Buying property in Thailand is very doable, but ownership, legal checks, and immigration are separate questions. Treating them separately — and getting proper advice on each — is what keeps a purchase clean. The rules below are current as of mid-2026.

How foreign ownership works

  • Condominium units can be owned outright by foreigners under the Condominium Act, as long as foreign ownership in the building stays within 49% of its total floor area. Ask the juristic person for a quota confirmation letter before you commit — the Land Office will refuse the transfer if the quota is full, and this affects resale too.
  • Purchase funds must arrive from abroad in foreign currency. Your Thai bank issues a Foreign Exchange Transaction (FET) form for remittances of USD 50,000 or more (a confirmation letter below that), and the Land Office requires it to register foreign ownership. Money already sitting in Thailand does not qualify.
  • Foreigners cannot own land freehold. The longest registrable lease is 30 years, and in 2025 the Supreme Court struck down the popular "30+30+30" structure — pre-paid renewal promises are void, and even ordinary renewal clauses may not survive a change of landowner. A registered 30-year lease combined with superficies over the house, or a usufruct, is the structure law firms actually recommend.
  • Holding land through a Thai company with nominee shareholders is illegal, and enforcement tightened sharply in 2026: the Business Development Department now requires source-of-funds proof for company registrations, and hundreds of nominee companies have been prosecuted, concentrated in Phuket, Pattaya, and Samui. Do not let anyone sell you this as a routine workaround.

Legal checks before you transfer

Before any money changes hands, verify:

  • Clean title and that the seller is the registered owner — a lawyer can run a title search at the Land Office in a few days, and the Department of Lands' LandsMaps lets you pre-check any parcel's boundaries by deed number
  • Any mortgages, liens, or servitudes, which are recorded on the back of the title deed
  • For condos: a fresh debt-free certificate from the juristic person (they expire within days) and the foreign-quota position
  • The project's completion status, permits, and the developer's track record for new builds

Expect to pay an independent lawyer roughly THB 40,000–80,000 for full due diligence and transfer attendance. That is small insurance on any purchase, and not a corner to cut on a lawyer introduced solely by the seller.

Taxes and fees at transfer

The transfer fee is 2% of appraised value, customarily split between the parties. Sellers who have owned less than five years owe specific business tax of 3.3% (stamp duty of 0.5% applies otherwise), plus withholding tax. A stimulus measure cuts the transfer and mortgage fees to 0.01% for homes up to THB 7 million, but it applies to Thai individual buyers only and currently runs until mid-2027. Licensed escrow exists under the Escrow Act but is rarely used in practice; most foreign buyers route funds through their lawyer's client account with staged payment terms in the contract. The full cost picture, including holding costs, is in our cost guide.

The long-stay question

Ownership and visa status are separate — buying a condo grants no right to stay. The current long-stay options include the Destination Thailand Visa (five years, 180 days per entry, roughly THB 500,000 in savings required) for remote workers, retirement visas, and the LTR program for larger investors. Criteria change frequently, so confirm the current rules with an immigration specialist before making the visa a reason to buy.

A sensible sequence

Choose the property that fits your needs first — current listings filtered to your brief — then verify the ownership structure and title with a lawyer before paying more than a refundable reservation. Handle any visa goal in parallel. And before you deal with anyone, run the checks in the property safety guide; most bad purchases fail at the verification stage, not the negotiation.