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Ocean Villas

Yes, within limits that depend on what you are buying. A qualifying foreign buyer can own a condominium unit outright, freehold, in their own name, as long as the building stays within its 49 per cent foreign quota. Land is different: as a general rule foreigners cannot own it, so a villa is usually held on a lease of the land registered at the Land Office, often combined with separate ownership of the house itself or a registered right to build on the land.

Which of those applies is a property-by-property question, and not every villa lease gives you ownership of the building. We tell you which structure a property uses, in writing, before you view it.

Three things sit on top of the price. Transfer fees and taxes, which are calculated and collected at the Land Office under Thai law and depend on the property, the registered value and how long the seller has owned it — who pays which share is negotiable and is written into the contract. Your own lawyer's fee for checking the title and the ownership structure. And the cost of holding the property afterwards: common area and management fees, electricity and water, insurance, and the void periods you should expect if you intend to let it.

We do not publish an island-wide percentage, because the only figure worth having is the one for the property you are actually buying.

Freehold means owning the property outright in your own name. For a foreign buyer in Thailand that is normally available on a condominium unit, inside the building's foreign quota, and not on land.

Leasehold means the land is leased to you and the lease is registered at the Land Office. A registered residential lease runs for a maximum of 30 years. You can sign a new lease when that term ends, but treat a pre-agreed 30+30+30 as void rather than as a secured 90-year right: in 2023 the Supreme Court held that an arrangement designed in advance to create a 90-year lease was void because it got around the 30-year limit. We show you the renewal wording exactly as written, and we recommend your own Thai lawyer reads it before you commit.

For a completed property with clean paperwork, the shape is a reservation and deposit, then due diligence by your lawyer on the title deed and anything registered against it, then the contract, then transfer at the Land Office. What usually sets the pace is not the paperwork but the money: for a foreign-freehold condominium the funds have to arrive in Thailand in foreign currency with the bank's evidence of the inward transfer, because the Land Office needs it to register the unit in your name.

Off-plan runs on a different clock. You pay in stages against construction and completion follows the developer's schedule, which is why we check that schedule, the developer's finished projects and whether deposits sit in escrow before you pay anything. Ask us about a specific property and we will give you its realistic timetable rather than a general one.