July 14, 2021

Different ways of owning and using Thai property | Voyageur, CanCham Thailand’s tri-monthly magazine

Different ways of owning and using Thai property | Voyageur, CanCham Thailand’s tri-monthly magazine

The Usufruct  allows a person the lifetime right of use of land and property (the word usufruct is derived from a Greek and the right to take fruit from the land).


A Usufruct can be a useful tool between a Thai spouse and foreign national who is unable to own land. It can also help with succession as you may wish to leave a property a spouse, but you also need a space for a relative such as an ageing family member or perhaps a child from a previous marriage.

‘This new Act is a big step towards enabling property and land ownership rights for periods of up to 30 years. It is more straightforward as does not require or depend on the specific clauses of a written agreement but simply on the registration of the transfer of the rights. This removes the sometimes ludicrously onerous clauses in typical lease agreements such as returning the house or property in the same condition as it was 30 years previously or disallowing subletting, mortgaging or charging annual land fees or demands for paying specific utilities bills.

You can modify or have work done to the property and use your rights as security (e.g. for a mortgage) without the owner’s permission.

A rights holder under the new agreement (the worst part is that we don’t know how to describe it – a lot more than a tenant but not quite an owner) is also free to sublease the property (although of course other legislation might still apply such as The Condominium Act 2010).

A usufruct does not prevent the sale of a property but a registered usufruct would continue to provide the right to the ‘usufructory’ making a sale almost impossible (unless the property was sold to the usufructory). A Usufruct can be applied for and granted to a foreigner by the land officer if the Thai wife bought and declares her marriage to the officer at the time that the property was purchased. Approval is likely if both parties can confirm to the officer that the Thai national is not a nominee buyer for the foreign spouse.

A Right of Habitat (RoH) is similar to a usufruct except that can be for up to 30 years or a lifetime. Commercial activities on a property can be conducted with a usufruct and the land belonging to the property can also be developed but a RoH doesn’t allow for either commercial activities or the right to live on or develop the surrounding land – it is the right to live in the registered building.


A RoH is normally required if a Thai spouse purchased a property without declaring a marriage to the land department and thus hasn’t gone through the vetting process of ensuring that the Thai national isn’t a nominee. An advantage of a RoH is that it can be assigned to a person for a few years rather than for a lifetime such as is a relative who’s studying, or a maid that needs time to adjust and secure alternative accommodation should their employer die.

Both the usufruct and right of habitat can be cancelled on the explicit agreement of the assignee but otherwise, it isn’t easy to cancel, and the assignee can claim for compensation.

The Rights Over Leasehold Assets Act became legislation in October 2019 and is an alternative to the conventional immovable property lease under the Civil and Commercial Code.


The owner must effectively wave goodbye to their control of the property and expect to receive back only the bare asset even if all that remains is the land.

The rights over leasehold asset is automatically inheritable while the conventional Thai lease requires the inheritance of the lease to be written into the agreement otherwise the land and property will be returned back to the lessor (or their heirs) on death of the lessee.

It’s possible for the land or property owner to terminate the rights but only once the owner and the rights holder come to an agreeable financial settlement, having also ensured that there are no other parties, such as sub-tenants disadvantaged. 

The rights over the leasehold asset can’t be sold or transferred onward by the rightsholder and the lessee must ensure that no illegal dwellers settle on the land as in Thailand after 10 years squatters can claim their right to the ownership of the land that they possess.

The 2019 Act also simplifies and clarifies arrangements for commercial leases and in some respect supersedes the Lease of Immovable Property for Commercial and Industrial Purposes Act. Revisions to the Commercial and Industrial Leasehold Act have infringed upon the practicality of the conventional commercial lease and which, for example, prevents a property from being both residential and commercial. This is not the case with the 2019 Act, where split usage isn’t prohibited.



Please Note: While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained herein is correct, MBMG Group cannot be held responsible for any errors that may occur. The views of the contributors may not necessarily reflect the house view of MBMG Group. Views and opinions expressed herein may change with market conditions and should not be used in isolation.


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