Buying a Condo in Thailand as a Foreigner: The Rules, the Costs and the Traps

Checked as of October 2026. Exchange rate: ฿33.5 = $1.

A foreigner can own a condo in Thailand outright. Freehold, in your own name, on the title deed.

Almost nothing else. Not land. Not a house on its own plot.

Two rules decide whether you can:

1. The 49% foreign quota. Foreigners together can own at most 49% of a building's total unit area. Floor area, not number of units. The Land Office checks it on transfer day. That's after your deposit, and often after most of the price.
2. The money must come from abroad. The Condominium Act wants evidence that you brought foreign currency into Thailand "in an amount not less than the price of the unit." The whole price, not just the deposit. The bank paper behind each transfer is what puts your name on the title.

Get both right and the rest is fees and paperwork. Get either wrong and the unit doesn't go in your name.

The short version

• You can own a condo unit freehold, within the 49% quota. Land and houses: no.
• Before any deposit, get a letter from the building confirming how much foreign quota is left.
• Wire foreign currency from abroad, in your name. Get an FET form or a credit advice for every transfer. Keep the originals. You'll need them again when you sell.
• The transfer fee is 2% of the appraised value, usually split. On a ฿5M unit appraised at the price, your half is about ฿50,000 ($1,493).
• The 0.01% transfer fee is for Thai buyers. Not you.
• 75% quota and 99-year leases are proposals. As of October 2026 the law says 49% and 30 years.
• Nominee companies are illegal, and Thailand is reviewing 36,277 foreign-linked landholding companies.
• Use your own lawyer.

What you can and can't own

A condo unit: yes, within the quota. The Condominium Act lists who may own a unit. Almost every buyer uses the money route: foreigners who bring foreign currency into Thailand, or pay from a non-resident baht account or a foreign-currency account. The text doesn't name a visa type for that route. That's our reading; confirm the Land Office's document list with your lawyer.

The Act also lists when a foreign owner has to sell: deportation, losing permanent residence or BOI status, or inheriting units beyond the quota. You notify within 60 days and sell within a year, or the Land Department can force the sale. An ordinary visa running out isn't on that list, by our reading.

This guide doesn't cover visas. If you're planning to stay for years, start with the LTR visa guide.

Land and houses: no. The workarounds, and what's wrong with each:

• A lease. A registered lease can run up to 30 years under the Civil and Commercial Code. Leases over 3 years must be registered at the Land Office. The mechanics are in renting a condo in Thailand.
• "30+30+30." The classic sales pitch: 30 years with two pre-agreed renewals. Several Thai law firms report that the Supreme Court (Judgment No. 4655/2566, reported as decided in March 2025) held those renewals void beyond the first 30 years. We haven't read the judgment itself. Treat 30 years as what you're buying.
• The house, not the land. Law firms say a foreigner can own a building separately from the land under it, and lease the land. You still only have the lease on the ground.
• A Thai company. Legal only if the Thai shareholders genuinely put in their own money. The Director-General of the Department of Business Development told the Nation in August 2026: "If a venture is genuinely jointly funded by foreign and Thai investors and foreigners hold no more than 49%, it is lawful." Thai shareholders who are nominees, there only on paper, make it illegal.

The nominee crackdown is real. The Nation reported on 18 August 2026 that the DBD is reviewing 36,277 foreign-linked landholding companies, 31,516 of them with 49% or less foreign shareholding. Penalties under the Foreign Business Act, per the same report: up to 3 years in prison, a fine of ฿100,000 to ฿1,000,000 ($2,985–29,851), and forced disposal. Law firms report the DBD now checks the source of funds when a company is set up, and since April 2026 on share transfers and director changes too. Thailand is counting them now.

The Thai spouse route. A Thai spouse can buy land in their own name. At the Land Office, both of you sign a declaration that the money is the Thai spouse's personal property, not shared marital property. That's how law firms describe it. In plain terms: on paper, the money you put in is a gift. More in the Thai marriage visa guide. An unmarried partner has no marital-property claim at all.

The money rule

At transfer you must show evidence of foreign currency brought in, "not less than the price of the unit."

So what matters is the bank's record of each transfer:

• The Thai bank receiving your money issues a Foreign Exchange Transaction form (FET), or a credit advice (a bank letter) for smaller amounts. The Land Office takes these at transfer.
• Sources disagree on when you get which. Several agencies say an FET is only issued at $50,000 or more. Wise says there's been no minimum since 2018. We couldn't find the Bank of Thailand rule. So: ask the receiving bank for an FET or a credit advice for every single transfer, whatever the size.
• Send foreign currency and let the Thai bank convert it. Put your name as the buyer and a purpose like "purchase of condominium unit [no.] at [project]."
• Watch app transfers. Wise says its transfers can arrive as domestic baht. Ask the bank how it will document the transfer before you send, or use a SWIFT wire for property money.
• Paying a Thai seller in baht from your Thai account doesn't count. No foreign-currency evidence, no freehold registration. Fixing it means sending the money again from abroad.

Plan the payment days. New Thai bank accounts start with a ฿50,000 ($1,493) daily limit on app transfers, per the Bank of Thailand. That won't move a deposit, let alone a balance. Sort it out with the bank in advance. How Thai bank accounts work.

Why it matters when you sell. Law firms say that a foreigner who bought with documented foreign currency can convert the sale money and send it abroad. Banks ask for the original FET or credit advice from your purchase, plus the sale documents. Lose them and the transfer out can be delayed or limited. Keep the originals for as long as you own the unit, and then some.

What it costs at the Land Office

On a ฿5,000,000 resale unit ($149,254), with the seller holding it for 3 years, and assuming the appraisal matches the price (it's often lower):

• Transfer fee: ฿100,000 ($2,985). Your half: about ฿50,000 ($1,493).
• Specific business tax: ฿165,000 ($4,925), paid by the seller. No stamp duty on top.
• If the seller had been in the house registration for a year, stamp duty instead: ฿25,000 ($746).
• The seller's withholding tax depends on the appraisal. We won't guess it.

The default split is fee 50/50, seller pays the taxes. Some resale sellers quote a "net" price that pushes everything onto you. Some developers run free-transfer promotions. All of it is negotiable. Put it in the contract.

Off-plan or resale

Off-plan means buying from the developer before the building is finished. Agencies describe a typical pattern: a booking fee of ฿50,000–100,000, then 10–30% in instalments during construction, and 30–50% or more at transfer.

The protection is in the law. A developer's sale contract must follow a model form set by the Minister. Any clause that's worse for the buyer than the model form can't be enforced against you. Advertising that conflicts with the contract is read in your favour. So ask for the Thai contract and have your lawyer compare it with the model form.

What the model form doesn't protect is the timeline. The risks, per law firms:

• Construction delays.
• Projects cancelled when presales miss target.
• A finished unit that's a different size from the plan, with a price adjustment clause.
• Land under the project that's mortgaged with no release plan.

Check the developer's track record, whether it's listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, and that the environmental approval and building permit exist. And remember: every instalment needs its own FET or credit advice, and together they must cover the full price.

At handover you'll also pay the developer a one-time sinking fund, and often common fees in advance.

Resale means buying from the current owner. The building's juristic person (the owners' corporation) must issue a debt-free certificate showing the unit owes no common fees. Without it, the Land Office won't register the transfer. Once the fees are paid, the manager has 15 days to issue it.

Due diligence, either way:

1. Title search. Your lawyer checks the condominium title deed at the Land Office: the owner, any mortgage, anything registered against it.
2. Quota letter. Ask the juristic person's manager for a letter confirming the foreign quota area left. Make your deposit conditional on it.
3. The building's books. Accounts, the sinking-fund balance, pending lawsuits.
4. The building rules. Especially if you plan to rent the unit out. Many ban short stays.
5. Your own lawyer. Independent of the developer, the seller and the agent.

What it costs to keep

Common-area fees. Every owner pays a share of running the building, by floor area. Agencies put Bangkok at roughly ฿40–100 per square metre a month. A 35 sqm unit at ฿60 is ฿2,100 a month ($63). Pay late and the building can charge up to 12% a year, up to 20% once you're 6 months behind, cut common services and take away your vote at the owners' meeting. That's in the Act.

The sinking fund. Usually a one-time payment when you buy from the developer. Agencies put it at about ฿500–1,200 per square metre: ฿17,500–42,000 ($522–1,254) on 35 sqm. Buildings can charge special levies later when the fund runs short.

Land and building tax. Law firms say an owner-occupied condo is exempt on the first ฿10M of assessed value, if the owner is in the unit's house registration on 1 January. Whether a foreigner on a yellow house book qualifies isn't confirmed in what we've read. Possibly. Ask your district office. Other residential units, like a second home or a rental, start from 0.02% a year. A ฿5M unit at that rate is ฿1,000 a year ($30). The legal ceiling is 0.3%.

Rental income. If you rent the unit out, the rent is Thai-source income. Law firms say you can deduct a 30% standard allowance or your actual expenses, then pay progressive income tax. How withholding works with individual tenants isn't confirmed. Get advice before you sign your first lease. Start with Thai tax for expats. And check the building rules: stays under 30 days count as a hotel, legally (renting a condo in Thailand covers why).

Choosing where: where to live in Bangkok and the best cities for expats.

Proposals to watch

You'll read that foreigners can now own 75% of a building, or lease land for 99 years. As of October 2026, neither is law.

• 75% foreign quota. Floated by the government and the Ministry of Finance in 2024, sometimes for certain areas only. The Act still says 49%. No amendment has been enacted.
• 99-year leases. The Finance Ministry announced a plan to change the leasehold law in 2025. The registrable maximum is still 30 years. Law firms report the plan stalled after the 2025 change of government.

We found no Cabinet resolution, draft bill or Royal Gazette notice for either. Proposed, not enacted. If an agent's pitch depends on either one, walk.

Common mistakes

Paying a deposit before checking the quota. The Land Office enforces 49% at transfer. A full building means no freehold, even after you've paid.

"Foreign quota available" with nothing in writing. Also watch for leasehold units sold as if they were freehold, and developers offering to put a unit "in a Thai name for now."

Money in the wrong form. Baht from a Thai account, or a transfer with no FET or credit advice. You can't register as a foreign owner.

A unit in a Thai partner's name. Legally, it's theirs. A condo is the one asset you can hold in your own name. Use it.

Believing the lease marketing. "30+30+30" is reported void past 30 years. "99 years" isn't law.

Assuming the fee cut applies to you. 0.01% is for Thai buyers. You pay 2%, usually half of it.

Losing the bank paperwork. You'll want it the day you sell.

Before you sign anything

This is information, not legal or financial advice. Use an independent lawyer, not the developer's or the agent's. Everything here was checked as of October 2026.