Ownership & Legal
How does Thai condominium freehold ownership work?
The honest answer, first. The reasoning, second. The trade-offs, last.
The Answer
Foreign-quota freehold ownership registers the condominium unit in the foreigner's personal name on the chanote (title deed) at the Land Department, with full ownership rights - sale, lease, mortgage and inheritance - equivalent to those of a Thai owner, subject to the 49% building-level foreign-quota cap.
Why this is the answer.
The legal basis is the Condominium Act 1979 (amended). Foreign-quota ownership is recorded directly on the title deed; the foreigner holds the same rights as a Thai-quota owner over the unit and a proportional undivided share of common areas.
Registration requires: passport, signed sale-purchase contract, FET form documenting overseas remittance of the purchase price, and payment of transfer fee (typically 2% of appraised value, often split with seller) and any applicable specific business tax or stamp duty.
Ownership conveys voting rights in the juristic person, ability to sell to either a Thai or foreign buyer (subject to ongoing quota at sale), ability to lease, and ability to bequeath through will - including to non-Thai heirs subject to quota at the time of inheritance.
What to do about it.
- Verify foreign quota in writing before deposit.
- Preserve FET-form documentation for future resale and repatriation.
- Engage independent Thai legal counsel for the sale-purchase contract review.
What can break the thesis.
- If quota fills before registration, foreign-quota freehold may be unavailable at completion.
- Resale to a foreign buyer requires available foreign quota at the resale date.
- Juristic-person mismanagement can erode common-area value over time.
Your Next Step
Review the Foreign Buyers Guide and your nationality-specific ownership guide before evaluating individual properties.
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