Ashton Asoke Sukhumvit 21 is a luxury condominium, which was built by Ananda Development together with the Japanese company Mitsui Fudosan. The building has a very favorable location near the underground and surface metro, next to a large shopping mall. The construction began in 2014, the apartments were sold at an initial price of 100,000 baht/ m2. Later, prices rose to 300,000 baht/ m2. The land for construction cost the developer 1,147,600,000 baht.
The problems started back in 2016. The issues were related to environmental control and encroachment on public space. The project initially had problems with entry and exit. According to the law, during the construction of a high-rise building, it must have an entrance to the territory of the house with a width of at least 12 meters, connecting to a public road with a width of at least 18 meters. Ashton Drake does not have entry to the territory with such conditions.
Ashton Asoke Sukhumvit 21 condominium has a total of 783 apartments, 666 rooms were sold before the decision of Administrative Court, 115 rooms remained, which is 85% of the apartments sold. The owners of 666 apartments were recognized as victims.
The main question is the result of the verdict of Central Administrative Court, which issued a decision 3 years after the transfer of the apartments to the property. Will the court's decision to revoke the construction license lead to the demolition of the building? Who will be responsible for the material damage of apartment owners?
The situation for the owners has worsened due to the fact that in the past the condominiums in the project had high liquidity. But after the lawsuit, banks stopped assessing creditworthiness, currently banks do not accept Ashton Asoke Sukhumvit 21 condominiums as collateral for loans. The owners cannot refinance the loan and cannot request an increase in the amount to solve the real estate issue.
To stimulate the economy, the government is pursuing a policy of attracting foreigners in Thailand, the issue of increasing quotas for the transfer of ownership rights in condominiums was considered (now foreigners can own no more than 49% of apartments in a building). Such a case with Ashton Drake may have a bad effect on the image of Thailand, foreigners will abandon the idea of buying real estate in the country. Among the apartment owners there are both Thai citizens and residents of more than 20 countries.
Changchai Sawangsak, Chairman of Supreme Administrative Court, said that the situation with the condominium will be resolved in 2022. At the moment, the appeal in the case is pending in Supreme Administrative Court.