90-Year Lease in Thailand: Myth vs Reality

Reviewed by Wichuda Atthamethakon, LL.M., Thai Bar Licence 3149/2556, for ThaiLawOnline, a Thai law firm acting for foreigners since 2006.

TL;DR. Under the Civil and Commercial Code the longest lease of land or a house is thirty years (a separate 1999 Act allows up to fifty years, but only for commerce or industry). A “30 + 30 + 30” package does not give you a 90-year lease in Thailand. A promise to renew is not void in itself, but it is only a promise, outside the registered lease, and the Supreme Court held one void where two further thirty-year terms on the original rent, paid for at the outset, were plainly meant to get around the limit (decision 4655/2566). If you want long-term security, you need a strong thirty-year lease today. You need useful tools. These include a Thailand superficies, a usufruct agreement in Thailand, and a good succession clause. Be ready to negotiate new terms when it is time to renew.

THE 30 + 30 + 30 SALES PITCH

Resort-area agents often promise foreigners a guaranteed 90-year lease. You register thirty years now and sign two further leases “in escrow.” The idea sounds perfect: three decades of effortless living three times in a row. It feels safer than nominee company ownership, and the marketing material claims it is legal.

THE LEGAL CEILING: THIRTY YEARS ONLY

Section 540 of the Civil Code of Thailand says that a hire of immovable property cannot exceed thirty years, and that a longer term is cut down to thirty. The same section allows the term to be renewed once it has run out, but the renewed term cannot itself exceed thirty years counted from the date of renewal. Read it carefully, because the limit is on each term. The section does not cap how many times a lease may be renewed, and a renewal runs only from the end of the current term: each new term has to be registered as a lease of its own, of up to thirty years from that date. A promise made at the start to renew later is a separate undertaking. It can be enforced: in Supreme Court Decision 4872/2539 the landlord’s heir was held bound by the lease’s promise to renew every three years, because the tenant accepted it without knowing of the landlord’s death (section 169 paragraph two; the Court held that section 360 did not apply). A later transferee of the land is not bound unless it agreed to take the promise on (6763/2541, where the owner had given the land to her daughter). What the Court will not allow is a promise used to evade section 540. In decision 4655/2566 the Supreme Court struck down the standard workaround. A landowner had granted a thirty-year lease and, on the same day, promised two further thirty-year terms on the same rent and conditions. The Court found that the tenant had paid the rent for all ninety years at the outset: 1,500,000 baht for the first thirty and 600,000 baht for each further term, 2,700,000 baht in all. The Court held that the parties plainly intended to evade section 540, so the renewal part of the bargain was void. It then refused the tenant the fallback argument that the promise should at least bind the landlord personally, because if that worked section 540 would have no force at all. The tenant was evicted, its counterclaim to have a further thirty years registered was dismissed, and it was ordered to pay the landowner 30,000 baht a month in damages from the date of the suit until it left. The judgment orders nothing repaid for the void terms, because no refund was claimed; the Court counted the money already paid when it fixed the damages. The case came from Phuket, on a lease registered in 1990.

THE 99-YEAR LEASE AND THE 75 PERCENT CONDOMINIUM QUOTA

Two separate measures are quoted to foreign buyers as though they were already law: raising the maximum lease term to 99 years, and raising the foreign ownership quota in a condominium building from 49 percent to 75 percent. Neither has become law. Section 540 still reads as set out above, and the thirty-year ceiling is what a Thai court applies to a lease signed today. Status checked on 22 August 2026.

So treat a 99-year offer exactly as you would treat a 90-year one: thirty years of enforceable right, followed by a hope. If a change is ever enacted it will not retroactively validate a structure a court has already struck down. Our page on the Thailand condominium foreign ownership quota tracks both proposals and records the stage each one has actually reached.

HIDDEN RISKS BEHIND THE 90-YEAR LEASE IN THAILAND MYTH

When the first thirty-year term expires the landowner, or whoever inherits the land, can simply refuse to renew. If the owner dies or sells, you lose leverage in the leasehold agreement. Without a succession clause, your lease can even end on your own death, leaving heirs with nothing in the case of a lease contract. Buyers who believe the 90-year promise often skip due diligence, forget to add protective rights and end up exposed.

SAFER LONG-TERM ALTERNATIVES

A registered superficies allows you to own the villa or house while leasing the land. This means that even if the lease ends, you still control the building. A usufruct grants possession and use for the holder’s life or for a fixed term of up to thirty years (sections 1418 and 1403), and it always ends when the holder dies, which suits a retiree who wants security for life. Including a succession clause and writing bilingual Thai wills helps heirs inherit any remaining time on your lease easily.

TYPICAL COSTS AND REGISTRATION FEES

Government lease registration runs at 1.1 percent of declared rent for leasehold agreements. Drafting and translating a bilingual lease usually costs twenty-to-thirty thousand baht. A professional title search and due-diligence package for immovable property ranges from ten-to-twenty-five thousand. Compared with property values, these fees are modest insurance.

COMPANY OWNERSHIP VS. LEASE

Some advisers encourage Thai companies to pursue land ownership. However, nominee crack-downs and yearly compliance costs can often be more than the benefits. A thirty-year lease agreement can be beneficial. It may include superficies rights. This type of lease is often easier, cheaper, and better for a home.

FAQS about 90-Year Lease in Thailand

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Last reviewed: 15 September 2026. Sections 538, 540, 541 and 564 of the Civil and Commercial Code were read in Thai and English from this site’s own statute library: section 540 for the thirty-year ceiling, for the reduction of any longer term to thirty, and for renewal not exceeding thirty years from the time of renewal; section 538 for the rule that a hire of more than three years is enforceable only for three years unless made in writing and registered; and section 564 for a lease ending at the close of its term without notice. Not verified in this review: the Supreme Court decisions cited above, the practical land office steps, and the commentary on structures marketed as ninety-year leases. Re-checked on 5 October 2026: Supreme Court decision 4655/2566 read in Thai to the disposition (Phuket lease of 1990; rent for all ninety years, 2,700,000 baht, found paid at the outset; same-day promise of two further thirty-year terms void as evading section 540, not enforceable as a personal undertaking; eviction affirmed, counterclaim dismissed, damages set at 30,000 baht a month), sections 1403 and 1418 and the Commercial and Industrial Property Lease Act B.E. 2542 (sections 3 and 4) read in Thai; the case facts, the FAQ answers that called a lease over thirty years void, and the usufruct line were corrected and the fifty-year commercial exception added. Still unverified: the land office steps, the fee figures and the status of the 99-year and 75 percent proposals after 22 August 2026. Re-checked on 10 October 2026: Supreme Court Decision 4655/2566 read in Thai to its disposition (Phuket Provincial Court; Court of Appeal Region 8 damages of 50,000 baht a month reduced to 30,000), which matches the account on this page; Decision 4872/2539 read as well, because this page had said that any renewal agreed in advance is void, which is wider than 4655/2566 and contrary to 4872/2539; the three passages that said so are corrected.