.
• Payment before notice — the debtor is discharged if they pay the transferor before receiving notice or consenting.
• Competing transfers (Section 307) — if the same right is transferred more than once, the first transfer notified or agreed to is preferred.
• Debtor's defences (Section 308) — a debtor who consents without reservation cannot raise earlier defences against the new holder. With notice only, the debtor can still raise defences that existed against the original creditor.

Limits to keep in mind

• Not a title transfer — assigning contract rights does not make the assignee the owner. Ownership of land still passes only by registration at the Land Office; see registration day.
• Read the contract first — many developer and seller contracts require consent or charge a transfer fee, and the sale and purchase agreement guide covers the contract basics. For off-plan units see buying off-plan.
• Foreign-ownership rules still apply — an assignee who is a foreigner cannot acquire what the foreign-ownership rules forbid them to hold, whatever the contract paper says.
• Assignment is not delegation of your duties — Section 306 concerns claims. Handing over your own obligations, such as paying the remaining instalments, is a different step that in general needs the other party's agreement.
• Assignor risk — the notice should be sent by written, provable means, and the same right should never be sold twice.

This is general information, not legal advice; check the contract's own transfer clause and have a Thai lawyer draft the assignment and the notice.