Maintenance Fees in Phuket Condos: CAM Fee Guide for Property Investors
Read alongside Phuket Property Legal & Taxes Master Guide 2026.
What do CAM bands mean for budget vs premium buildings?
| Building tier | CAM range (THB/sqm/month) | What you typically see |
|---|---|---|
| Budget / lean | 40-50 | Smaller pool, simpler grounds, tighter staffing |
| Mid-range | 50-65 | Pool + gym, standard security hours, decent lobby |
| Premium resort-style | 70-100+ | Multiple pools, extensive gardens, stronger concierge/security |
Always request the current juristic budget: advertised CAM from launch years may not match today’s electricity and wage reality.
Red flag: CAM far below peers in the same sub-market, often signals deferred maintenance, arrears among owners, or a special assessment coming.
How do you calculate annual CAM at different unit sizes?
| Unit size | Monthly CAM (THB) | Annual CAM (THB) | Annual CAM (USD @ 33) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 35 sqm | 2,100 | 25,200 | ~$764 |
| 50 sqm | 3,000 | 36,000 | ~$1,091 |
| 80 sqm | 4,800 | 57,600 | ~$1,761 |
If CAM is 80 THB/sqm/month on 50 sqm, monthly is 4,000 THB ($121) and annual is 48,000 THB ($1,455). That swing alone can change net yield by ~0.4-0.6% on a $200,000 purchase, enough to matter when comparing two “similar” listings.
How does CAM impact net rental yield?
Illustrative example (not a promise):
- Purchase price: $200,000
- Gross annual rent: $16,000 (8% gross yield)
- CAM (50 sqm @ 60 THB): ~$1,091/year (~0.55% of price)
CAM alone is not the biggest line, management and distribution often dominate, but CAM is structurally persistent: you pay it in low seasons when revenue dips.
| Cost line | Illustrative % of price (annual) |
|---|---|
| CAM | 0.5-0.8% typical for many 50 sqm units |
| Management | 3-7% of price (depends on % of revenue) |
| OTA commissions | 2-6% of price (depends on channel mix) |
Yield framework: Phuket Rental Yield Guide.
Why does CAM rise over time, and how should you model it?
| Year | CAM/month (THB) starting 3,000 | +3%/year |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3,000 | 3,000 |
| 3 | n/a | ~3,273 |
| 5 | n/a | ~3,478 |
How do you compare two buildings with different CAM?
- Building A: 50 THB/sqm/month → 30,000 THB/year (~$909/year)
- Building B: 75 THB/sqm/month → 45,000 THB/year (~$1,364/year)
The CAM gap is $455/year, about 0.23% of price annually. That alone rarely decides a deal, but if Building B also has higher occupancy due to location and guest demand, the net outcome can still win. CAM must be judged alongside revenue quality.
What questions should you ask the juristic office before buying?
Insider tip: Ask for the annual budget PDF, not a sales brochure line. Buildings with transparent governance publish meeting minutes and arrears statistics without drama.
Why do unit electricity bills swing harder than CAM?
| Cost | Typical control |
|---|---|
| CAM | Set by juristic budget |
| Unit electricity | Guest behavior + A/C efficiency + tariff |
How do you compare CAM fairly across listings?
| Normalization | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| CAM THB/sqm/month | Strips out unit-size noise |
| Total annual CAM + sinking | Closer to “true carry” |
What if you self-manage: does CAM still apply?
| Approach | Typical tradeoff |
|---|---|
| Full-service operator | Less time, higher % fee |
| Hybrid / direct | More time, lower % fee |
For most investors, the winning move is not “minimize CAM at all costs,” but maximize stable net cash flow after all recurring building charges. Purchase roadmap: Buying Property Phuket Guide. Tax lines: Thailand Property Tax for Foreigners.
CAM is governance, not greed, increases are often driven by real input cost inflation. The investor task is to pick buildings where governance is transparent: budgets published, meetings held, arrears controlled, and maintenance proactive.
How do sinking fund and special assessments relate to CAM?
| Fund type | Purpose | Typical trigger |
|---|---|---|
| CAM monthly | Operations | Every month |
| Sinking (initial) | Opening reserve | At transfer |
| Special assessment | Emergency capex | When reserve insufficient |
A building with low CAM but empty sinking fund and aging elevators is a future special assessment candidate, sometimes 100,000-500,000 THB per unit on older towers.
What does a full net-yield walk-through look like with CAM included?
| Line | Annual USD | % of price |
|---|---|---|
| Gross rent | $14,400 | 8.0% gross |
| Management (18%) | −$2,592 | |
| OTA (15%) | −$2,160 | |
| CAM (55 THB/sqm) | −$998 | 0.55% |
| Utilities (owner-paid) | −$1,440 | |
| Insurance + minor repairs | −$600 | |
| Net before tax | ~$6,610 | ~3.7% net |
CAM is only ~15% of total operating drag here, but it is the line you cannot negotiate away in low season. That is why CAM-normalization belongs in every Phuket Rental Yield Guide comparison.
What CAM mistakes show up in broker yield sheets?
- Current CAM from juristic email, not PDF
- +3%/year CAM growth for years 2-5
- 6-month vacancy or low-season haircut
- Management + OTA as % of gross, not flat
A 0.5% CAM error on a $250K unit is $1,250/year, small alone, large compounded over hold period.
How does CAM interact with building age?
Older buildings do not simply cost more; they cost differently. In the first years after handover the charge covers routine operation and the defects liability period is still absorbing failures. Between roughly years five and ten the first real capital items appear, typically pool plant, pumps and the earliest air conditioning replacements in common areas. Beyond ten years the large items arrive: lifts, facade work, waterproofing and roof coverings, and each of them is a sum that a monthly charge cannot absorb.
That is what the sinking fund exists for, and it is why the reserve balance tells you more about a building’s future costs than the current charge does. A twelve-year-old building with a healthy reserve is a known quantity. A twelve-year-old building with a low charge and a depleted reserve has the same work coming and no money set aside for it, which means a special assessment on whoever owns the unit when the committee finally acts.
What happens if you do not pay
Worth stating plainly, because owners abroad sometimes treat the charge as negotiable in practice if not in principle.
Unpaid charges accrue against the unit rather than against you personally in any practical sense, which means they follow the property. The juristic person can withhold the debt-free certificate that a transfer requires, and without it the Land Office will not register a sale. In effect, arrears are settled at the point you try to sell, with interest, out of your proceeds.
Buildings can also restrict access to common facilities for owners in arrears and, in some cases, withhold voting rights at general meetings. None of that is unusual or aggressive; it is the ordinary mechanism by which a building funds itself.
The practical consequence for a buyer is the reverse: when you purchase a resale, confirm that the seller’s charges are settled or deducted at closing, because otherwise you inherit them. Ask for the last twelve months of receipts alongside the debt-free certificate.
How the charge is set, and who sets it
The rate is not fixed by law and it is not set by the developer forever. Understanding who controls it tells you how predictable your holding cost is.
At handover the developer sets the initial rate, usually in the sales documentation, and it is frequently pitched low because a low figure sells units. That first rate is a marketing number as much as a budget, and buildings where it was set too low tend to produce a sharp increase once the developer hands the juristic person over to the owners.
From then on the rate is set by the juristic person, with increases approved at a general meeting. Voting is weighted by ownership share, so a development where the developer still holds a large unsold block effectively controls the outcome, and a building with a dominant owner is one where your influence over your own costs is limited.
Two things follow for a buyer. On a new project, ask whether the quoted rate is the developer’s initial figure and what a comparable completed building of the same size and amenity level actually charges; the gap between those two is your likely first increase. On a resale, read the minutes of the last two general meetings, because a proposal that failed once usually returns.
What the charge actually pays for
Owners argue about the rate and rarely ask what it buys, which is the more useful question because it explains why two buildings differ.
The largest line in most Phuket buildings is people. Security, reception, cleaning, gardening and pool staff are the bulk of the budget, and a building with 24-hour security and daily pool service costs more to run than one with neither. The second largest is energy: common-area lighting, lift motors, pumps and air conditioning in lobbies and corridors, all of which run continuously in a tropical climate.
After that come the recurring maintenance contracts, lift servicing, fire systems, water treatment, pest control, and insurance on the common property. Then the management fee paid to whichever company runs the juristic person’s operations, which is a genuine service and also a line worth seeing separately rather than buried.
What the charge does not cover is your own unit. The electricity meter, the air conditioning inside your walls, your own contents insurance and any repair inside the door are yours, and owners who assume otherwise are surprised in the first year.
Ask for the budget as a breakdown rather than a total. A building spending heavily on staff for amenities you will not use is a different proposition from one spending heavily on energy because its plant is old, and only the second is a warning.
Pros and cons of a higher CAM building
In favour of paying more. A properly funded charge buys maintenance that actually happens: lifts that work, a pool that is not closed for a month, corridors and lighting that a guest notices. It also buys predictability, because the building meets its capital costs from a reserve rather than from assessments. And it protects resale, since the next buyer’s lawyer will read the same accounts you should be reading now.
Against. A high charge is a fixed cost that continues whether the unit is let or empty, and on a small unit it takes a disproportionate share of the net. Amenity-heavy buildings carry staffing and energy costs that a simpler building does not, and if you will not use the amenities you are subsidising people who will. A charge can also be high because the building is inefficient rather than because it is well run, which is why the accounts matter more than the figure.
Buyer scenarios
The investor comparing two similar units. Normalise both charges to baht per square metre per month, then read both buildings’ accounts. The building with the higher charge and a funded reserve is usually the better asset, and the difference in monthly cost is small against a single special assessment.
The owner of a compact unit. The charge is a larger share of your net than it is for a larger unit at the same rate per square metre, because your revenue is lower while amenity costs are shared by area. Weight the calculation accordingly, and be wary of amenity-heavy buildings at the small end.
The long-term holder. Model growth rather than the current figure. A charge rising a few percent a year compounds over a fifteen-year hold, and a plan that only works at today’s rate is not a plan.
The buyer of older stock. Ask what has already been replaced and what has not. A building that completed a lift or facade programme recently is past its largest cost; one that has deferred both is standing in front of it.
Getting it right: the short version
Ask the juristic office three questions in writing before you reserve: the current rate, the date of the last increase, and the sinking fund balance. Normalise every shortlisted building to baht per square metre per month so the comparison is real. Model growth of a few percent a year rather than a flat charge. And judge the building by what its reserve can pay for rather than by what its charge costs, because a cheap charge with an empty reserve is the more expensive of the two.
Set this against the wider cost picture in the taxes and fees guide and the hidden costs guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Many buildings fall roughly in the 40-80 THB per square meter per month range, with premium resort-style projects higher. Always confirm the current rate from the juristic office.
Usually not for your private unit. CAM covers common-area electricity; your unit meter is typically billed separately.
CAM reduces net yield because it is a fixed operating cost. Investors should model CAM growth over time, not only year-one rates.
Amenities, staffing levels, energy use, maintenance standards, and reserve policies differ. A cheaper CAM is not better if it signals underfunded maintenance.
You generally cannot negotiate CAM personally, it is set for the building. You choose projects with sustainable fee structures and finances.
Maksim Shchegolev
Founder, MORE Group
Founder of MORE Group. Four years in investment banking before moving to Phuket, where he has worked in the local property market since 2018. Oversees developer relationships and every engagement above $300K.
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