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
Part of the original Civil and Commercial Code codification; no major subsequent amendment.
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 applies whether the debtor or a third party mortgaged the property; the mortgagee's recovery is limited to the foreclosure proceeds in all cases.
Section 733 is not limited to cases where the debtor mortgaged their own property — it also applies where a third party mortgaged their own property to secure another person's debt. In both cases, the mortgagee's claim after foreclosure is limited to what the auction produces.
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?
Generally no, under Section 733. Once the bank forecloses the mortgage and the property is auctioned, any shortfall between the auction proceeds and the debt is extinguished — the bank cannot pursue your other assets for the difference. However, if you also have a separate personal loan obligation (not secured by the mortgage), that remains enforceable independently.
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 8 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.