Property due diligence in Southeast Asia — before you pay the deposit, not after
Every SEA market has its own way to lose a property: a tax declaration posing as a title in Thailand, an exhausted 40% condo quota in the Philippines, a void nominee deed in Bali. Our standardized due diligence runs the exact checks a local lawyer would run for their own family — certified at the registry, in English, in 5–7 business days.
What the standardized scope covers (fixed-fee, quoted upfront)
- Certified title verification at the Registry of Deeds (PH), BPN (ID) or Land Department (TH) — authenticity, right-holder, title grade.
- Foreign quota check — the 40% condo cap (PH) or 49% building quota (TH) verified against official records.
- Encumbrance, lien and lis pendens search — mortgages, annotations and pending cases tied to the property or seller.
- Tax & dues status — unpaid real property tax or association dues that become your problem at transfer.
- Contract red-flag report — your purchase or lease contract annotated with what is missing, illegal or one-sided, in English.
The numbers that matter
Billing structure
Fixed-fee quote before engagement
Turnaround
5–7 business days
Jurisdictions
🇵🇭 🇮🇩 🇹🇭 (others on request)
Deliverable
Written report + annotated contract
How engagement works
- Submit your free case brief — 2 minutes, confidential, no obligation.
- Within 24–48h we send two vetted proposals from bar-registered firms in this jurisdiction, each with a fixed-fee scope in English.
- You engage the firm directly. We never sit between client and counsel — and never take a cut of legal fees.
Frequently asked questions
When should due diligence happen — before or after the deposit?
Always before any deposit, option fee or reservation payment. In all three jurisdictions deposits are hard to recover once contracts are signed, and every problem we find (title grade, quota, liens) is only cheap to fix before signature.
Does the seller’s agent provide due diligence?
Agent-provided “due diligence” is marketing. The agent is paid by the seller; our counsel certifies independence from the seller, developer and broker, and reports to you alone — that conflict check is part of our matching protocol.
What if the check finds a problem?
You walk away with a full report you can show the seller, or renegotiate. A one-page fixed-fee check routinely saves five and six figures — the most common finding is a quota or title-grade problem invisible in the sales brochure.
Can you handle the closing too?
Yes — closing support, transfer registration and tax filings are quoted as a separate fixed scope after the due diligence report, so you always know the total cost before committing.