A foreigner buys a villa in Thailand by acquiring registered rights, not land. The Land Code prevents a foreigner from owning the plot, but Thai law lets a building be owned separately from the ground it stands on. A sound villa purchase therefore has two parts: a right to use the land, registered at the Land Office, and ownership of the building. Done properly this is lawful and well understood in the villa markets of Phuket, Koh Samui and Hua Hin. Done carelessly it leaves the buyer with a contract and little else.
The rights available
| Right | What it gives | Longest term | Passes to heirs? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered lease | Possession and use of the land, and the building if included | 30 years | Only if the lease is drafted for it |
| Superficies | Ownership of buildings on another person's land | 30 years, or the life of the landowner or holder | Yes, unless the deed says otherwise |
| Usufruct | Possession, use and management of the property | 30 years, or the holder's life | No. It ends on the holder's death |
| Ownership of the building | Title to the structure itself | As long as a land right supports it | Yes, as part of your estate |
Lease of the land
The lease is the core of most villa purchases. Section 540 of the Civil and Commercial Code limits a lease of immovable property to 30 years. Section 538 makes a lease of more than three years enforceable beyond three years only if it is in writing and registered. Registration notes the lease on the landowner's title deed, and a registered lease survives a sale of the land: the new owner takes over the landlord's obligations for the rest of the term.
Registration costs 1% of the total rent over the term, including any lump sum paid up front, plus 0.1% stamp duty.
Ownership of the building
The villa should belong to you, not merely be let to you. There are two ways. An existing building is transferred by a written agreement registered at the Land Office, in a transaction separate from the land. A new building can be constructed under a permit issued in the buyer's name. Ask which applies and see the paperwork.
Superficies
A superficies under Sections 1410 to 1416 of the Code is a registered right to own buildings on someone else's land. It is transferable and inheritable unless the deed creating it says otherwise, and it is not ended by destruction of the building. Lawyers often register one alongside the lease, so that ownership of the villa rests on a real right as well as on the lease contract.
Usufruct
A usufruct gives the right to possess, use and manage property for a fixed period or for the holder's life. It is useful where a foreigner wants security of occupation in a house on land owned by a Thai spouse. It dies with the holder, so it should not be the foundation of a purchase from a developer.
What are you buying?
What is it for?
How will you hold it?
How long do you expect to hold?
Likely structure
Your answers decide what appears here.
Answer any of the four questions, in any order. This sheet then sets out the ownership structure that usually fits, what it means in practice, the points to take care over and the guides to read next.
What you will see
- What a foreign buyer can and cannot own
- How the structure changes with a spouse or a company
- What your purpose and holding period add
General guidance, not legal advice. Take independent legal advice before you commit.
What a properly structured purchase looks like
Use this as a checklist with your lawyer.
- Good title. The land is held under a Chanote, or at least a Nor Sor 3 Gor, in the name of the party granting the lease. See title deeds and due diligence.
- A lease registered for the full term, in your name. You attend, or your lawyer attends under a power of attorney, and the lease is entered on the title deed. Check the registered term matches the contract.
- The building in your name. A registered building transfer or a construction permit, backed by a registered superficies where your lawyer advises it.
- Succession and assignment clauses. By default a tenant cannot assign or sublet without the landlord's consent, and older case law treats a lease as ending on the tenant's death. The lease should expressly allow assignment, subletting and succession by your heirs. Our guide to inheritance and wills explains why.
- Registered access. If the villa is reached over an estate road or a neighbour's land, a servitude should be registered over that land. A promise of access in the sales contract is not enough.
- Permits. A construction permit for the building as built, and environmental approval where the estate is large enough to need it.
- Estate documents. The management agreement, the common-area charges and who controls them, and what happens if the developer sells the roads and shared facilities.
- Clean money trail. Unlike a condominium purchase, a lease does not legally require a Foreign Exchange Transaction Form. Bring the funds in properly documented anyway. You will need the evidence to send sale proceeds home, as sending money to Thailand explains.
Common traps
Paying a freehold price for 30 years. Brochures often describe villas as 30 plus 30 plus 30 or 90-year leasehold. Only the first 30 years is registered. In decision 4655/2566 the Supreme Court held void two further 30-year terms that had been agreed and paid for on the day the original lease was signed, and upheld the tenant's eviction when the first term ran out. A renewal is a contractual promise by the landowner. It may not bind a buyer of the land or the landowner's heirs. Price the villa on the registered term and treat renewal as a possibility. The detail is in freehold vs leasehold.
The company route. Agents still offer freehold through a Thai company in which the buyer holds 49% and Thai shareholders hold the rest on the buyer's behalf. That is a nominee arrangement. It is a criminal offence under the Land Code and the Foreign Business Act, the land can be ordered to be sold, and since May 2026 Land Offices have been instructed to examine how Thai shareholders paid for their shares. Read Thai company ownership risks.
An unregistered lease. A long lease that is signed but never registered is enforceable for three years only.
Weak title. Leases and other rights are registered against proper title documents. Land held on lesser papers, such as a Sor Kor 1 or a tax receipt, cannot support a registered lease at all.
A landlord you have not checked. Your landlord for 30 years may be a developer's company. Have your lawyer check its ownership of the land, any mortgage over it, and litigation against it. A mortgage already registered over the land puts your lease at risk if the lender enforces, so ask for it to be released or for the lender's written consent.
Access by promise. Some plots, hillside ones especially, are reached only over private roads. Without a registered servitude, access depends on goodwill.
Rental projections that assume nightly lets. Stays of under 30 days generally need a hotel licence. If the investment case rests on holiday lets, read short-term rental rules and hotel-managed and rental pool schemes.
What it costs
Beyond the price, allow for the lease registration fee and stamp duty above, the fees and taxes on the building transfer (see property taxes and buying costs), legal fees and estate charges. Who pays the building transfer costs is a matter for the contract.
Buying a villa in Thailand as a foreigner: what to consider
A leasehold villa is a wasting asset. Its resale value depends on the years left and on the buyer's confidence that a new term can be obtained. A buyer in year 15 is purchasing 15 years. Some estates deal with this by agreeing to grant each new buyer a fresh 30-year lease, which is again a contractual promise that depends on the landowner still being there and willing.
None of this makes villas a poor purchase. It means the price should reflect what is registered, and the documents should be drafted by a lawyer acting only for you. Thai law in this area has grey edges, particularly on renewals and succession, and independent legal advice before you pay a deposit is essential.
