Experts on real estate law from Tilleke & Gibbins provided the chapter on Vietnam for Practical Law’s Commercial Real Estate Global Guide 2024, a comparative jurisdictional guide in Q&A format giving a a high-level overview of real estate investment structures, restrictions on foreign ownership, and other important issues of real estate law. The main topics include the following: Real estate investment Title to real estate Sale of real estate Real estate tax Real estate finance Real estate leases Planning and development controls To read the Vietnam chapter, please visit the Practical Law website and enroll in the free Practical Law trial to gain full access.

On February 1, 2024, Laos’ Decree on Condominiums No. 352/GOV took effect. This decree expands on the Law on Land (2019), which introduced the concept of condominiums into the Lao regulatory framework and opened the possibility for foreigners to own apartment units (redefined as “condominium units”—see below). The Law on Land revolutionized concepts of property ownership and investment in a country where foreign ownership is still uncommon. The recent Decree on Condominiums elaborates on the law by clarifying definitions, outlining procedures for acquiring a unit, setting requirements for operating a condominium business in Laos, and addressing issues related to ownership of condominiums. Definitions Condominium: The Decree on Condominiums defines a condominium as a multistory building containing several units and various facilities. The construction must be on a parcel of land registered as “condominium land.” The units composing the condominium can be sold or assigned to domestic and foreign individuals, legal entities, or organizations. Unit: This refers to any of the units that compose the condominium and whose ownership can be by Lao or foreign individuals, legal entities, or organizations. The decree classifies units into three categories: Residential units for living in; Office units for working spaces for enterprises; and Commercial and service units that serve as a trade or service center, such as for department stores, restaurants, fitness centers, and so on. Unit owners must register the unit in accordance with its specific purpose, which must be in line with any applicable urban planning restrictions on certain types of units. Apartment building: This is a building composed of several floors and rooms that cannot be sold to Lao or foreign nationals. According to the Decree on Condominiums, rooms composing the apartment building can only be offered for rent by the owner. This is the main difference between “condominium” and

Thailand’s Revenue Department (RD) has issued a notification requiring electronic platforms to report their revenue from business operators on their platform. With this information, the RD intends to track business operators’ income from the sale of goods and services through electronic platforms in order to facilitate accurate and efficient tax collection. The notification, which was enacted on December 27, 2023, took effect on January 1, 2024. Under the notification, electronic platforms are required to compile a “special account” containing information on the revenue received from each business operator on their platform and submit it to the RD through the department’s electronic reporting system within 150 days of the end of the fiscal year. The notification defines “electronic platforms” as entities that intermediate between business operators (i.e., sellers of goods or providers of services via the electronic platform) and consumers for the purpose of enabling electronic transactions between the parties. This covers online marketplace operators, ride-hailing operators, food delivery operators, and so on. This reporting requirement applies to electronic platforms registered in Thailand that have (or previously had, starting from the notification’s effective date) annual revenue exceeding THB 1 billion (approx. USD 28.5 million), except for electronic platforms under the supervision of the Bank of Thailand or the Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission, such as payment service providers and cryptocurrency exchanges. Electronic platforms can appoint a third party to prepare and submit the required special account information to the RD on their behalf. Compliance Steps As the requirements established by this notification mean that the RD will now have direct access to information on the income earned by vendors and merchants on electronic platforms, these business operators—whether corporate or individual—should ensure that they faithfully disclose their earnings, submit tax payments correctly, and file income tax returns in a

Thailand has opted to continue its reduction of rates for the sale and mortgage of certain types of properties to Thai individuals, as detailed in two ministerial regulations issued by the Ministry of Interior dated December 28, 2023, and published in the Government Gazette on January 2, 2024. In recent years, Thailand has allowed a reduction of the government fees for registering the sale and mortgage to Thai individuals of detached houses, semidetached houses, row houses, commercial buildings, the accompanying land, and condominium units with a sale price, official assessed value, and mortgage amount of up to THB 3 million. The reduced rates for these government fees are as follows: Sale: 1% of the officially assessed value (reduced from the normal rate of 2%). Mortgage: 0.01% of the mortgage amount (reduced from the normal rate of 1%). To be eligible for the reduced mortgage registration rate of 0.01%, both the sale and mortgage must be registered at the same time. These reduced rates will be valid until December 31, 2024. For more details on the reduced fees, or on any aspect of property law in Thailand, please contact Chaiwat Keratisuthisathorn at [email protected].