Renting a Condo in Thailand: Deposits, Contracts and the Rules That Protect You

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

Thailand rewrote its rental rule in 2025, and most English guides haven't caught up.

Since 4 September 2025, a landlord can take no more than 3 months' rent upfront, deposit and advance combined. Deposits come back within 7 days, or 14 if there's damage to deduct. Normal wear can't be charged. Electricity and water are billed at cost.

That's the good news. The catch: it only covers landlords who rent out 3 or more units. If you rent one condo from the person who owns it, they usually don't qualify. Then the rule doesn't apply. Your contract does.

So the lease you sign and the photos you take on day one are your real protection. This guide covers both.

The short version

• Budget 3× the monthly rent at signing. Two months' deposit plus the first month. On ฿25,000 a month that's ฿75,000 (about $2,240).
• The 2025 consumer rule covers landlords with 3+ units. A single-condo owner usually falls outside it. Ask how many units they rent out.
• Every lease owes 0.1% stamp duty. Leases over 3 years must also be registered at the Land Office.
• Get it in writing before you pay: an inventory with photos, the electricity rate, a deposit receipt, and a promise to file your TM30.
• Under 30 days in a condo counts as a hotel stay, legally. Book by the month.
• Never pay before you've seen the unit and matched the owner's ID to the title deed.

Which rules apply to you

Two sets of rules. Which one you get depends on your landlord, not on you.

If your landlord rents out 3 or more units: the 2025 rule. It's a Contract Committee notification under Thailand's consumer protection board, the OCPB, published in the Royal Gazette in June 2025. It replaced the 2018 version, which only covered landlords with 5 or more units and allowed one month's deposit plus one month's advance. That's the "1-month deposit rule" older guides still quote. It's gone.

The OCPB publishes a model contract for leases under the rule. What it says:

• Deposit return: immediately when the lease ends. If the landlord inspects for damage, within 7 days with no damage, or the balance within 14 days after deductions. No deductions for normal use, normal wear, things that aren't your fault, or force majeure.
• Utilities at cost: the utility's bill divided by units, times the units your room used. No profit on electricity or water.
• Invoices at least 3 days before the due date, and you can check the charges.
• Leaving early: on a fixed term, you can terminate once you've lived there at least half the term, with 30 days' written notice and nothing owed. Prepaid rent for future months comes back within 7 days.
• Repairs: you handle minor upkeep. The landlord does the necessary repairs.
• The landlord's side: they must give you 30 days' written notice to fix a breach before ending the lease. Seven days for disturbing other residents.

The 3-unit scope and the 3-month cap come from law firms and the Thai press. The Gazette text itself wasn't readable. Lawyers also report no rent increases before the lease ends, no entry without notice except emergencies, and, according to one law firm, up to a year in prison and/or a ฿200,000 fine for non-compliant contracts.

Who's covered in practice: serviced apartments, apartment buildings, and owners with several units. Plenty of condo investors hold three or more. Ask at the viewing.

If your landlord owns one or two units: the Civil and Commercial Code and your contract. The Code needs a lease in writing, signed, for it to be enforceable in court. It caps a lease at 30 years. It doesn't cap deposits or set a return deadline. So whatever your contract says about the deposit is what you get.

Two rules apply to every lease:

• Stamp duty: ฿1 per ฿1,000 of total rent over the whole term. That's 0.1%. A 12-month lease at ฿25,000 is ฿300,000 of rent, so ฿300 of duty (about $9). The Revenue Department's schedule puts it on the "person providing rent." In practice most residential leases are never stamped. Law firms note an unstamped lease can't be used as evidence in a Thai civil court until the duty and a surcharge are paid.
• Over 3 years: register it. An unregistered lease longer than 3 years is enforceable for only 3. Registration at the Land Office is reported at 1% of total rent, plus the stamp duty.

Money at signing

The market norm with individual owners: 2 months' deposit plus 1 month in advance, on a 12-month lease. That's also exactly what the OCPB's own sample contract shows. So the 3-month cap mostly matches what people already pay.

Rents by neighborhood are in where to live in Bangkok.

The agent. On a 12-month lease the landlord typically pays the agent about one month's rent, reportedly. You pay nothing. That also means the agent works for the landlord. Use them to find units. Negotiate for yourself. Your levers: lease length, paying several months upfront, a furniture change, a fixed electricity rate.

Six months? Often possible, at a higher rent. Twelve is standard.

If you have a new Thai bank account, check your daily transfer limit before deposit day. New accounts start at ฿50,000. How Thai bank accounts work.

Before you sign

Take this to the viewing.

1. The contract. In English, or Thai and English side by side. The landlord's name should match the condo title deed and their ID. If a relative or agent signs, ask for a power of attorney.
2. Inventory and photos. Every item, every scratch, dated, signed by both sides. Shoot a video walk-through too. This is your whole case at move-out.
3. A deposit receipt. Pay by bank transfer to the owner's own account. Not cash to an agent.
4. TM30. A clause saying the landlord files your TM30 address report within 24 hours and gives you the receipt.
5. Utilities. Is the meter direct with the electricity authority (MEA in Bangkok, PEA elsewhere), or does the owner re-bill? At what rate per unit? In writing.
6. Internet. Is there a line already (AIS, True, 3BB)? Whose name is it in?
7. Early termination. What happens to the deposit if you leave at month 6, or month 11? A common clause with individual owners: leave before 12 months and you lose the deposit. That's legal between private parties if you signed it.
8. Building rules. Register with the juristic office (building management) for keycards, which may carry a deposit. Ask about move-in hours and lift booking, pets, and who pays the common-area fee. It's usually the owner. Put it in the contract.

Paperwork you need from your landlord

The TM30 receipt. Thai law makes the owner, landlord or person in charge of the property report a foreigner's address within 24 hours. The fine for not filing, up to ฿2,000, falls on them. It becomes your problem later, when you extend a visa, file a 90-day report or ask for a Certificate of Residence.

For the Certificate of Residence, which you'll want for a bank account and a driving licence, Bangkok Immigration reportedly asks for:

• the TM30 receipt
• your lease
• a copy of the landlord's ID card
• a copy of the landlord's house registration (tabien baan)

The address has to match exactly across the lease, the TM30 and the form. If it doesn't, expect a second trip.

Ask before you pay the deposit: will the owner give you signed copies of their ID, the unit's house registration and the title, and file the TM30? A landlord who says no is a red flag for anyone staying long-term. If the owner is a foreigner, they'll have a passport, not a Thai ID. Ask what they can provide.

More in the visa admin cheat sheet and opening a Thai bank account.

Short stays: under 30 days is a hotel

Under the Hotel Act, a condo unit let for under 30 days counts as a hotel and needs a licence. A lease of 30 days or more doesn't. That's how law firms read the Act's definition.

The penalties, as law firms report them:

• Hotel Act: up to 1 year in prison and/or up to ฿20,000, plus up to ฿10,000 a day while it continues.
• Condominium Act: no business beyond what the building's rules allow. Up to ฿50,000, plus ฿5,000 a day.
• The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of a Hua Hin condo owner for daily rentals (Dika 1135/2561), as law firms describe the case.

One law firm reports prosecutions in Bangkok (Pratunam and Sutthisan, and Sukhumvit) in March 2025, after a government warning that February, plus a push in Pattaya. That's one source with no case numbers.

The penalties fall on the host. You feel it differently: most buildings ban stays under 30 days in their bylaws, and they enforce it at the desk. Keycards stop working. Guests get turned away. Short-stay hosts often don't file TM30 either.

So: a monthly booking is fine. Chaining two-week stays in condos isn't. If you're splitting the year, see half-year stays in Thailand.

Serviced apartment vs condo vs house

A serviced apartment is a good landing pad. You learn the city before you commit a year's deposit to one soi. Not sure what kind of stay you're planning? Start with which kind of expat you are. Thinking about buying instead? Buying a condo in Thailand.

Other cities

The laws are national. The 2025 rule, the Code, the Hotel Act and TM30 work the same everywhere.

• Chiang Mai: more houses with gardens. Immigration offices in tourist provinces are reported to be stricter about TM30.
• Phuket: agents report high-season rents 40–100% above low season. Lock in a 6–12-month lease before November. Lots of villas and foreign-owned condos. Check whether your landlord is a business with 3+ units.
• Hua Hin: the Supreme Court daily-rental case was a Hua Hin condo. Plenty of houses and long leases.

How the cities compare: best cities in Thailand for expats.

Pitfalls

Deposit fights. The most common complaint. Deductions for "cleaning" or "repainting" after normal use. Your defense: dated photos and video at move-in, a signed inventory, and a move-out inspection with the landlord there. Under the 2025 rule, normal wear can't be deducted. With an individual owner, it's whatever the contract says.

Electricity markups. Paying the utility directly costs about ฿3.5–3.9 a unit. Many landlords re-bill at ฿7–8. For a 1BR running AC, that takes a ฿700–1,165 bill ($21–35) to ฿1,400–2,400 ($42–72). Since September 2025 that's illegal for landlords with 3+ units. With individual owners and older buildings it's common. One question at the viewing: "What do you charge per unit?"

Fake listings. Photos stolen from real condos. A price below market. Pressure to transfer before you've seen the place. In July 2025 a student in Nonthaburi sent ฿18,000 to a fake Facebook "landlord" for a unit that had been repossessed, The Thaiger reported. Never transfer a baht before you've viewed the unit in person and the owner's ID matches the title.

The "agent" who isn't. Someone the owner never authorized, or a tenant subletting without permission. Same fix: ID, title, power of attorney.

No TM30. It stalls your extension and your Certificate of Residence. Get the promise in the contract and the receipt in your hand.

The 12-month trap. With an individual owner, leaving early usually means losing the deposit. The half-term exit only applies to landlords under the 2025 rule.

Before you sign anything

This is information, not legal advice. Everything here was checked as of October 2026.