A condominium is an apartment building in Thailand is a multi unit building registered under the Thailand Condominium Act in which each unit is owned separately by the people living in it, but also containing shared common areas. Condos in Thailand are regulated in the Condominium Acts and registered with the Thailand Land Department. Each condominium unit has a condominium unit title deed. This document states the owner of the unit, the exact size, voting right in the condominium juristic person’s meeting and if there are any third party rights registered against the unit such as a lease or mortgage. The unit title deed is an important document officially administrated at the local land office where the condominium is located.

Foreigners are under the Thailand condominium act allowed to own condominium apartment units (condos) freehold in Thailand. There is however one restriction which aims to limit foreign freehold ownership of condos in Thailand; not more than 49% of the total floor area of all units in a condominium building combined can be foreign owned. In case of 100 equal units 49 can be foreign owned, the other 51 must be owned by Thai nationals.

The units in a condominium project exceeding the 49% foreign freehold ownership quota may be sold under a registered leasehold to foreigners. There is no restriction for foreigners renting or leasing real estate in Thailand. The contract for hire, lease or rental exceeding 3 years must be registered in the foreigner’s name on the condo unit title deed.

The main requirement under the Condominium Act for the purchase of a freehold condo by a foreigner (non resident) in Thailand is that the full purchase price for the condominium unit (which may not be less that the appraised value) for the condo unit must have been remitted into Thailand in foreign currency (see current exchange rates Bank of Thailand). The handling bank in Thailand must transfer the amount of foreign currency into Thai baht and will issue a Foreign Exchange Transaction form for amount exceeding 20,000 USD or for lesser amounts a credit note and confirmation letter of the transferred amounts on request. Without proof of remittance of the full purchase price into Thailand in foreign currency the land department cannot register ownership in the foreigner’s name.