Land Ownership by Foreigners
Under the Land Code, foreigners can hold ownership of land in Thailand under the following conditions:
- By rights stipulated under a Treaty (at present, there exists no such treaty); or
- The foreigner has obtained permission from the Minister of the Ministry of Interior (which is hardly granted).
Apart from the Land Code, foreigners may be entitled to hold ownership of land under some specific laws, such as the Investment Promotion Act and the Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand Act; though the regulations to apply are very strict and can also contain many conditions and limitations.
As a foreigners’ right to hold ownership of land in Thailand is very strictly limited; therefore, in most cases the foreigners will have a Thai citizen hold the land on behalf of them as a “nominee”. However, please note that, any person acquiring land on behalf of a foreigner shall be subject to a fine not exceeding 20,000.- Baht or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or both.