Key takeaways
- SOPs make the quality of transfers independent of individuals
- The closing team needs skills in documentation, languages, basic law and compliance
- Cash on transfer day must be planned to cover SBT, fees, WHT and CIT together, not just revenue
Chapter 17 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
This chapter summarises five SOPs that link the work from taking a booking through to after transfer. The first SOP is collecting documents after the booking: send the checklist, hold a kickoff meeting and follow up until everything is complete. The second SOP is tracking instalment payments: notify buyers ahead of each milestone, check incoming funds, issue receipts, keep evidence of foreign funds, and follow the steps for late payment under the contract terms.
The third SOP is pre-closing verification at T-30, T-14 and T-7: check documents in four categories, check foreign fund amounts, check the quota, have the lawyer review, and obtain sign-off from compliance before assembling the document set. The fourth SOP covers transfer day, setting out roles, travel times, backup sets, the cheques required, and a plan for cases where the customer cannot attend, documents are wrong or systems fail.
The fifth SOP covers after transfer: make the accounting entries, file the reports required by law, update the quota tracker and the WHT register, hand over the unit, close the customer advances, store the documents and review lessons learned.
Every SOP should state its objective, trigger, steps, responsible person, output and KPI. The handbook recommends reviewing them at least every six months, or whenever the law or practice changes, and training the team using real documents.
Chapter 18 Organising the Closing Specialist team
SOPs work when responsibilities are clear. The handbook proposes a team comprising a closing supervisor, a senior specialist, closing specialists and a document administrator, working with legal and compliance functions shared with other departments. A project handling 50 to 150 units a year might use a team of about three to five people. This figure is a guideline to be adjusted for the share of foreign customers and the number of difficult cases.
The team lead oversees strategy, budget, escalation of problems and relationships with external bodies. The senior specialist takes complex cases and coaches others, while specialists look after customers, documents and the land office. The document administrator is responsible for scanning, storage and retrieval.
The skills required include basic law and tax, AML, communication in Thai and English, attention to detail and problem-solving. A three-month onboarding plan starts with learning the fundamentals, then shadowing real work, followed by taking simple cases under a mentor, and finally full responsibility. Regular refresher training on AML, tax and law is advisable.
KPIs should be balanced and not look only at the number of units. They include the transfer success rate, cycle time, first-pass document quality, customer satisfaction, compliance findings and cost per transfer. The bonus structure should not give incentives to skip verification steps.
Chapter 19 Cash flow planning for closing
The transfer period brings both large cash inflows and large cash outflows. This chapter recommends planning by unit and by instalment, separating SBT, fees according to who bears them, WHT (which is a CIT credit that must be prepared for in the tax period), and bank debt that may have to be repaid when the mortgage is released.
Example: Using the freehold unit in Chapter 6, the cash paid on transfer day totals THB 606,000, or 6.06% of the selling price, split into final costs of THB 506,000 and WHT of THB 100,000. If the buyer bears the transfer fee under the contract, the developer's share is reduced by the agreed amount.
Transfers concentrated in a single quarter can put pressure on liquidity even when the project is profitable. There should be a tax reserve and a working capital plan that is tested for the case of postponed transfers. How quickly or slowly WHT credits can be used depends on that year's CIT.
Foreign customers bring additional internal costs, such as translation, documents, legal fees, compliance costs and banking work. You should decide whether to include them in the price, charge them separately or share them, and state this in the contract.
This chapter proposes a separate account for expense funds that the buyer pays in advance, together with customer approval, reconciliation and refund of any surplus. If it is to be called or used as an escrow under the law, it must be carried out through a party entitled to do so and under the conditions the law prescribes. The seller's WHT is the seller's tax; passing the burden on to the buyer requires a review of the tax and contractual consequences.