Service guide
What buying property in Thailand costs at the Land Office, the checks a lawyer runs before you pay, and how condo and land purchases differ for foreigners.
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Buying property in Thailand carries two kinds of cost: the official fees and taxes collected at the Land Office on transfer day, and the professional fee you pay a law firm to check the deal before your money moves. The official side is fixed by regulation and calculated on the appraised value or the sale price. The table below shows the full schedule; our guide to property transfer fees and taxes works through who typically ends up paying what.
The professional side varies by firm and by scope: a title search on a single condo unit is a different job from due diligence on a land plot with structures, a developer contract, and a lease back. Thai law does not require a lawyer to buy property. What a firm sells is the checking, drafting, and transfer-day representation described on this page, and firms price that work differently, which is where comparing firms pays off.
Official Land Office fees and transfer taxes
Rates from the Department of Lands schedule of fees, taxes and duties. Which side pays each item is set by the sale contract, not by law.
| Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Transfer registration fee (land, house, or condo unit) | 2% of the appraised value |
| Specific business tax (seller held the property as commerce) | 3.3% of the appraised value or sale price, whichever is higher |
| Stamp duty (charged only when specific business tax is not) | 0.5% (1 baht per 200 baht) |
| Withholding income tax, company seller | 1% of the sale price or appraised value, whichever is higher |
| Withholding income tax, individual seller | Progressive rates over the holding period, capped at 20% of the sale price |
| Mortgage registration (if you finance) | 1% of the loan, capped at 200,000 baht |
| Lease registration (leasehold purchases) | 1% of the total rent |
| Application fee | 5 baht for land, 20 baht for a condo unit |
Source: Department of Lands, schedule of registration fees, taxes and duties
Checked August 2026
Note: The 0.01% fee reduction does not apply to foreign buyers
You will see headlines about transfer and mortgage fees cut from 2% and 1% to 0.01%. The measure is real: the cabinet extended it to 30 June 2027 for homes and condos priced up to 7 million baht, per Thai PBS. It applies only to Thai nationals buying their own residence. A foreign buyer budgets the full rates in the table above.
The first legal question in any purchase is what you can actually hold. Foreigners cannot own land in Thailand as a general rule. The Department of Lands lists narrow exceptions: condominium units within a building's 49 percent foreign quota, residential land up to 1 rai tied to a prescribed investment under Section 96 bis of the Land Code, inheritance as a statutory heir, and land held under investment-promotion projects. Our guide to how foreigners can buy property walks through each route.
In practice most foreign buyers choose between a freehold condo and a house on leased or Thai-held land. A condo bought inside the quota is owned outright, and buying a condo is the cleanest legal path. A house usually means a registered lease over the land, a structure owned separately, or a Thai spouse or company holding the land, and each of those carries its own checks. The leasehold versus freehold guide covers what a lease does and does not give you.
Which structure fits depends on the property, your budget, and how long you plan to hold it. This is the point where a lawyer earns their fee: confirming the quota, the title, and the structure before you sign anything.
Condo versus house or land: the legal path
Ownership rules from the Department of Lands guidance on land and condominium ownership by foreigners.
| Freehold condo | House or land | |
|---|---|---|
| What a foreigner can own | The unit outright, inside the building's 49% foreign quota | Not the land itself, outside narrow exceptions; a registered lease or a Thai-held structure instead |
| Evidence the Land Office wants | Proof the purchase money came from abroad in foreign currency | Depends on the structure; Thai-spouse and company purchases face source-of-funds scrutiny |
| Registration cost at transfer | 2% transfer fee on the unit, minimum 20 baht | 2% transfer fee on any transfer; 1% of total rent to register a lease |
| The check that matters most | The building's current foreign-quota balance and unpaid common fees | Title history, encumbrances, access, and who really controls the land |
Source: Department of Lands, land and condominium information for foreigners
Checked August 2026
Warning: Nominee land structures and skipped checks are where purchases go wrong
Someone will eventually suggest holding land through Thai shareholders who front the ownership while you keep the money and control. The Department of Lands maintains standing measures against land held on behalf of foreigners, and registrars examine where Thai buyers' funds come from. A structure built to disguise foreign control can be unwound, and the money paid into it is what gets lost. The same is true of skipping checks to close faster: a missed mortgage, a seller who is not the registered owner, or a condo already past its foreign quota surfaces at the Land Office counter, after the deposit is gone. A lawyer can verify all of this before any money moves.
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A property purchase runs from reservation to transfer day, and the legal work tracks that arc: check before you commit, paper the deal properly, then register it. The steps below show where a lawyer fits; the guide to buying property in Thailand covers the buyer's side of the same journey in more depth.
Review before you reserve
Reservation agreements and deposits are commitments. A lawyer reads them before you sign, not after.
Due diligence on the title and the seller
Title deed history, encumbrances, mortgages, servitudes, access, building permits, and whether the seller is the registered owner. For a condo: the foreign-quota balance and unpaid common fees. The due diligence guide lists every check.
Contract review and negotiation
The sale and purchase agreement fixes the price, the payment schedule, who pays which transfer costs, and what happens if either side walks.
Arrange the funds correctly
For a foreign condo buyer, the purchase money is remitted from abroad in foreign currency so the bank paperwork satisfies the Land Office. Getting this wrong can block the registration.
Prepare the transfer file
Identity documents, the title deed, corporate or spousal consents, and a power of attorney if you will not attend in person.
Transfer day at the Land Office2 hours official standard
Both sides appear or are represented, fees and taxes are paid, and ownership is registered the same day for titled property that needs no proclamation.
After registration
Keep the deed, the receipts, and the remittance evidence. They matter again when you sell, and the seller-side taxes in the table above will then be yours.
The registration itself is fast. The official service manual for transfer registration lists a total processing time of 2 hours for a transfer that needs no public proclamation, which covers ordinary sales of titled land and condo units. Transfers that do require proclamation carry a 30-day proclamation period.
The calendar time sits in everything before that: the title search, resolving anything it turns up, negotiating the contract, and moving the money internationally with the right paperwork. How long that takes depends on the property and how quickly documents arrive, so treat any fixed promise with caution. The one part of the timetable the law fixes is transfer day itself.
Passport, and your visa or entry documents
The Land Office verifies the buyer's identity and status.
Evidence the funds came from abroad (condo purchases)
Bank confirmation of the foreign-currency remittance or withdrawal from a foreign-currency account, in the buyer's name, covering the price.
The signed sale and purchase agreement
With the agreed split of fees and taxes stated, so there is no argument at the counter.
Marriage or divorce documents, if they apply
Spousal consent rules reach property transactions, and a Thai spouse buying land will be asked about the source of funds.
A registered power of attorney, if you will not attend
Many foreign buyers complete transfer day through their lawyer using the Land Department's power of attorney form.
A cashier's cheque or payment arrangement for the balance
Payment usually completes at the Land Office, against the registration.
Not every purchase needs the same depth of legal work. A new unit from a large developer with a clean quota position is a lighter job than raw land with a handwritten title history. The pattern that repeats in disputes is spending on the property and saving on the checking: the fee for due diligence is small against a deposit that cannot be recovered.
A property lawyer can run the title search, verify the seller, structure the ownership legally, and stand in for you on transfer day. If a firm proposes a structure whose main feature is getting around the foreign ownership rules, treat that as the warning, not the service.
This page is general information, not legal advice. Fees, taxes and procedures change; for a specific purchase, speak with a qualified professional.
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