Freehold vs leasehold in Thailand

The difference in one table

Freehold

Freehold means you own the asset outright. For a foreigner this is available for a condominium unit inside the 49% foreign quota, and for a house or villa as a building. It is not available for the land itself.

Leasehold

A leasehold is a registered right to use a unit or a plot for a maximum of 30 years. It is the standard route when the condo quota is full, and for land. Before you buy a leasehold, ask three things in writing: how many years remain, how the lease is registered, and what exactly the lease says about extension. Extension terms are a matter of the contract and must be reviewed by a lawyer.

Leasehold units tend to resell less easily than freehold units in the same location, since each year shortens what the next buyer would hold.

Is a 30+30+30 year lease safe?

Only the first 30 years are safe. A properly registered 30-year lease is valid and stays in force if the land is sold. A promise of two more 30-year renewals, signed at the start and paid for in advance, is not safe: the Thai Supreme Court has held such pre-agreed renewals void because they get around the 30-year limit.

What the law says

Section 540 of the Civil and Commercial Code limits a lease of land or buildings to 30 years; a longer term is cut back to 30. A lease may be renewed after it ends, but each renewal is also capped at 30 years from the time of renewal. In other words the statute allows a renewal but provides no way to guarantee one in advance: a renewal means a new agreement with the landowner.

What the Supreme Court decided

The ruling is reported as Supreme Court Judgment No. 4655/2566. The year 2566 is the Buddhist-era number for 2023; Thai lawyers began publishing it in early 2025, which is why it is often called a 2025 ruling. The case came from Phuket.

• The facts. A 30-year lease was registered, and on the same day the parties signed a promise to renew twice more for 30 years each. The tenant paid the rent for all 90 years within days. When the first term ended, the landowner sued to evict.
• What was upheld. The initial registered 30-year lease was valid.
• What was struck down. The two renewal promises were void and unenforceable. The court saw one 90-year lease dressed as three, and also rejected the argument that the promise still bound the landowner as an ordinary contract.
• The consequence. Staying on after the first term was treated as a wrong, and the full prepayment did not protect the tenant.

The decision turned on specific facts: renewals signed the same day as the lease, the whole 90 years prepaid, and identical (here even lower) rent with no adjustment. Lawyers disagree on how far it reaches: some call it a departure from earlier practice, others say it only applies the plain words of section 540. Thailand is a civil law country, so Supreme Court decisions are highly persuasive but not binding precedent as in common law systems.

Registration at the Land Office does not fix it

The Department of Lands will register a second 30-year lease that starts when the first ends. That is an administrative step. It does not cure a defect in the underlying agreement, so a registered second term is evidence of what the parties tried to do, not proof that it works.

A separate risk: a new landowner

Under section 569 of the Civil and Commercial Code a registered lease continues when the land changes hands. A separate promise to grant a future lease is a personal obligation of the person who made it and generally does not bind someone who later buys the land. A buyer of a 30+30+30 villa can therefore face two different problems: a void renewal, and a new owner who simply declines to renew.

What can still work

• The registered first term of up to 30 years remains solid and binds successors.
• The structure the court struck down is the automatic, prepaid renewal on unchanged terms.
• Lawyers describe an option as less exposed if it is not automatic, needs a genuine new agreement at expiry, adjusts the rent for 30 years of change (for example linked to the consumer price index) and is paid for at renewal, not up front. Even then there is no guarantee; it depends on the drafting.
• If a renewal fails, money paid for it may be claimable back, but that is only as good as the other side's ability to pay.

Questions to ask before you buy a leasehold villa

1. How many years are left on the registered lease itself, not the marketed total?
2. Are the renewals automatic, signed on the same day, or paid for up front?
3. Is there a rent adjustment for the renewal term?
4. Who owns the land today, and is the lease registered against that title?
5. What happens to the lease if the landowner dies, sells or mortgages the land?
6. Have you had a licensed Thai lawyer read the actual documents?

Other routes that exist

• Right over leasehold assets (Rights over Leasehold Assets Act B.E. 2562, known as Sap Ing Sith): a registrable right to use property for up to 30 years that stays attached to the title if the owner changes.
• Long leases for commerce and industry (B.E. 2542): up to 50 years, renewable once, but only for qualifying commercial or industrial investment, for example a business investing at least THB 20 million. It does not cover an ordinary residential villa.
• 99-year leases have been proposed. As of the sources checked in October 2026 they are still a draft and not law, so no purchase should rely on them.

Other structures

• Usufruct: a right to use and take the benefit of the property without owning the land.
• Superficies: ownership of the building separately from the land beneath it.
• A genuine Thai company, with real shareholders and real capital. This is different from a nominee structure, which is illegal.

The full picture is in Can foreigners buy property in Thailand?

Sources

• Thailand Condo Foreign Quota: The 49% Rule Explained (Terms.Law)
• Will Thailand Allow 99-Year Leases and 75% Foreign Condo Ownership? The 2026 Status (Bektu)
• Thailand Foreign Condo Rules 2026: 5 Key Risks (Aster of Asia)
• Legal Update: Invalidity of Extended Lease Terms in Thailand (One Asia Lawyers)
• 30-Year Lease in Thailand: The Renewal Trap Explained (Lex Bangkok)
• 30-Year Leasehold in Thailand, with the text of section 540 (Terms.Law)

Facts checked August 2026; the 30+30+30 section checked October 2026.