Freehold, Leasehold and the 49% Quota: What Foreigners Can Own in Thailand

Start looking at property in Thailand and three terms come up almost immediately: freehold, leasehold and foreign quota. All three answer the same practical question — what exactly will be registered in your name at the Thai Land Office, and what happens to the property twenty years from now, when you want to sell it or leave it to your children. This guide explains the difference in plain language: what Thai law allows a foreign buyer to do, what it forbids, and what to check with a lawyer before you sign anything.

One thing up front: this is not legal advice. Thai law and Land Office practice change, and every deal has its own details. The text was last reviewed on the date shown at the top of the page; before you buy, an independent Thai lawyer should read the contract and the documents for the specific property. The whole process, from reservation to handover, is covered in our guide on how to buy property in Thailand.

The three terms in brief

• Freehold — full ownership. The unit is registered in your name at the Land Office with no time limit, and you can sell it, rent it out and leave it to your heirs. For foreigners this is realistically available only in condominiums.
• Leasehold — the right to use a property for a fixed term under a contract with the owner. The property itself stays with someone else. Villas are usually bought this way, and condo units outside the foreign quota are sold this way.
• Foreign quota — the share of a condominium building that foreigners may own freehold. Once it is used up, the next foreign buyer can no longer buy a unit in that building freehold.

Condominium units: ownership in your own name

A condominium in Thailand is a building registered under the Condominium Act B.E. 2522. Buying a unit gives you ownership of the unit itself plus a proportional share of the common property: the land under the building, the lobby, the pool, the gym and the lifts. The land belongs to all the owners together rather than to any one of them, which is why the law lets foreigners own a unit without breaching the general ban on foreign land ownership.

Ownership is registered at the provincial Land Office, and at the end of the process you receive a certificate of ownership for the condominium unit in your own name. That registration is what counts. A sale agreement with the developer, a receipt or a letter from a lawyer does not replace it.

How the 49% quota works

Under section 19 bis of the Condominium Act, foreigners together may own no more than 49% of the total floor area of all units in a building. Two details are often missed. First, the quota is measured by area, not by the number of units: if foreign buyers have mostly bought large units and penthouses, the quota can run out while most units are still in Thai hands. Second, the quota belongs to the building, not to a particular unit, and it is used up in order of registration. Quota that is available when you reserve is not guaranteed to be available on transfer day.

In an off-plan project the developer decides in advance which units it offers to foreigners under the quota and which stay in the Thai quota. In a completed building where units have already changed hands, the picture shifts with every sale. So ask the developer or the building's juristic person for written confirmation that your unit is being sold under the foreign quota, and check what the contract says if, in the end, there is no quota: a refund, a switch to leasehold or something else.

The money condition: funds from abroad in foreign currency

To register a unit in a foreigner's name, you need to show that the purchase money entered Thailand from abroad in foreign currency. In practice you send a bank transfer from an account outside Thailand to the developer's account or your own Thai account; the Thai bank converts it to baht and issues a document confirming where the money came from, often called a Foreign Exchange Transaction form, or FET form. The Land Office asks for it on registration day, and it is worth keeping for years afterwards, because it matters again when you sell and take the proceeds out of Thailand.

A few practical rules help avoid delays. Send the money from an account in the buyer's name. In the payment reference, state clearly that it is for the purchase of a condominium unit, with the project name and unit number. Check with your own bank which currency to send and what paperwork it will ask for, and check with the developer which account to pay and in whose name. Cash carried into the country, or money routed through a third party, can hold up registration. Transfers, fees and exchange rates are covered in our guide to sending money to Thailand.

Leasehold: what you get and what you don't

When there is no quota, or when the property is a villa with land, foreign buyers usually acquire a leasehold. Under Thailand's Civil and Commercial Code, a lease of immovable property is limited to a term of up to 30 years, and a lease longer than a few years must be in writing and registered at the Land Office. An unregistered lease protects you only for a short period, whatever the contract says.

Sellers often advertise leases of "30 + 30 + 30 years". It is important to understand what sits behind that formula: only the first term is registered. The renewals are a contractual promise by the lessor, and Thai law does not guarantee they will be honoured, particularly if the land is sold, the owner dies or the lessor company is wound up. A well-drafted contract strengthens your position, but it does not turn a lease into ownership.

A Thai lease is not an English long lease

Buyers from the UK and some Commonwealth countries are used to leasehold flats on terms of a century or more, where the lease behaves much like ownership and is bought and sold freely. A Thai lease is a different animal: a time-limited right against a private owner that does not always pass to your heirs and cannot always be assigned without the owner's consent. Before buying leasehold, ask a lawyer three questions: what happens to the lease if the lessee dies; can it be transferred to a new buyer without the owner's approval; and what happens if the owner sells or mortgages the land.

When leasehold makes sense

Leasehold is not automatically a bad deal. It can suit someone buying a villa for their own use over a known period, someone comparing the price with long-term rent, or someone who has chosen a specific unit in a building where the foreign quota is already full. What matters is going in with your eyes open: knowing how many years are actually registered, who owns the land, and what the contract says about renewal, assignment and inheritance. As a rule, the price of a leasehold unit should reflect the difference in rights, and your manager can help you compare the options within the project you have chosen.

Villas, houses and land

Section 86 of Thailand's Land Code allows foreigners to acquire land only under a treaty or with special permission in the cases the law provides for. In practice, a private individual buying a holiday or rental home will not register the land in their own name. The law has narrow exceptions linked to substantial investment and ministerial approval, but most buyers will not qualify.

Villas are therefore sold to foreigners under a few established structures. The most common is a registered lease of the land combined with ownership of the house itself, since Thai law allows ownership of a building to be separated from ownership of the land beneath it. In some cases a right of use or a right to build on someone else's land is registered instead. Each structure has its pros and cons, and the choice between them should be made with a lawyer who checks the specific plot: the type of land title, the registered owner and any encumbrances.

Villas in new projects are concentrated where there is more land — for example in Huay Yai outside Pattaya, or in Bang Tao and Layan on Phuket. Each project page shows the property type, and your manager confirms the exact ownership structure with the developer and sends it to you in writing.

Thai companies, nominee shareholders and Thai spouses

You can still find offers online to "work around" the ban: set up a Thai company in which most shares are registered to Thai nationals who invest nothing, while the foreigner controls it in practice and puts the land in its name. We do not recommend or offer this structure. The Foreign Business Act B.E. 2542 expressly prohibits Thai nationals from holding shares on behalf of a foreigner, and the Land Code allows the authorities to order the land sold and to penalise those involved. In recent years the authorities have looked at such companies more closely, and anyone holding property through one carries a risk that is hard to insure against.

A genuine Thai company that runs a real business with real Thai partners is a different matter — but it is a business vehicle, not a way to buy a holiday home, and it comes with bookkeeping, filings and running costs. Land can also be registered in the name of a Thai spouse, but it then belongs to them. The Land Office usually asks the foreign spouse to sign a statement that the money is not joint marital property, which can have consequences in a separation. A step like that calls for personal legal advice.

How to read a project page on our site

To save you questions, every project page has a "Foreign quota" field with one of three values: available, not available or not verified. "Not verified" does not mean "no" — it means we do not yet have data from the developer that we trust, and your manager will check before you go further. Each unit layout is also marked as sold under the foreign quota, under the Thai quota, or not verified. A Thai-quota unit can usually be bought by a foreigner only on a lease.

The data on the site helps you shortlist, but it does not replace a check on the day you buy: quota changes, and a unit that was in the foreign quota last month may have been sold. Before you reserve, your manager confirms the quota status of the specific unit with the developer. You can start from the project catalogue with the quota filter, or browse all projects by city.

Checklist before you sign

• Is the unit sold under the foreign quota — with written confirmation from the developer or the juristic person?
• What does the contract say if there is no quota on registration day: a refund, a switch to leasehold or something else?
• Which account the money leaves from, in what currency and with what payment reference — so you receive the document proving the source of funds.
• For leasehold: how many years are actually registered at the Land Office, and what is only promised in the contract.
• For leasehold: who owns the land, whether it is mortgaged, and what happens on the owner's death or a sale of the land.
• For a villa: the type of land title and who is registered on it, checked by your lawyer at the Land Office.
• That the deal involves no nominee shareholders or side agreements hiding the real owner.
• Who your lawyer is — independent, not the one acting for the developer.

Selling, inheritance and taking money home

A freehold unit can be sold to a Thai or a foreign buyer. A foreign buyer will need available quota in the building on the day of sale and the same transfer from abroad in foreign currency. When you sell, the proceeds can generally be sent abroad, and this is where the source-of-funds document from your purchase matters again. A sale also involves Thai taxes and fees, which are worth working out with your lawyer before you decide. What they are is explained in our guide to taxes and fees.

Inheriting Thai property is a separate subject: a foreign heir to a condominium unit is subject to the same quota rules, and an heir to land or to a lease may face further restrictions. Many owners make a separate Thai will for their Thai property alongside the will in their home country. Rental income and sale proceeds may also be taxable in the country where you are tax resident — a question for your accountant.

What next

If you are just starting out, begin with what you want from the property. A holiday and rental apartment in a city such as Pattaya is almost always a freehold condominium unit. A pool villa on an island, on Phuket or Koh Samui, is usually leasehold. Leave your details and a manager will go through suitable projects with you, check the quota status with the developer and suggest an independent lawyer to handle the transaction.