Section 733: Mortgagee's right limited to the mortgaged property
Statutory text (Thai original)
ถ้าเอาทรัพย์จำนองหลุดและราคาทรัพย์สินนั้นมีประมาณต่ำกว่าจำนวนเงินที่ค้างชำระกันอยู่ก็ดี หรือถ้าเอาทรัพย์สินซึ่งจำนองออกขายทอดตลาดใช้หนี้ ได้เงินจำนวนสุทธิน้อยกว่าจำนวนเงินที่ค้างชำระกันอยู่นั้นก็ดี เงินยังขาดจำนวนอยู่เท่าใดลูกหนี้ไม่ต้องรับผิดในเงินนั้น
Verbatim from the Royal Gazette / Office of the Council of State
English translation
If the mortgaged property is foreclosed and its value is less than the amount outstanding, or if the mortgaged property is sold by public auction in satisfaction of the debt and the net proceeds are less than the amount outstanding, the debtor is not liable for the shortfall.
ThaiLawOnline translation, written from the Thai original and verified
Firm annotation
Section 733 is a major borrower protection, the consumer mortgage default in Thailand limits the lender's recovery to the property itself, even if the property sale proceeds don't cover the debt. The lender's contract must contain an express provision waiving this protection to reach other assets, and even then post-2014 reforms restrict overreaching. The provision drives a structural feature of Thai mortgage practice: lenders typically require both a mortgage AND a separate personal guarantee (§680) to maximize recovery options.
Why this matters in practice
Lawyers: Section 733 is a significant debtor-protection rule. Where a creditor has obtained a judgment for the underlying debt and also holds a mortgage, a foreclosure auction that yields less than the judgment debt does not give the creditor the right to pursue the debtor's other assets for the difference: unless the parties have expressly contracted otherwise. This rule applies also where a third party (not the debtor) mortgaged their own property to secure someone else's debt. Laypeople: If the bank sells your mortgaged property and the proceeds do not cover the full loan, the bank generally cannot come after your other assets for the remainder: your liability ends with the sale of the mortgaged property.
Legislative history
Enacted with the Code and later amended by the Act Amending the Civil and Commercial Code B.E. 2478, an amending Act from before the numbered series began. The text on this page is the amended one.
Supreme Court decisions interpreting this section
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 15363/2557 (2014) ★ Landmark
After foreclosure of the mortgaged property, the debtor bears no personal liability for any shortfall between the debt and the net proceeds of the foreclosure sale.
Where the mortgage debt is less than the principal debt, and the mortgaged property is foreclosed at a value or auction price lower than the debt outstanding, Section 733 provides that the debtor is not liable for the shortfall: even if the mortgage covered only part of the principal debt.
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Supreme Court Judgment No. 8851/2551 (2008)
Section 733 is not confined to a debtor who mortgages his own property: it contains no such restriction and applies equally where one person mortgages his property to secure a debt owed by another. Where neither the loan nor the mortgage contract contained a term making the debtor liable for any shortfall, and the judgment ordered execution only against the mortgaged property, the creditor cannot go on to execute against the debtor other assets once the mortgaged property has been sold for less than the debt.
The plaintiff co-operative sued the borrower and the third party who had mortgaged her own land to secure his loan. The judgment ordered payment and, in default, sale of the mortgaged land, without providing for execution against any other asset. When the auction realised less than the judgment debt the plaintiff asked the execution officer to seize the borrower other property; the officer refused and the first court dismissed two applications. On a leapfrog appeal under Civil Procedure Code section 223 bis the Supreme Court held that section 733 contains no restriction confining it to a debtor who mortgages his own property, so it covers a third-party mortgage; and since neither the loan nor the mortgage contract excluded the shortfall protection, and the judgment ordered execution only against the mortgaged land, the plaintiff could not execute further against the borrower - whatever court fee it had paid on filing.
Curated decisions with case numbers verified against the Supreme Court database. English renderings are the firm's editorial translation for study.
Cited in 29 Supreme Court decisions (1963 to 2024)
Selected citing decisions
- Decision 2451/2567 (2024)
- Decision 6612/2559 (2016)
- Decision 3803/2558 (2015)
- Decision 15363/2557 (2014)
- Decision 14806/2556 (2013)
- Decision 8851/2551 (2008)
- Decision 1580/2551 (2008)
- Decision 8260/2550 (2007)
This list is selected automatically, weighted towards judgments that turn on this section rather than ones that merely recite it when passing sentence. It has not yet been reviewed by the firm.
Most often cited alongside
Sections that appear in the same judgments as this one most often. The figure is the number of decisions.
Counted across the firm's corpus of 83,652 Supreme Court decisions, 1921 to 2026. The count is complete; the stated year range trims rare outliers so it describes where the citations actually sit. These figures are computed by us and are not official court statistics. How we count these, and what we measured
Frequently asked questions
After the bank auctions my mortgaged home and the money is not enough to cover the loan, can it sue me for the rest?
As a starting point no. Section 733 provides that where the mortgaged property is foreclosed, or sold by auction for a net sum less than the debt, the debtor is not liable for the shortfall, so the bank cannot pursue your other assets for the difference. But Section 733 is not a rule of public order and it can be excluded by agreement. Most Thai bank loan and mortgage documents contain an express term making the borrower liable for any shortfall, and where such a term exists the bank may enforce against your other assets. Read the loan agreement and the mortgage agreement before relying on Section 733. The position is different for someone who mortgages his own property to secure a debt owed by another person: under Section 727/1 that mortgagor is not liable beyond the value of the mortgaged property at the time of enforcement, and any agreement making him liable beyond that, or liable as a surety, is void whether it sits in the mortgage contract or in a separate document. A separate personal loan that is not secured by the mortgage is unaffected and remains enforceable in the ordinary way.
Related guides on ThaiLawOnline
Cite this section
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Plain citation
Civil and Commercial Code, s. 733 (Thailand) -
Academic citation
Civil and Commercial Code (Thailand), s. 733. ThaiLawOnline, https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-733/ (accessed 28 August 2026). -
Thai citation
ป.พ.พ. มาตรา 733 -
Permalink
https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-733/ -
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<blockquote cite="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-733/"><p>If the mortgaged property is foreclosed and its value is less than the amount outstanding, or if the mortgaged property is sold by public auction in satisfaction of the debt and the net proceeds are less than the amount outstanding, the debtor is not liable…</p><footer>Civil and Commercial Code, s. 733 (Thailand): <a href="https://www.thailawonline.com/thai-civil-code/section-733/">ThaiLawOnline</a></footer></blockquote>
The Thai text is authoritative. The English is an unofficial translation by ThaiLawOnline, free to reuse with attribution.