Property in Thailand

Foreigners cannot own land in Thailand. That is the whole starting point, and every structure sold as a way around it is either a lease with a shorter life than advertised or a criminal offense currently being prosecuted at scale. Condominiums are the one clean route, and even there a form you have probably never heard of decides whether the purchase can be registered at all.

Land — prohibited

Section 86 of the Land Code prohibits foreign land ownership. A theoretical exception allows up to one rai of residential land to holders of a 40,000,000 THB qualifying investment; it is essentially never granted.

Condominiums and the 49 percent quota

Under Section 19 of the Condominium Act, the aggregate floor space held by foreign nationals in any one building may not exceed 49 percent of total saleable area. At least 51 percent must stay in Thai hands.

• The quota is assessed per building and verified at the moment of registration at the Land Office.
• Once exhausted, no further foreign freehold registration is possible in that building at any price.
• Separately-deeded parking spaces count toward the foreign percentage.
• Get written confirmation of remaining foreign quota from the juristic person before paying a deposit. Not after.

A proposal to raise the quota to 75 percent exists and is unenacted.

The FET form — where most failed purchases fail

To register a condo in a foreign name, the Land Office requires proof that the purchase funds entered Thailand in foreign currency and were converted to baht inside Thailand. The evidence is a Foreign Exchange Transaction form, formerly Thor Tor 3, issued by the receiving Thai bank.

• FET forms are issued automatically for inbound transfers of USD 50,000 or more.
• Below that, you must ask the bank for the FET or an equivalent credit advice letter — at the time of the transfer. It is not automatic.
• The transfer instruction must state the purpose, for example “for purchase of condominium,” ideally naming the unit and project.
• The name on the FET must match the name going on the title deed. Funds sent by a spouse, a company or a third party fail this test.
• Money already inside Thailand, or converted to baht offshore, cannot be retrofitted into a valid FET.

The classic error is staging several transfers below USD 50,000 without requesting an FET at each step. It is also the reason the FET matters at purchase and not only at registration: repatriating sale proceeds later is difficult without the inbound documentation.

Leasehold — 30 years, whatever the brochure says

The Civil and Commercial Code caps registrable leases of immovable property at 30 years. Renewal structures marketed as 30+30+30 are widespread.

A March 2025 Supreme Court ruling invalidated stacked renewal structures, reinforcing strict adherence to the 30-year limit. Renewal options are contractual promises against the current owner. They are not registrable real rights, and they do not reliably bind successors in title or survive the owner’s insolvency or death.

The 99-year lease reform is proposed and not enacted. In September 2025 the incoming government indicated it would not pursue it, and it remained unenacted through 2026. Treat any lease marketed as 60, 90 or 99 years as a 30-year lease with unenforceable promises attached, until a Royal Gazette publication says otherwise.

Nominee companies — a crime, being prosecuted

The structure: a foreigner forms a Thai company, 51 percent Thai-held on paper, to hold land, with Thai shareholders who have no genuine economic interest. Agents and developers in Phuket and on the islands describe it as standard practice.

Provision	Penalty
Foreign Business Act s.36 — Thai nominees	Up to 3 years imprisonment; fine to 1,000,000 THB; daily fine to 50,000
Foreign Business Act s.37 — foreign operator	Up to 3 years imprisonment; fine 100,000–1,000,000 THB
Land Code — nominee land holding	Up to 2 years imprisonment, fines, and forced sale of the land

Enforcement escalated sharply through 2025 and 2026. Over 850 companies prosecuted with estimated damages of 15.1 to 15.3 billion THB. Nearly 47,000 companies flagged and 26,830 targeted for inspection in 2025. Between May and July 2026, five coordinated operations targeted 204 land plots worth 2.539 billion THB. The geographic focus is Phuket, with 600-plus flagged firms, Koh Samui and Koh Pha-ngan — a May 2026 Koh Pha-ngan operation froze assets exceeding 200 million THB.

Detection now uses pattern-matching across shareholder registers, funding trails, bank signatory records and the occupational plausibility of Thai shareholders. Pending amendments would make nominee arrangements a money-laundering predicate offense and extend the prosecution period to fifteen years.

Note the asymmetry, because it is the part that should decide this for you: your capital is at risk of confiscation or forced sale, while the Thai nominees — often locally recruited and judgment-proof — carry the criminal exposure in name. The structures described as routine are precisely the structures being prosecuted.

Transaction costs

Charge	Rate	Basis
Transfer fee	2%	Land Department appraised value
Specific Business Tax	3.3%	Sale price or appraised value, whichever higher — if held under 5 years
Stamp duty	0.5%	Where SBT is not payable
Withholding tax	Variable	Progressive for individual sellers by holding period
Mortgage registration	1%	Loan amount, where applicable

Allocation between buyer and seller is negotiable and not fixed by law. The common convention is a 50/50 split of the transfer fee with the seller bearing SBT and withholding — but developers frequently push all costs to the buyer, so read the contract rather than assuming the convention.

A reduced 0.01 percent transfer fee has applied to properties under 7,000,000 THB in various periods; reporting indicates it is restricted to Thai nationals. Verify current status, as this measure has been repeatedly extended and amended.

Land and Building Tax applies annually since 2020: residential property at 0.02 to 0.10 percent of appraised value, with a 50,000,000 THB exemption for a registered principal residence. A foreign owner’s non-principal condo typically costs a few thousand baht a year.