Property ownership in Thailand: what you can actually hold
Ownership is the part of a Thai purchase where a comfortable explanation and the actual document can differ, and where the difference only surfaces years later. This page sets out what a foreigner can hold, how each form behaves on resale and on inheritance, and what I verify before any money moves.
I have never lost a client's money on this and the reason is unglamorous: every ownership question is answered on paper before the deposit, not in a conversation at the sales office. Thai property law is not hostile to foreigners. It is specific. Once you know which form you are in and what it gives you, the rest of the transaction is ordinary.
The two real forms
There are two clean ways for a foreigner to hold residential property in Thailand. The first is freehold in a licensed condominium, registered in your own name, inside the 49% foreign quota of the building's residential area. It is permanent, it passes to your heirs, and it sells to the next foreign buyer without a structure around it. The second is a registered leasehold, a long lease recorded at the Land Department. It is a real right, it is used in most villa projects because land cannot be held by a foreigner, and it is perfectly sound when the terms are right. What it does to resale price, to yield and to inheritance is a genuine difference, and I go through it without sales language in freehold versus leasehold in Phuket.
Land and long leases
Land is where most of the confusion lives. A foreigner does not register land in their own name, so a villa purchase is built around a long registered lease on the plot with the house held separately. The registration practice for those leases has been tightened, and a payment schedule across the lease term is now expected rather than a single lump sum paid at the start. That change is in your favour, because it makes the lease look like what it is. The second thing a villa buyer should know is that in 2023 the Supreme Court, in a Phuket case (decision 4655/2566), held pre-paid renewals on identical terms void as a circumvention of section 540 of the Civil and Commercial Code — so the registered thirty years is the right you actually hold, and a renewal promise is a personal obligation of that lessor. What a villa buyer should read in the lease, and which clauses decide whether the arrangement survives a resale, are in registering a land leasehold in Thailand.
Why I do not touch nominee structures
A Thai company with nominee shareholders, set up purely so a foreigner can control land, is the one arrangement I decline to work with. Enforcement has tightened, the checks are real, and the exposure sits with the person whose name is on the purchase rather than with whoever suggested it. A genuine company with genuine activity is a different matter and has its own annual cost. The distinction, from the buyer's side rather than the lawyer's, is in nominee structures in Thailand.
The checks that happen before the deposit
Everything above is decided in one stage of work, and it is the stage people are most tempted to compress. For an apartment the file is a defined list.
- the chanote title and who is registered on it;
- the unit's current quota status, in writing, not verbally;
- any encumbrances, and on a resale a management certificate confirming there are no common area arrears, because arrears follow the property and block the transfer;
- the building's accounts, the fee per square metre and the state of the sinking fund;
- the house rules, especially whether short-term letting is actually permitted in the building;
- the sale contract itself, reviewed by a lawyer before signing rather than after.
That list is not defensive, it is routine, and an honest seller expects every item on it. The full sequence, in the order it runs, is in the condominium due diligence checklist.
On an off-plan purchase the title is only half the question. The other half is whether the company will finish the building on the terms in the contract, so I look at completed projects that can be visited rather than rendered, the title to the land, the permits, the penalty clause for late delivery and how the instalments are held. A developer who answers these in writing is telling you something, and so is one who does not. The practical checklist is in how to check a Phuket developer before you pay.
What happens to it after you
This is the question people leave until last and it takes one afternoon to close. A condominium freehold, a registered lease and company shares all pass to heirs differently, and without a local will the process is slower and more expensive for your family than it needs to be. It is not a Thai peculiarity, it is simply a second jurisdiction. What each form does on inheritance, and why one local document saves months, is in inheritance of Thai property and wills.
As with everything on this page, I set out the commercial picture and the vetted partners handle the legal instrument itself. Drafting a will, registering a lease and reviewing a contract are the work of lawyers I know personally and introduce you to directly. I count the numbers. They sign the documents.
Articles in this section
Legal, visa and tax work is not mine — it belongs to partners I use constantly
I am an investment strategist: I select the property, calculate the net return, check the developer and run the transaction. Anything that needs a legal, immigration or tax qualification goes to specialists I have worked with for years.
- Thai lawyers — document and contract review, land title, registration at the Land Office, wills, powers of attorney, corporate questions
- Visa partners — choosing and filing the right route for your situation: investment-based, LTR, Thailand Privilege, retirement, DTV
- Tax specialists — reporting in your country of tax residence, treaty credit for Thai tax, declarations on foreign assets
- Company formation in Thailand — when a structure is genuinely needed and lawful
- Rental management and concierge — letting the property, transfers, yachts, events
I introduce partners personally, matched to your actual question, so that you speak to the specialist who handles it rather than to a general inbox. Message me and I will make the introduction.
Lyubov Fortunova
Investment strategist and founder of Fortunova Capital Group. I have lived on Phuket for more than five years and run every deal myself: I select the property, calculate the net return, check the developer and hold the process together until the keys are handed over. Lawyers, visa and tax specialists come from my own circle.
“I count net, not dreams”
Start with the form of ownership, then read the checks that protect it. If you already have a specific unit or a specific contract in front of you, send it over and I will tell you what I see in it.
I answer personally, within the working day, in any time zone. No calls unless you want them. A question about the article is free and commits you to nothing.
