What Thai Law Asks of Every Buyer: the Universal Checklist
Thai property law does not read passports. Once it has established that the buyer is not Thai, the same six requirements apply to a buyer from Manchester, Munich or Mumbai, and a purchase that satisfies them registers; one that misses any of them does not. The order below is the order in which they should be settled.
1. Foreign floor area still open in the building. Foreigners together may hold no more than 49% of a condominium’s total sellable floor area, counted in square metres and used up as transfers register. Ask the juristic person, in writing and dated, how much remains and whether your unit fits inside it, before any non-refundable payment, and read what the sale agreement gives you if the answer changes by completion. The foreign quota explained covers how the share is counted.
2. A Chanote title, searched. The Chanote (Nor Sor 4 Jor) is the surveyed, registered title deed; lower-grade documents such as Nor Sor 3 Gor carry less certainty, and agricultural certificates cannot be transferred to a foreigner at all. Your own lawyer runs the search at the Provincial Land Office for encumbrances, mortgages and disputes; title search explained says what the search returns.
3. The Thai bank’s record of the money. A foreign freehold is registered against the receiving Thai bank’s record that foreign currency arrived from abroad, in the buyer’s name, for the purchase, and was exchanged into baht in Thailand. The full FET form is issued once a single inbound transfer reaches $50,000; smaller transfers produce a credit advice, and a buyer paying in tranches keeps every one. The record cannot be reissued, and it is what lets the proceeds leave cleanly on a sale years later. Open the Thai account in your own name, send foreign currency rather than baht, name the unit in the purpose field. The FET certificate guide walks the steps.
4. A sale agreement your own lawyer has read. The developer’s lawyer acts for the developer. An independent Thai firm reads the completion date and grace period, the penalty for developer delay, the warranty that the unit sits inside the foreign share, inspection and snagging rights, who pays which part of the transfer fee, and how wide the force majeure clause is drawn. The SPA explained lists the clauses.
5. A developer who has been checked. On an off-plan purchase the developer is the counterparty risk that matters most.
| Check | How |
|---|---|
| Track record | Completed projects and whether they handed over on time |
| Environmental approval | Required for larger projects; ask for the document, not the assurance |
| Construction permit | Issued before sales began, not after |
| The land | Owned by the developer or held on a registered long lease, shown on the title |
| Financial standing | Whatever is public, plus the bank references a serious developer can produce |
The developer reputation checklist is the long form.
6. Registration day at the Land Office. Nothing is owned until the transfer registers. Buyer and seller, or their attorneys under a power specific to the unit, attend; the FET record is presented; the transfer fee of 2% on the appraised value and the seller’s taxes are paid across the counter; the Chanote is endorsed with your name. Keep the original somewhere a bank would keep it.
Looking for the right property in Phuket?
The six steps above are the same for every buyer. If you want an independent Thai lawyer for steps two and four, we can introduce one who does not act for the developer.
What Does Not Vary by Passport
A good deal of nationality-targeted marketing implies that some buyers get a better deal from Thai law than others. None do. The 49% share of floor area is the same allowance for a Norwegian and a Nigerian, with no nationality exempted or given priority. Land is closed to foreign freehold for everyone, which makes a villa a leasehold: the Land Office will register no more than 30 years at a time, and renewals bind the landowner of the day only as a contract; a company whose Thai shareholders hold the majority on paper while a foreigner runs it is the nominee arrangement the Land Code prohibits, whoever the foreigner is. The requirement that purchase money arrive as foreign currency and be recorded by the Thai bank is identical whether the money started in dollars, euros or rupees. And no purchase, at any price, brings a visa or a residence right to anyone; Thailand has no property-linked residence programme. The Thai side is uniform. The complications live at home.
What Genuinely Varies
| Varies by nationality | Why | Where to resolve it |
|---|---|---|
| How the rent and the gain are taxed at home | Domestic tax law | An adviser in your own country, in the year of purchase |
| Whether the treaty exempts the Thai income or credits the Thai tax | Each treaty has its own method article | The same adviser, reading the treaty rather than a summary |
| What has to be disclosed at home because an asset sits abroad | Foreign-asset reporting rules differ | The same |
| Whether the money can leave, and in what currency | A few countries limit outbound transfers; Thai banks convert only the major currencies | Your own bank, in writing, before you commit to a payment schedule |
| How a power of attorney is legalised | Apostille or consular chain, and Thailand’s own accession status | Your Thai lawyer, weeks before the transfer date |
| What happens to the unit on death | Home succession law meets Thai procedure | A lawyer in both jurisdictions |
The power of attorney point catches people out most often. The site’s power of attorney guide records that Thailand’s cabinet approved accession to the Apostille Convention in December 2025 and that the convention was not yet in force at the last check, so a foreign signature still travelled the consular route: a notary at home, then the home foreign ministry, then the Thai embassy, then a certified Thai translation. It cannot be accelerated from Bangkok, so it starts weeks before the date rather than days.
The Home-Country Line, Passport by Passport
Nobody on this project practises tax law in any of the countries below. Each row states only what the site’s claims register holds, every entry of it marked unverified with a review date, and the earlier version of this page is corrected where it was wrong: it said that Israel and Australia have no tax treaty with Thailand and that the United States has none either. All three treaties exist.
| Passport | Treaty with Thailand, per the register | The home-country line | Money-in constraint | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | In effect since 1998; the saving clause keeps US citizens taxable at home, relief through the foreign tax credit | Schedule E for the rent with Form 1116; FBAR from $10,000 across foreign accounts; Form 8938 above its thresholds | None | US tax |
| British | The convention assigns the rent to Thailand under its Article 6 | Thai rent declared to HMRC; capital gains tax on the disposal, computed in sterling | None | British buyers |
| German | Exemption with progression for the rent; the treatment of a gain within ten years left open | Anlage AUS every year; section 23 EStG question for the adviser | None | German tax |
| French | The 1974 convention allocates the property to Thailand; the method left open | Forms 2047 and 2042; social charges at 17.2% on foreign property income; IFI includes real estate abroad | None | French tax |
| Australian | Exists; its Article 6 assigns the rent to Thailand | Worldwide income; half the gain assessable after twelve months; FIRB not triggered | None | Australian tax |
| Russian | Exists; application depends on tax residence | Stated no further | Bank sanctions constrain settlement; the page names no route, only the test: a lawful transfer that produces the FET record in your name | Russian buyers |
| Israeli | In force | Foreign rent on one of two tracks, 15% of gross with no credit or the marginal rate with credit; a real gain at 25% | The shekel is not converted by Thai banks; the leg is done in Israel | Israeli buyers |
| Indian | The 1985 DTAA | Foreign property disclosed in Schedule FA | The LRS allowance of $250,000 per individual per financial year sets the ticket | Indian buyers |
| Chinese | Stated no further | Worldwide income in principle | The individual annual facility commonly cited at $50,000, stated here as a limit and nothing else | Chinese buyers |
| Polish, Turkish | Both exist; methods left open | Worldwide income at home in both cases | Zloty and lira are not converted by Thai banks; the first exchange is done at home | Polish, Turkish |
| Other EU | Most member states have a treaty; each has its own method | Worldwide income and, in several states, an annual foreign-asset report | Euros travel by SWIFT; SEPA does not reach Thailand | EU transfer guide |
The earlier version also said that some developers had adopted internal policies against Israeli buyers. It had no source for that and the statement is withdrawn; Thai law imposes no such restriction and the site has no evidence of a private one.
Buyer Scenarios: Which Checklist Path Fits You
Scenario A, an American buying off-plan in Bang Tao. The six Thai steps, then three American ones: the Thai account goes on the FBAR once foreign accounts together pass $10,000 in the year, the rent goes on Schedule E, and the Thai tax withheld is claimed on Form 1116. The treaty exists and its saving clause is why the credit, not an exemption, is the relief.
Scenario B, a British buyer taking a resale unit. Title search and encumbrance check first, then pounds sent by SWIFT and converted by the Thai bank, then the record, then registration. Every expense receipt is kept from day one, because the eventual UK capital gains computation is in sterling from those dates.
Scenario C, a Russian buyer in 2026. The right to own is unchanged. The gating item is settlement, and the only test worth applying to any proposed route is whether it is lawful at every step and produces the FET record in the buyer’s own name. A route that fails either half is not a route.
Scenario D, an Israeli buyer letting the unit. The Thai steps are the same as everyone’s. The Israeli step is the choice of track for foreign rent, made before the first rental year with the managing agent’s statement in hand, because the gross track gives no credit for what Thailand withholds.
Scenario E, an Indian buyer. The allowance sets the ticket and the timetable, so the transfer is planned before the unit is chosen; the LRS guide is the page to read first.
Red Flags Every Nationality Should Treat the Same
| Red flag | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Foreign floor area “confirmed” verbally | Registrations ahead of yours use the share up; a dated letter from the juristic person for your unit is the only confirmation that survives them |
| The developer’s lawyer offered as your lawyer | One firm cannot act for both sides of a sale agreement |
| Any request to send baht, or to send from someone else’s account | Nothing for the Thai bank to record, or a record in the wrong name |
| A treaty position stated as obvious, or a treaty said not to exist | This page carried three such errors; the treaty text is the source |
| Someone offering a way to get money out of a country that limits it | If the route is not lawful at every step, the FET record it produces is a liability, not a document |
| A villa “for 90 years” | Thirty years is what registers; the rest is a promise from whoever owns the land then |
Insider tip: the record from step three is the document buyers lose. Scan every FET form and credit advice the day it arrives and keep the originals with the Chanote; the sale, the repatriation and the home-country return all depend on them years later.
Checklist recap: foreign floor area letter; Chanote searched by your own lawyer; foreign currency sent from your own account with the unit named; sale agreement reviewed independently; developer checked; registration attended or a power of attorney legalised in time; and your passport’s row above taken to an adviser at home. Due diligence step by step puts the Thai steps in sequence.
Disclaimer: property law, tax rules and payment rules change. The Thai statements here are current to the site’s last check on 2 September 2026 and the home-country statements are registered claims with review dates. Consult a qualified Thai law firm and an adviser in your own country before buying; MORE Group acts as agent and recommends independent legal representation for every buyer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, on the same terms. Thai law restricts what a foreigner can own, a condominium unit within the building's 49% foreign floor area and no land, but it does not restrict who among foreigners may own it. The practical differences are on the buyer's side: home tax, foreign-asset reporting, and whether the money can leave and in what currency.
Foreigners together may hold no more than 49% of a condominium building's total sellable floor area, counted in square metres and per building. The share is used up as transfers register, so a spoken assurance at reservation is worth nothing; get the juristic person's dated letter naming your unit before any non-refundable payment.
The Land Office registers a foreign freehold only against the Thai bank's record that foreign currency arrived from abroad in your name for the purchase and was converted to baht in Thailand. Send foreign currency, not baht, from an account in your own name, name the unit in the purpose field, and the receiving bank issues the full FET form once a single transfer reaches $50,000, or a credit advice below that.
Yes. Thai law imposes no restriction on Russian nationals. The difficulty is settlement under bank sanctions, and this page names no route: the test for any proposed one is that it is lawful at every step and produces the FET record in the buyer's own name. The earlier version listed third countries and cryptocurrency; that list is withdrawn.
All three do, and the earlier version of this page said none of them did. The Israel-Thailand convention is in force; the Australia-Thailand agreement assigns Thai rent to Thailand under its Article 6; the US-Thailand convention has been in effect since 1998 with a saving clause that keeps US citizens taxable at home and routes relief through the foreign tax credit. Each is registered on the site with a review date.
Your own. The developer's lawyer acts for the developer, and an independent firm runs the title search, reads the sale agreement for your protections and has no reason to overlook a problem. Fees are a fixed amount for a condominium and vary by firm, so take two quotes; the earlier version's figure had no source and is withdrawn.
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