If you start looking for property in Thailand, you will very quickly come across two words: freehold and leasehold.
And just as quickly, you may get the impression that freehold means “safe and good”, while leasehold means “worse because it is only for 30 years”.
In practice, that is far too simplistic.
The words “freehold” or “leasehold” alone are not enough to evaluate a property. First, you need to understand what the right applies to, what exactly you are acquiring and which rights will actually be registered.
This is particularly important in Thailand, where the land, the building and the right to use the land are not always covered by the same legal right.
Let’s start with freehold
Freehold means ownership without a fixed time limit.
For a foreign buyer, the clearest example is an apartment located in a legally registered condominium.
If foreign ownership quota is available in that condominium, a foreigner can purchase the unit as freehold and become its direct owner.
There is a statutory limit: foreign-owned units cannot exceed 49% of the total floor area of all units in the condominium.
But this is where the first important distinction appears.
An apartment is not automatically a condominium, and a condominium does not automatically mean that a particular unit is available to a foreign buyer as freehold.
So when you see the word “apartment” in a listing, it is always worth checking its actual legal status and the form in which it is being offered.
Leasehold does not mean ownership
Leasehold is different. You do not acquire ownership of the land; instead, you obtain the right to use the property for a specified period.
For immovable property, the maximum lease term currently registered at the Thai Land Office is 30 years.
This is where many misunderstandings begin.
In the market, particularly in offers aimed at foreign buyers, you may see expressions such as 30+30, 30+30+30, or sometimes simply 90-year leasehold.
These should not be understood as a 60- or 90-year lease being registered at the Land Office on the date of purchase.
The registered term is limited to a maximum of 30 years.
Documents relating to potential future periods are separate contractual arrangements and should therefore be assessed individually.
From our perspective
When we review a property offered as “30+30+30”, we do not stop at that description.
The more important questions are:
What exactly will be registered at the Land Office? Who owns the land? What do the documents concerning future periods actually say?
Only then can you understand what the offer really represents.
What about villas?
Villas are where the simple question “freehold or leasehold?” most often turns out to be insufficient.
In Thailand, the house and the land it stands on do not necessarily have to be covered by the same legal right.
As a general rule, a foreigner cannot directly own Thai land in their own name. With a villa, the position of the building and the right to use the land therefore need to be examined separately.
For this reason, you will find villas described in the market as freehold, leasehold, or as arrangements involving different rights relating to different parts of the property.
And this is where we particularly dislike one sentence:
“This villa is freehold.”
Without further explanation, it tells you very little.
Freehold of what? The building? The land? How is the land held? What exactly will belong to the buyer?
That is where the real conversation about the property begins.
Is leasehold worse than freehold?
We do not like answering this question with a simple “yes” or “no”.
Freehold provides ownership without a fixed end date, so from the perspective of the ownership right itself, it is stronger than a time-limited leasehold right.
That does not mean that every freehold property is automatically a better purchase than every leasehold property.
When buying property, you are assessing more than its legal form. Location, project quality, price, standard, developer, intended use, future resale and, above all, why you are buying the property in the first place all matter.
For someone looking for a property for a defined period, using it for part of the year and renting it out while away, a properly prepared leasehold may fit their plans.
For another buyer, the limited duration of the right may be enough to rule that property out from the beginning.
The point is not to find one answer to which form is best. The point is to determine whether a particular form is appropriate for a particular purchase.
Could the leasehold term be extended in the future?
This is an interesting area because proposals to change the current rules have been discussed in Thailand for several years.
In 2024, the government instructed the relevant authorities to study the possibility of extending the maximum leasehold term to as much as 99 years, including as part of measures intended to make Thailand more attractive to foreign investors.
At present, however, this is not the law.
The standard maximum term for a registered lease of immovable property remains 30 years.
When considering a purchase, we therefore work with the law that applies today, rather than with changes that may or may not be introduced in the future.
If the law changes, we will update this article as well.
What about buying through a Thai company?
This is an area where online advice should be treated with particular caution.
You can find plenty of material presenting the creation of a Thai company as a simple way for a foreigner to acquire land.
It is not a universal alternative to leasehold.
Thai restrictions on foreign land ownership cannot lawfully be bypassed by using Thai shareholders who act merely as nominees for a foreign owner. Thai authorities investigate structures involving so-called nominee shareholders, including in the real estate sector.
So the statement “the land is held by a Thai company” should not, by itself, be treated as an answer to whether the structure is secure.
Each situation needs to be assessed on the basis of the specific company, property and documentation.
What do we look at before assessing a leasehold?
There is no single checklist that automatically produces a “buy” or “do not buy” answer.
Before assessing a leasehold property, however, we first want to understand what actually sits behind that description.
Who owns the land? What term will be registered? What do the documents say? What happens if the property is sold? What obligations exist between the parties?
Only after that does it make sense to consider whether the price and the other terms compensate for the limitations of that form.
For us, that matters far more than the label printed on the first page of a sales brochure.
Frequently asked questions
Is freehold always better than leasehold?
Not always. Freehold provides ownership without a fixed end date and is stronger in that respect. But when assessing a particular purchase, the property as a whole, its price, intended use and transaction structure all matter.
Is leasehold safe?
Leasehold can be a valid and lawful way to hold rights to property. The security of a particular transaction cannot, however, be assessed from the word “leasehold” alone.
Does 30+30+30 mean I have the property for 90 years?
Not in the sense that a 90-year right is registered from the outset. The maximum lease term for immovable property currently registered at the Land Office is 30 years.
Can an apartment be leasehold?
Yes. The fact that a property is an apartment does not mean that it can be purchased as condominium freehold. Apartments can also be offered on a leasehold basis.
Can a villa be freehold?
With a villa, the rights relating to the building and the land need to be considered separately. The phrase “freehold villa” alone does not provide enough information about the purchase structure.
Could the rules on leasehold change?
Yes, changes have been considered. Until new legislation actually comes into force, however, a purchase decision should be based on the law in force at the time of the transaction.
Last updated: September 2026
This material is for general information only and does not constitute legal advice. The appropriate form for a particular purchase depends on the property, the documentation and the buyer’s circumstances.