Buying property in Thailand as a foreigner: names, money and the 49% rule
Two decisions carry nearly all the risk in a Thai purchase: whose name goes on the deed, and how the money travels.
Buying property in Thailand as a foreigner is legal and common, with one big carve-out. You can own a condominium outright, freehold, in your own name, provided foreigners hold no more than 49% of the building’s saleable floor area. You cannot own land, so a house needs a lease or another registered right over the plot it sits on. The purchase money must arrive from abroad in foreign currency, with bank evidence, or the Land Office will not register the unit to you. Two decisions carry nearly all the risk: whose name goes on the deed, and how the money travels.
- 49% foreign quota per condo building
- US$50,000 FET form threshold
- 2% transfer fee for foreign buyers
- 30 years maximum lease over land
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At a glance (2026 figures)
- Condo, own name Freehold, section 19
- Foreign quota per building 49% of floor area
- Land Not available to foreigners
- FET form issued at US$50,000 and above
- Reservation deposit 1% to 2% of price
- Transfer fee, foreign buyer 2% of appraised value
- Seller-side SBT window Sales within 5 years
- Annual tax, second home 0.02% of appraised value
What a foreigner can and cannot own
The Condominium Act B.E. 2522 (1979) lets foreigners own condo units freehold under section 19, within the 49% foreign quota per building. You qualify through permanent residence, residence under investment promotion law, or the route almost every buyer uses: remitting the purchase price from abroad in foreign currency. Any legal entry qualifies, no special visa needed.
The quota is per building, and popular buildings fill theirs. Ask the juristic person office (the building’s management entity) for written quota confirmation before you pay any deposit.
Land is different: foreigners cannot own it, so a house purchase means securing rights over someone else’s land. A registered lease runs 30 years maximum, and a March 2025 Supreme Court ruling killed the old “30+30+30 equals 90 years” pitch: pre-agreed automatic renewal clauses are void. Renewal takes a fresh registration, if the landowner still agrees. The real alternatives are a usufruct (use for life, ends at your death) or a superficies (you own the building, inheritable). The property section overview compares these structures.
Getting the money in: the FET rule
Section 19’s remittance route has exact mechanics. The money must arrive in foreign currency, be converted to baht in Thailand, come in under the buyer’s own name, and carry a stated purpose such as “purchase of condominium”. Transfer baht from an overseas account and you can fail the test.
For transfers of US$50,000 or more, the receiving Thai bank issues a Foreign Exchange Transaction form (the FET form, called the Thor Thor 3 in older articles). Below that, ask the bank for a confirmation letter stating the foreign currency origin and purpose. The Land Office accepts either as section 19 evidence under Bank of Thailand reporting rules. Keep every copy. When you sell, the same paperwork is what lets you send the proceeds back out of Thailand.
Buying in your name or your Thai partner’s name
Couples put property in the Thai partner’s name for practical reasons: the foreign quota is full, they want land rather than a condo, or a Thai buyer can get a normal mortgage. Understand exactly what that choice means before you fund it.
Money you provide for a purchase in a Thai partner’s name is, in law, a gift. If you are married, the Land Office requires both spouses to sign a declaration that the purchase money is the Thai spouse’s personal property (sin suan tua), a practice set by a Ministry of Interior directive of 23 March 1999. You are formally disclaiming any ownership interest, and Thai law bars you from later claiming the land through your spouse. If the relationship ends, the registered owner can legally sell, mortgage or remove you.
Real protections exist, each with honest limits. A registered 30-year lease or a usufruct in your favour survives a break-up and binds a new owner, but neither makes you the owner. A superficies can give you ownership of the house itself. A documented loan agreement and a prenup help around the edges; put both in front of a family lawyer before the transfer. What does not work is a Thai company with nominee shareholders: it is illegal, enforcement tightened from 1 January 2026 under a Department of Business Development order, and Foreign Business Act penalties reach three years in prison and fines up to 1,000,000 THB. Legitimate company registration has its own uses; holding your home is not one of them.
None of this says do not buy with your partner. It says the structure, not trust alone, protects both of you, and the structure has to be registered on transfer day.
Get the ownership structure checked before you pay
Mortgages for foreign buyers
You do not need a salary to buy property in Thailand. Income requirements belong to loans, not purchases, and most foreign buyers pay cash; borrowing here is structurally hard for foreigners.
The routes that exist: offshore bank programmes lending foreign currency at roughly 50% to 70% of value; Thailand-based secured lenders at around 50% of value, rates near 8% to 12% and short terms; developer instalment plans on new builds; and Thai banks, mainly where a Thai spouse co-borrows. One trap: baht borrowed inside Thailand is not foreign currency remitted from abroad, so a foreign condo buyer’s section 19 evidence must still come from overseas funds.
The purchase step by step
A clean purchase runs in six steps.
- Reserve the unit with a deposit.
Typically 1% to 2% of the price.
- Have the sale and purchase agreement reviewed before signing.
By someone acting only for you.
- Run a title search and due diligence.
Registered owner, mortgages and encumbrances, building permits, the developer’s record, the juristic person’s accounts.
- Transfer the funds from abroad.
And collect the FET evidence.
- Attend transfer day at the Land Office.
At the Land Department office with the title deed, the seller’s documents, the quota and debt-free letters, your FET or bank evidence, marriage or divorce certificates where relevant, a Tor Dor 21 power of attorney if represented, and a cashier’s cheque.
- Register the same day.
Registration on the day makes you the owner.
A lawyer earns their fee at the contract review, the due diligence and the transfer-day check.
Taxes and fees when you buy
The transfer fee is 2% of the official appraised value, split between buyer and seller by negotiation, so fix the split in the contract. You may have read about a stimulus cut to 0.01%: it is real and runs to 30 June 2027, but only for buyers who are Thai natural persons, on properties at or under 7,000,000 THB, and as a foreign buyer you pay the full 2%, whatever a listing agent implies.
The seller’s taxes still shape your negotiation. Sales within five years of acquisition attract specific business tax of 3.3% of the higher of sale price and appraised value, per the Revenue Department, with exemptions including a seller registered in the property’s house book for at least one year and inherited property. Otherwise stamp duty of 0.5% applies instead, never both.
Ownership is cheap after that. A foreign-owned condo used as a second home falls in the Land and Building Tax “other residential” band at 0.02% of appraised value, about 1,000 THB a year on a 5,000,000 THB unit. The 12.5% rental-value tax still quoted on old pages was abolished from 2020.
New build or resale
Developer sales are a contract-controlled business: standard consumer protection terms apply, and a developer may pass at most half of the 2% transfer fee to you. Resale contracts are freely negotiated, so the review matters more, not less. For any resale, read the juristic person’s accounts and sinking fund, and check the building rules on pets, renovations and parking.
Before any deposit, confirm the foreign quota in writing, search the title, and have the contract read by someone acting only for you. Every problem on this page is cheaper to fix before the money moves.
What to do next
Do three things before any money moves. Get written confirmation from the juristic person that the building’s 49% foreign quota has room. Set up the transfer so the funds arrive in foreign currency, in your own name, with the purpose stated, and keep the FET form or bank letter. And have the contract and the title read by someone acting only for you, before you sign, not after.
Then budget honestly: as a foreign buyer you pay the full 2% transfer fee, because the 0.01% stimulus rate runs only to 30 June 2027 for Thai natural persons on property up to 7,000,000 THB, and fix the split with the seller in the contract. If the property will go into a Thai partner’s name, register the lease, usufruct or superficies on transfer day rather than promising to sort it later. Selling one day is the other half of this: the paperwork is on selling property in Thailand.
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Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner buy a condo in Thailand outright?
Yes, freehold under section 19 of the Condominium Act, within the building's 49% foreign quota. Any legal entry qualifies, and the purchase money must come from abroad in foreign currency.
Can a foreigner buy a house or land in Thailand?
Land, no. A house, only through rights over the land: a lease of up to 30 years, a usufruct, or a superficies. The Supreme Court ruled automatic renewal clauses void in 2025, so treat 30 years as the real term.
Should the condo be in my name or my Thai partner's name?
Your own name gives you ownership if the quota has room. Money put into a Thai partner's name is legally a gift, and married buyers sign a declaration that the funds are the Thai spouse's personal property. Take legal advice before the transfer, not after.
What is the FET form and why does it matter?
It is the Thai bank's record that your money arrived from abroad in foreign currency, issued at US$50,000 and above, with a bank letter below that. The Land Office needs it to register the unit, and you need it again to repatriate the proceeds when you sell.
Do I need a salary to buy property in Thailand?
No. Income requirements are loan criteria, not purchase criteria. A cash buyer only needs the money to arrive from abroad in the correct form.
What fees do I pay when buying a condo in Thailand?
The transfer fee is 2% of appraised value, split by negotiation. The 0.01% stimulus rate applies only to Thai natural persons on properties up to 7,000,000 THB and runs only to 30 June 2027; foreign buyers pay the full 2%. Seller-side taxes (3.3% specific business tax or 0.5% stamp duty) affect the price you negotiate.
What are rai, ngan and square wah?
1 square wah is 4 square metres, 1 ngan is 100 square wah (400 square metres), and 1 rai is 4 ngan (1,600 square metres). Land is priced per rai or per square wah.