Thailand Property Due Diligence for Overseas Buyers.

A foreigner generally cannot own land in Thailand. A foreigner can own a condominium unit outright, as long as foreigners together hold no more than 49% of the floor area of all units in the building. The Land Office makes its own check on the day of transfer and registers the sale only if the existing foreign owners plus the new buyer stay within 49%. The transfer also needs a certificate from the building's management that no common fees are owed on the unit.

The payment is part of the title. The buyer must show that foreign currency worth at least the unit price was brought into Thailand, or drawn from a non-resident baht account or a foreign-currency deposit account. Banks issue a Foreign Exchange Transaction form for inflows of USD 50,000 or more. Since 29 December 2025 banks must also check supporting documents when USD 200,000 or more is converted for a property sale to a foreigner.

For a house or villa the usual route is a lease of the land, limited to 30 years for each registered term. A promised renewal needs a new agreement and a new registration. The law firm Siam Legal reports that the Supreme Court, in judgment 4655/2566, held pre-agreed and pre-paid '30+30+30' renewals void, leaving only the first 30 years secure. Holding land through a Thai person or company on a foreigner's behalf is prohibited and can end in a forced sale of the land.

From: Thailand Board of Investment; Department of Lands, Condominium Act B.E. 2522; THAILAND.GO.TH; Bank of Thailand, Notice 45/2010 and news release of 29 December 2025; Siam Legal International; Silk Legal

The Land Office transfer fee is 2% of the appraised value or the declared price, whichever is higher. The law firm Siam Legal says the fee is customarily split equally between buyer and seller, and that the split can be negotiated. The law firm Tilleke & Gibbins says the cut to 0.01% running from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027 applies only to Thai individual buyers of homes up to 7 million baht, and that foreign buyers pay the full 2%.

A sale made commercially or for profit carries specific business tax, a tax on the sale, of 3%, or 3.3% once the local tax is added. Siam Legal says the seller pays it when the seller is a company or an individual who has held the property for under five years, and that stamp duty of 0.5% is charged only when this tax does not apply. Siam Legal also says the seller pays a withholding tax on the transfer. This matters to you again on the day you sell.

A home that is not the owner's main residence gets no exemption from the annual land and building tax. It is taxed from the first baht at 0.02% to 0.10% of its assessed value a year, depending on the value. Rent paid to an owner who is not resident in Thailand has 15% tax withheld, and income from Thai property is taxable in Thailand even when it is paid abroad.

From: Department of Lands; Revenue Department; THAILAND.GO.TH and Real Estate Information Center; Krungsri (Bank of Ayudhya); Siam Legal; Tilleke & Gibbins

167,665 homes changed hands across Thailand in the first half of 2026, 17.6% more than in the first half of 2025. Their combined value was 429.839 billion baht, about USD 13.07 billion.

Condominiums made up 56,041 of those transfers, about a third. Houses and other low-rise homes made up 111,624.

The stock of second-hand homes listed for sale stood at 195,941 in the second quarter of 2026, up 6.1% on a year earlier, so a resale buyer has more to choose from. Bangkok recorded 13,910 second-hand transfers in that quarter, 22.3% of the national total.

From: Real Estate Information Center, first half and second quarter 2026; our calculation from Real Estate Information Center; European Central Bank reference rates of 7 September 2026

Lexology, a legal publisher, reports that renting out a home for less than 30 days without a hotel licence is illegal under the Hotel Act B.E. 2547, and that a condominium owner was convicted in Supreme Court case 1135/2561.

A 2023 exemption covers small accommodation of no more than eight rooms and 30 guests. It requires registration, has other conditions, and the registration lasts five years.

Rent paid to a non-resident owner has 15% tax withheld. The Library holds no national figure for rental returns after costs, so any yield you are quoted should be tested against real leases in the building.

From: Lexology; PKF Thailand; Revenue Department

The Long-Term Resident visa gives five years of stay, extendable by five more. Its Wealthy Global Citizen category needs at least USD 1 million in assets, including at least USD 500,000 of qualifying Thai investment. Its Wealthy Pensioner category is open from age 50 and normally needs USD 80,000 a year of passive income, such as a pension. The fee is 50,000 baht a person, about USD 1,520, when paid in Thailand.

The Destination Thailand Visa is valid for five years with many entries, each of up to 180 days, and a stay can be extended once by up to 180 days. It asks for evidence of about 500,000 baht (USD 15,200). A person present for 180 days or more in a calendar year is a Thai tax resident, and foreign income earned while resident, from 2024 onwards, is taxed when it is brought into Thailand. Holders of the Long-Term Resident visa in the two wealthy categories and the Work-from-Thailand category are exempt on that income.

Bangkok and the upper Gulf of Thailand face flooding, rising sea levels and sinking land together, and past coastal flood damage is concentrated around the Bay of Bangkok and Phuket. Flood and windstorm cover is often an extra-cost addition to standard property insurance, with limits on what it pays.

From: Thailand Board of Investment; Royal Thai Embassy, London; Revenue Department; HLB Thailand; Brer Rabbit Legal; World Bank