Freehold is ownership without a time limit. Leasehold is a right to use someone else's property for a fixed period. In Thailand a foreigner can hold freehold only on a condominium unit inside the building's foreign quota. Houses, villas and land are held by lease, and the longest lease that can be registered is 30 years. The difference shows up in price, resale, inheritance and what a lender will accept.
The two side by side
| Freehold condominium | Registered leasehold | |
|---|---|---|
| What you hold | Title to the unit and a share of common property | A right to possess and use for the term |
| Duration | No end date | Up to 30 years registered |
| Available to foreigners on | Condominium units within the 49% quota | Land, houses, villas and condominium units |
| Evidence | Unit title deed in your name | Lease registered on the landowner's title deed |
| Registration cost | Transfer fee of 2% of appraised value, plus the seller's taxes | 1% of total rent over the term, plus 0.1% stamp duty |
| Resale | Sell the title to any eligible buyer | Assign the remaining term, if the lease permits |
| On death | Passes under your will, subject to rules for foreign heirs | Depends on the lease wording |
| Mortgage | Can be mortgaged at the Land Office | Not ordinarily accepted as security |
| Value over time | Follows the market | Falls as the term runs down |
What freehold gives you
A freehold condominium unit is registered in your name at the Land Office. You own it indefinitely, vote in the juristic person, and can sell, let, mortgage or leave it by will. The conditions are that foreign ownership in the building stays within 49% of total unit floor area, and that your purchase money came from abroad in foreign currency. Both are explained in the condominium foreign quota and sending money to Thailand.
Freehold is not free of obligations. You pay the monthly common-area fee, contribute to the sinking fund and pay land and building tax each year.
What leasehold gives you
A lease gives possession and use for the term in return for rent, which in residential sales is usually paid in full at the start. You do not own the land. With a villa you can own the building separately, as set out in buying a villa in Thailand.
Some condominium units are also sold leasehold, typically where the foreign quota is full or the developer keeps the freehold. The tenant of a leasehold unit is not a co-owner of the condominium, so check what say the lease gives you in how the building is run.
The 30-year limit and what registration does
Section 540 of the Civil and Commercial Code says a lease of immovable property cannot exceed 30 years, and a longer term is cut back to 30. Section 538 says a lease of more than three years is enforceable beyond three years only if it is in writing and registered by the Land Office.
Registration is what makes a lease secure. The lease is noted on the land title, so it survives a sale of the land: the new owner takes the land subject to the lease for the rest of the registered term. An unregistered long lease is good for three years and no more.
A separate statute allows leases of up to 50 years for qualifying commercial and industrial property in designated areas. It does not apply to a home.
Renewal clauses are contract, not registered right
Section 540 allows a lease to be renewed when it ends, for up to another 30 years. That is the basis of the 30 plus 30 plus 30 structures sold in resort markets. The weakness is that only the first term is registered. The renewal is a promise in a contract.
Three risks follow.
- The promise may be void. In decision 4655/2566 the Supreme Court considered a 1990 lease of land and a house in Phuket, with two further 30-year terms agreed and paid for on the same day. The court held the renewal provisions void as a circumvention of Section 540 and upheld the tenant's eviction. It gave weight to the fact that the renewals repeated the original rent and conditions.
- The promise may not bind a successor. If the landowner sells, dies or is wound up, the registered term carries on but the renewal undertaking is personal to the original parties.
- The promise needs co-operation. Even a valid option requires the landowner to attend the Land Office and register a new lease in 30 years' time.
The safer drafting is an option the tenant exercises at expiry, with rent for the new term fixed at that time. That improves the position. It does not turn a renewal into a registered right. A prudent buyer pays for 30 years.
Resale
A freehold unit in the foreign quota can be sold to a Thai or a foreign buyer, and the quota allocation passes with the unit when the buyer is foreign.
A leasehold is harder to sell. Under Section 544 a tenant cannot assign or sublet without the landlord's consent unless the lease says otherwise, so the right to assign must be written in. The buyer receives only the years left. Some developers undertake to grant a fresh 30-year lease to a buyer on resale. That is another contractual promise and should be weighed like a renewal clause.
Inheritance
A freehold unit forms part of your estate. Whether a foreign heir can keep it depends on the Condominium Act: the statute requires heirs who do not themselves qualify to dispose of the unit within one year, although a Land Department clarification is more favourable to heirs of owners who bought with remitted foreign currency. The position needs advice at the time.
For leases, the older case law treats a lease as personal to the tenant, so that it ends on death. Supreme Court judgment 11058/2559 held that a lease can pass to heirs where its terms show the tenant's personal qualities were not essential, for example where rent for the whole term was paid up front or subletting was permitted without consent. Do not rely on inference. Include an express succession clause and read inheritance and wills.
How lenders see it
A freehold unit can be mortgaged at the Land Office. An ordinary residential lease cannot be used as security in the same way: the ability to mortgage a lease belongs to the separate commercial and industrial leasing statute. Do not assume local finance for either tenure. Our guide to mortgages for foreigners covers what is available.
Other registered rights
Three rights sit between a lease and ownership. A superficies lets you own a building on another person's land. A usufruct gives possession and use, often for life, and ends on the holder's death. A sap-ing-sith, created by registration over Chanote land or a condominium unit, runs for up to 30 years and can be transferred, inherited and mortgaged without the owner's consent. Each is limited to 30 years or, for superficies and usufruct, a lifetime. None is freehold.
The 99-year proposal
In June 2024 the government announced work on 99-year leases. In September 2025 the new government set aside the legislation, which was still under study. Nothing has been enacted. A contract clause that promises a longer term if the law changes costs nothing to include. It is not a reason to pay more.
