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Lofts Southshore sails through environmental impact assessment
The Lofts Southshore recently
passed its environmental impact assessment.
The environmental impact assessment (EIA) for luxury property
developer Raimon Land’s latest Pattaya condominium project, The Lofts
Southshore, has been approved by the Office of Natural Resources and
Environmental Policy and Planning.
The Lofts Southshore was successfully launched in July this year, pre-selling 61
units on its opening day at a value of THB732 million, and is due to be
completed in June 2012.
Raimon Land chief executive officer, Nigel Cornick said, “Integrity in
everything we do is a cornerstone of our business philosophy, and the timely
approval of the EIA is evidence again of the seriousness with which we take
environmental issues.
“Buyers are ever more demanding, and we continually seek new levels to which we
can accommodate them. By focussing on environmental and energy conservation from
the preliminary design stages, we can ensure them that the final product meets
or exceeds the most stringent environmental standards while not largely
affecting the immediate area we are building on.”
Raimon Land’s support of ‘green’ systems has become a mainstay on all its
projects. Initiatives such as use of water recycling, water efficient bathroom
fittings, low-energy light fitting, high-quality aluminium window systems with
tinted laminated glass, window shadings and other ‘energy aware’ designs
appropriate for Thailand’s tropical climate have set new standards for luxury
condominiums in the Kingdom.
The developer’s concern for the environment and community is further evidenced
by its many corporate social responsibility projects aimed at this very issue,
including the recently dedicated water treatment plant at Pongsaket School near
Pattaya to support the Bangkok South and Pattaya Rotary Clubs’ “Clean Drinking
Water Project”.
In its effort to offset all of its carbon emissions, Raimon Land has also
partnered with the Plant A Tree Today (PATT) Foundation to establish a nursery
at the UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, Khao Yai National Park. The nursery is
open to any company looking to reduce its carbon footprint, and will also be
used as a research and educational facility.
Escrow Agent – Where are you?
David Tan
An escrow agent in real estate business is an agent that is responsible
for holding the money and title deed pending fulfillment of other conditions by
the parties to the contract. This is a good risk management method.
Typically, the seller of a plot of land or house would let an escrow agent
(neutral agent) hold the title deed and the buyer would let the escrow agent
hold the deposit payment. The escrow agent shall release the title deed (plus
arrange for ownership title transfer of property) to the buyer and hand the
deposit over to the seller upon fulfillment of the contractual conditions.
This minimizes the risk of the buyer losing the deposit money to the seller if
the seller does not come to sell the property to the buyer on the agreed upon
day of sale due to: (a) the seller subsequently finding another buyer who is
prepared to pay a higher purchase price; (b) the seller cannot complete
construction of the property for sale; (c) the seller disappearing with deposit
money or (d) the seller cannot release the mortgage or other kinds of
encumbrances attached to the property, etc.
Furthermore, the involvement of an escrow agent protects the seller and the
buyer from other kinds of fraudulent and deceptive practices.
In Thailand, however, escrow agent service was never solely offered by
commercial banks or financial institutions because there had been no specific
laws or regulations on this until May 19 this year.
Under the Escrow Business Act B.E. 2551 (2008), effective as of May 19, 2008, an
escrow agent must be a financial institution, a commercial bank, a financial
company or other kinds of juristic person prescribed under ministerial
regulations.
Some of the important provisions under the Act are:
1) An escrow contract must be drafted, signed by the seller, buyer and the
escrow agent, and must stipulate certain conditions.
2) The escrow agent must be a neutral party with no connections whatsoever to
either the seller or the buyer.
3) The escrow agent must open an escrow bank account for the contractual parties
with a financial institution and deposit the money held into this escrow bank
account.
4) In the event that the escrow agent is deemed a debtor under a court execution
order, all property, money or title deed / other legal documents of the
contractual parties that are held by the escrow agent are protected and are not
ceased or used as payment for the escrow agent’s debt.
5) The escrow agent must inform the official at the Land Office in writing that
the property is under an escrow contract and that transfer of ownership is not
permitted until the escrow agent provides the Land Office with a written notice
authorizing transfer of ownership. The official of the Land Office must make a
record of these as evidence.
6) If there is a disagreement between the buyer and the seller under the escrow
contract, the escrow agent shall not transfer money or property to either party
until the contractual parties have reached an agreement or as according to a
court order.
According to the Act, a financial institution, commercial bank or financial
company who wants to operate as an escrow agent must obtain a license from the
Ministry of Finance to provide escrow agent service.
The application and granting of this license shall be according to the
standards, procedures and conditions as provided by ministerial regulations.
Thus far, no license has been granted to any financial institution, commercial
bank or financial company to provide escrow agent service. It may be some time
until we will be able to find an escrow agent in a real estate transaction.
Tip
This means that we still have to use other kinds of protective
measures, e.g. in a sale and purchase of property contract, the seller and buyer
open a joint bank account where the deposit money of the buyer will be paid in.
The withdrawal or deposit of money from the bank account can only be made
jointly by the seller and the buyer.
David Tan is a Lecturer of Business Law at Asian University and author of
the book “A Primer of Thai Business Law”, available at www.chulabook.com or call
038 233 490 to order. Any questions or comments to David should be sent to
[email protected]
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