Freehold or Leasehold in Thailand: What Will Happen to Your Property in 30 Years
Freehold or leasehold in Thailand is a choice that, in most cases, has already been made for the buyer by the type of property. A condominium unit is registered by a foreigner as full ownership. Land and the house on it — only as a 30-year lease. And in March 2025, the Supreme Court of Thailand invalidated the main structure on which the promises of «30 plus 30 plus 30» rested.
How Freehold Differs from Leasehold in Thailand: Two Different Things at One Price
Freehold is ownership. The buyer’s name is entered in the Chanote title, the property is inherited, sold, and mortgaged without the involvement of third parties. This right has no expiry date.
Leasehold is a registered long-term lease. The owner remains a Thai person: an individual or a company. The buyer receives the right of use for the term recorded in the contract, and this right lives exactly as long as it is written.
The Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand limits the maximum term of real estate lease to 30 years. A contract longer than a year must be registered with the Land Department, otherwise it protects the tenant for a maximum of one year. An unregistered 30-year lease is a paper without force against a new landowner.
The difference is immediately visible in money. Freehold apartments in the same building cost 15–25% more than comparable leasehold lots. The tax on transfer of ownership is 2% of the appraised value, while on lease registration it is about 1.1%: 1% registration fee plus 0.1% stamp duty.
Can a Foreigner Buy Land in Thailand and Why Villas Are Sold as Leasehold
The Land Code closes direct ownership of land to foreigners. Hence a simple consequence: any villa, townhouse, or house with a plot is sold to a non-resident either through a long-term land lease or through a Thai company in which the foreigner holds a minority share.
The company scheme looks convenient and regularly leads to problems. If the Thai shareholders exist only on paper and did not contribute real money, the structure is qualified as nominee ownership, which is directly prohibited. Checks on such companies in Thailand are ongoing.
Separately, it is worth distinguishing between the building and the land. A foreigner can register the structure as ownership separately from the plot: the house is yours, the land under it is leased. A workable structure that makes you the owner of an asset on someone else’s foundation.
A condominium is arranged differently. The Condominium Act allows up to 49% of the registered residential area of a building to be sold to foreigners. This is the foreign quota — a legal norm, not a loophole.
The remaining quota in a specific building is checked before the deal. A certificate from the condominium’s legal entity on the available foreign area is requested, along with confirmation from the Land Department. In popular Phuket projects, the quota is bought out at presale within a few months, and the buyer is left with the Thai quota — that is, a leasehold on the very same apartment.
What Will Happen in 30 Years: Why the «30+30+30» Scheme Stopped Working
The standard promise sounded like this: a 30-year lease, with two pre-signed extensions of another 30 years each, totalling 90. Part of the extensions was paid upfront. A significant share of the villa market in Phuket and Samui was built on this structure.
In March 2025, the Supreme Court of Thailand considered a case in which a foreign tenant tried to force the new landowner to fulfil such an agreement. The court ruled that a preliminary promise to extend a lease is a personal obligation of the specific landlord. It cannot be registered in the title in advance, it is not attached to the land, and it does not pass to a new owner.
The practical meaning is harsh. If the landlord sold the land, died, or went bankrupt, the promise of extension turns into a claim against them personally. The right of use, meanwhile, ends according to the calendar of the first thirty-year term.
The analysis of the case and its consequences for the market was published by the law firm Siam Legal: https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-law/supreme-court-ruling-on-long-term-leases-in-thailand/
And the main question to the seller now sounds like this: what will happen to my right if the land changes owner tomorrow. The answer «everyone here extends» is no longer an answer.
Resale of Leasehold: An Asset That Depreciates by the Calendar
A freehold apartment after five years is sold with the same scope of rights as on the day of purchase. A leasehold apartment after five years is sold with 25 years remaining. After another five — with 20 remaining.
The pool of buyers narrows along with the remaining term. At 25 years, the buyer calculates the yield. At 15 years — whether they will manage to recoup the investment before the right zeroes out. At 10 years, the property is of interest mainly to those taking it for personal residence over a specific horizon.
A working benchmark for calculation: the 15–25% discount at entry relative to freehold is compensated over roughly the first third of the term, after which it starts working against the seller. If you plan to hold the property for three to five years and exit, the gap in the exit price eats up the initial saving.
The flip side also exists. Leasehold opens up villas, plots, and properties in projects where the foreign quota is bought out, and such properties often deliver higher gross yield on invested capital. For an investor who counts on a 10–12 year horizon and lives off the rental flow, this is a meaningful instrument.
99 Years and a 75% Quota: What Is Law and What Is Discussion
In April 2024, the cabinet of ministers approved the study of two initiatives: to raise the foreign quota in condominiums from 49% to 75% and to extend the maximum lease term from 30 to 99 years. In May 2025, the deputy prime minister and finance minister announced an acceleration of amendments to the law on rights to leased property.
Beyond the study stage, neither initiative has advanced. The bill has not been officially submitted to parliament, and both ideas face resistance on grounds of sovereignty and housing affordability for Thais, including in the Senate. The rumour about lowering the quota to 30–39% finds no confirmation in open sources: the current norm is 49%, and it has held since the 2008 amendments.
The practical conclusion is one: calculate the deal under current law. A purchase in anticipation of future liberalisation is a bet on a political decision with an unknown timeframe. If the reform happens, your asset will benefit from it. If not, the deal must remain meaningful.
Checklist: What to Check Before Signing the Contract
- — Request a certificate from the condominium’s legal entity on the remaining foreign quota and confirm it with the Land Department. A verbal «the quota is available» is not enough.
- — Check that the lease is registered with the Land Department and that the mark is in the title. A contract without registration protects you for a maximum of one year.
- — Do not pay upfront for extension periods. After the Supreme Court ruling, a prepaid extension is money against a personal promise of a specific person.
- — Make sure the contract stipulates the transfer of the lease to a third party, sublease, and inheritance of the right. The absence of any of the three points limits your exit from the asset. Check the landlord as well: a legal entity with assets is preferable to an individual.
- — For transferring funds from abroad, obtain an FET form for the full transaction amount in currency. Without it, there will be difficulties when withdrawing money back after a sale.
- — Calculate the exit price: model a sale after 5 and after 10 years with the actual remaining lease term and compare it with the freehold scenario. Include costs beyond the price — 2% on transfer of ownership or about 1.1% on lease registration, lawyer, condominium fund contributions.
We discussed the form of ownership, land purchase, lease extension, and the tax side of the deal in detail with a lawyer in a separate video. There, by time codes: what leasehold and freehold are (00:26), purchase of land by foreigners and ownership restrictions (01:19), land lease extension and the difference between renewable and non-renewable leasehold (04:12–04:46), lease agreement and sublease (05:43), taxes on purchase (07:10), rights to inherit real estate (23:30) — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaSPHyj3pZk
If you want to check a specific property — remaining quota, lease terms, the actual landlord, and the exit price in five years — write to us on Telegram: @Nevestate_admin. We will review your case and send you a calculation for both scenarios.
And would you take a more expensive freehold for a calm exit, or a cheaper leasehold for yield? Write in the comments what holding horizon you are considering.
