The comparison people make, and the one that decides it
Asked to compare a condominium with a house, most writing reaches for space, garden, maintenance and neighbours. All real, all secondary. For a foreign buyer in Thailand the question underneath is a different one entirely: what can you actually hold, and in whose name.
A condominium unit sits under the Condominium Act B.E. 2522, which says in plain terms that an alien may hold ownership of a unit — subject to a limit measured across the whole building. A house sits on land, and land sits under the Land Code, which is a far more restrictive instrument. The house and the land under it are separable assets, and it is the land that is constrained.
Everything below comes from those two texts as the Department of Lands itself publishes them, read on 7 September 2026. That matters more than it sounds: this page could not be written for three earlier attempts because the usual sources for the Act refused, and what was reachable was law-firm commentary rather than the law.
The side-by-side
| A condominium unit | A house (building plus the land under it) | |
|---|---|---|
| Governing law | Condominium Act B.E. 2522, as amended by Acts No. 2 (B.E. 2534), No. 3 (B.E. 2542) and No. 4 (B.E. 2551) | The Land Code, for the land. The building is a separate question from the land it stands on |
| Can a foreigner hold ownership? | Yes. Section 19 states that aliens and juristic persons regarded by law as alien may hold ownership of a unit, in five listed categories | For the land: only under section 86, which conditions it on a treaty, or through the section 96 bis investment route with permission |
| Is there a cap? | Yes. Section 19 bis: aliens may hold no more than 49 per cent of the TOTAL FLOOR AREA of all units in that one condominium | There is no equivalent building-level quota, because the general position under the Land Code is different in kind |
| What is the cap measured against? | Floor area of all units - not the number of units. A large unit consumes more quota than a small one | Not applicable |
| The route most buyers use | Section 19(5): bringing foreign currency into Thailand, or drawing on a foreign currency or non-resident baht account, in an amount not less than the price of the unit | Section 96 bis: bringing capital into the Kingdom for investment, for land acquired for residential use, subject to permission |
| Evidence required | Section 19 ter (5): proof of the transfer in, or of the withdrawal from the qualifying account, of not less than the unit price | Not stated on this page - see the honest gap in section 05 |
| Investment amount, area cap, holding period | Not applicable | NOT STATED HERE. Not extractable from the Department of Lands' own text on 7 September 2026 |
| Registration fees and taxes | Department of Lands rates apply: transfer registration 2 per cent of the ASSESSED value, mortgage registration 1 per cent capped at THB 200,000, lease registration 1 per cent, specific business tax 3.3 per cent on the seller, stamp duty THB 1 per THB 200 | The same Department of Lands rates apply - the schedule is national and does not vary by property type |
| Where it is registered | The Land Office | The Land Office |
The Act and Land Code entries are from the Department of Lands’ own published copies, read 7 September 2026. The fee entries are from the department’s own public-service manual. Neither column is the winner — the right column is not worse, it is a different legal problem with a narrower set of answers.
The 49 per cent is not what most people think it is
This is the correction worth carrying away from the page.
Section 19 bis caps the alien share of a condominium at forty-nine per cent of the total floor area of all the units in it. Not forty-nine per cent of the units. The distinction is invisible until it costs you a purchase.
Two consequences follow directly. First, size consumes quota: a 200 sqm unit uses roughly four times the foreign allowance of a 50 sqm one, so a building can be well under half its units in foreign hands and be at its ceiling all the same. Second, the question to ask a condominium juristic person is not “how many foreign owners are there” but how much foreign-held area remains, as at a stated date. A unit count is not an answer to that question, and a seller quoting one is not necessarily being evasive — they may simply not know the rule.
The second thing worth knowing is that the figure is not original. The Act dates from B.E. 2522 — 1979 — but it has been amended three times since: No. 2 B.E. 2534 (1991), No. 3 B.E. 2542 (1999) and No. 4 B.E. 2551 (2008). Anything written against the 1979 text as enacted is not describing the law you would buy under today.
Work the arithmetic on a specific building: the foreign ownership quota calculator. The rule in more detail: Thailand’s condo foreign ownership quota.
Where the two are the same
More than the legal contrast above suggests, and this half is rarely written.
They are registered in the same place, at the Land Office, and they attract the same registration charges. The Department of Lands’ schedule is national and does not vary by property type: transfer registration at 2 per cent of the assessed value rather than the agreed price, mortgage or preferential-right registration at 1 per cent capped at THB 200,000, lease registration at 1 per cent, specific business tax at 3.3 per cent falling on the seller, and stamp duty at THB 1 per THB 200 or part of it. Withholding income tax is a formula on the appraised value that varies with how the property was acquired and how long it was held, which is why we describe it as a formula rather than reduce it to a rate.
They are also the same in that the money question is settled at the same moment — when the transfer is registered — and in that the assessed value, not your negotiated price, is what several of those charges are calculated on.
And they are the same in a way that catches people out: due diligence is not lighter on a condominium. A unit comes with a juristic person, a sinking fund, common-area rules and a debt-free certificate at transfer, and none of that is simpler than checking a title over a plot of land.
The transfer arithmetic in full: condo transfer costs and taxes. Before you sign: the condo due-diligence checklist, the debt-free certificate and what the juristic person actually is.
What we could not confirm, and are not going to invent
The section 96 bis conditions. This is the largest gap on the page and it is the one most likely to be filled in wrongly elsewhere. The route exists in the Land Code: an alien bringing capital into the Kingdom for investment may acquire land for residential use, subject to permission and to the investment promotion and town planning rules. The investment amount, the maximum area, the minimum holding period and the locality restriction usually quoted alongside it were not extractable from the Department of Lands’ own text on 7 September 2026, and its citizen-guide page for the Bangkok case exposes only a download we could not open. Numbers for those conditions circulate widely; we are not repeating them from a source that is not the department. Confirm them with a Thai lawyer or the Land Office.
Anything about company structures. Whether a particular arrangement for holding land through a Thai company is lawful on your facts is a question for a Thai lawyer, and it is not one this page answers in either direction.
Prices, yields and running costs. No comparison of what a condo or a house costs to buy or to keep appears here, because no official source publishes one and a scraped figure would age in weeks.
Where official Thai price data does and does not exist: renting vs buying, city by city.
Who each suits
No winner. The honest job is to say which situation each answers.
| A condominium unit suits you if | A house suits you if |
|---|---|
| You want ownership registered in your own name, and you qualify under one of the five categories in section 19 | You want space, a garden or a plot, and you are willing to solve the land question separately from the building |
| You are bringing the purchase money in from abroad and can evidence it under section 19 ter | You have a Thai spouse or a long-term structure already advised on by a Thai lawyer |
| You want the constraint to be a known, checkable number rather than a legal argument | You are taking a lease over land rather than seeking ownership of it, with eyes open about term |
| You are buying in a city where most stock is condominium stock anyway | You are buying somewhere the condominium stock is thin or does not exist |
| You would rather deal with a juristic person and a sinking fund than with land title questions | You accept that the ownership route is narrower and you have taken advice on which route applies to you |
The alternative to owning the land: leasehold vs freehold and foreign ownership structures for Thai land. The overview: what foreigners can own in Thailand. Getting the money here correctly: foreign exchange transfer evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Yes, within a limit set at the level of the building. Section 19 of the Condominium Act B.E. 2522 states that aliens and juristic persons regarded by law as alien may hold ownership of a condominium unit, and lists five ways of qualifying. Section 19 bis then caps the aggregate: aliens may hold no more than forty-nine per cent of the total floor area of all units in that one condominium. We read both sections in the Department of Lands' own published copy of the Act on 7 September 2026.
Floor area, and this trips people up constantly. Section 19 bis measures the alien share against the total floor area of all the units in the condominium, not against the count of units. So a large penthouse consumes far more of the foreign quota than a studio does, and a building can be nowhere near forty-nine per cent of its units and still be at its limit. If you are buying a big unit late in a building's life, ask the juristic person for the current area position rather than a unit count.
Section 19 lists five categories, and one of them is the route almost every buyer uses: bringing foreign currency into Thailand, or drawing on a foreign currency account or a non-resident baht account, in an amount not less than the price of the unit. Section 19 ter makes the evidence of that transfer part of what is presented. The other four categories are residence under immigration law, entry under investment promotion law, a Thailand-registered juristic person that counts as alien under Land Code sections 97 and 98, and a foreign juristic person holding an investment promotion certificate.
Not on the same footing as a condominium unit, and the two halves separate. Land is governed by the Land Code, whose section 86 makes an alien's acquisition of land conditional on a treaty. Section 96 bis provides a further route for an alien bringing capital into the Kingdom for investment to acquire land for residential use, subject to permission and to the investment promotion and town planning rules. We are not printing the investment amount, the area cap or the holding period usually quoted for that route, because they were not extractable from the Department of Lands' own text on 7 September 2026 - and those are exactly the numbers people get wrong. Ask a Thai lawyer, or the Land Office, for the current conditions.
No. The Condominium Act B.E. 2522 dates from 1979, but the version in force is the amended one - Act No. 2 B.E. 2534 in 1991, No. 3 B.E. 2542 in 1999 and No. 4 B.E. 2551 in 2008. The foreign ownership provisions read the way they do today because of those amendments, not because of the 1979 text as enacted. It matters when you read older material: an article written against the original Act is not describing the law you are buying under.
That is not a question about condos and houses, which is why this page does not answer it as one. It is a question about what kind of ownership you can actually hold and for how long you want to hold it. A condominium unit within the quota is ownership in your own name. A house is really two assets - the building and the land - and the land is the constrained one. Decide the ownership question first and the property type usually follows from it.
Once the ownership question is settled, the property question is easy.
Decide which route applies to you, then look at what is actually available under it.
General information only, not legal or tax advice. BAANLYY LLC is a Nevada company and a listing portal: it does not own, lease, manage or control any property listed on this site, is not a party to any lease or sale, and is not a law firm. The Condominium Act and the Land Code are amended from time to time and their application turns on your particular facts; confirm anything you intend to act on with a Thai lawyer and with the Land Office. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.
Sources
- Condominium Act B.E. 2522 and related ministerial regulations, as published by the Department of Lands ↗Department of Lands, Ministry of Interior · Accessed 7 September 2026
- The Land Code (English) - compiled by the Land Titling Project Office, Department of Lands ↗Department of Lands, Ministry of Interior · Accessed 7 September 2026
- ค่าธรรมเนียม ภาษี และอากร (Fees, taxes and duties on land registration) — Department of Lands ↗Department of Lands, Ministry of Interior · Accessed 7 September 2026
Official primary sources are listed above with the date we last checked them. Thai rules, fees, thresholds and procedures change and can be applied differently by individual offices and embassies — confirm the current requirement with the responsible authority before relying on it. General information only, not legal, tax or medical advice. BAANLYY never takes paid placement in editorial content.