Buying property in Thailand
What a foreigner can and cannot own on Koh Lanta, what a 30-year lease is really worth, and what it costs to get to the keys. Written by people who live here, not by a law firm's marketing department.
The 60-second version
If you read nothing else on this site, read this. Everything in the guides below is an expansion of these six lines.
- Can a foreigner own land?
- No. Never, in their own name.
- There is no visa, no company and no marriage that changes this. Anyone telling you otherwise is selling you a structure that fails when it is tested.
- Can a foreigner own a house?
- Yes. Outright, forever.
- The building and the land are two separate assets under Thai law. You can own the one standing on land you do not own.
- So how do you hold the land?
- A registered 30-year lease.
- Backed by a superficies, which is the registered right to own your building on someone else's land. Both are registered at the Land Office.
- What about the famous 30+30+30?
- Only the first 30 years are enforceable.
- A March 2025 Supreme Court ruling voided pre-signed renewals beyond the first term. Price a lease as a 30-year holding, not a 90-year one.
- What about a condo?
- Freehold, inside the 49% quota.
- The one asset a foreigner can hold outright in their own name, land included. There are no condo buildings on Koh Lanta.
- What does it cost to transfer?
- Roughly 2% to 6% of the price.
- Transfer fee, business tax or stamp duty, withholding tax. Who pays what is negotiable and is usually split.
Last updated July 2026
The guides
5 chaptersFreehold vs leasehold
You cannot own the land. You can own the house standing on it, outright and forever, and hold the land beneath on a registered 30-year lease. This is how that works, what it costs, and what happens in year 30.
Read the guideHow foreigners can own property
Three routes that work, one that is illegal and is sold anyway, and what buying through a Thai spouse actually signs away.
Read the guideTitle deeds and due diligence
Thailand grades land by the garuda stamped on its deed. Here is what each colour means, and what your lawyer is actually looking for on the back of the document.
Read the guideCosts, taxes and financing
Budget 2% to 6% on top of the price, know who pays which tax before you sign, and bring the money in as foreign currency. That last one only matters when you sell, which is when it is too late to fix.
Read the guideThe buying process
Six to ten weeks from the first viewing to the keys. The transfer itself takes a morning; everything that decides whether it is a good morning happened before it.
Read the guide
The questions everyone asks
Ready to look at what is actually for sale?
Every listing on Lanta.Homes states its tenure, its deed class and what a foreign buyer can and cannot hold, on the listing itself.