A Phuket condo can have a monthly common fee and still come with a bill for a full year. Before you budget for handover, ask how many baht you need when you collect the keys. Then ask how much to set aside for the following year. The difference often comes down to the first common-fee invoice and a separate payment called the sinking fund.
What do the two fees pay for?
Think about the lift in the lobby. Paying the staff who keep the building running is an operating expense. Replacing a lift car is the kind of major job a building can set money aside for. The common fee pays for day-to-day operations such as security and gardening. The sinking fund is a reserve for larger work. Sansiri uses lift replacement and repainting as examples in its guide for condominium buyers.
That distinction matters when comparing apartments. Put the initial reserve contribution on its own line, with a due date. For the common fee, write down the period each invoice covers. Otherwise it is easy to count a prepaid year twice, once when you get the keys and again in your monthly budget.
How a monthly rate becomes an annual bill in Nai Yang
At Silhouette by The Zero Phuket, the common fee is quoted per square metre per month and paid a year in advance. The project lists the sinking fund separately, also per square metre, as a one-off contribution at transfer. The monthly figure tells you how to calculate the bill. The words a year in advance tell you how much cash to have ready for that invoice. Silhouette payment guide.
For this fee structure, you can check both charges yourself.
- For the annual common fee, multiply the monthly rate by the chargeable area, then by 12.
- For the initial sinking fund contribution, multiply the one-off rate by the chargeable area.
Suppose you are comparing 40 m² and 50 m² apartments in the same building. If those are the chargeable areas and both rates are identical across the apartments, the larger one costs 25% more on each of those two lines. You can make that comparison without guessing what either apartment sells for. On a real quotation, ask which area the developer used and when the first annual payment is due.
What to ask for before you collect the keys
Ask the developer to itemise the handover bill. Next to each charge, write down what it pays for, when it is due and, if it recurs, when the next payment falls due. A date range beside the first common-fee invoice is particularly useful if you take possession halfway through a year.
Keep meter installation and your own electricity use on separate lines. Silhouette’s guide distinguishes the cost of installing the meters from what each home consumes. If a particular amenity helped you choose the building, ask what your common fee covers and whether using it carries an extra charge. Our Phuket condo facilities checklist has questions you can take to a viewing.
If you’re comparing two Phuket condos, ask Invest Phuket for the current written fee breakdown for each. Put the two handover totals side by side, then compare the recurring bills separately.