Buying, selling, renting, mortgages, law and tax, written so you can decide when you finish reading
A tenant behind on monthly rent cannot be evicted on the spot. Section 560 of the Civil and Commercial Code requires written notice giving at least 15 days to pay. Changing the locks, cutting utilities or holding the tenant's belongings is criminal trespass under Section 362, punishable by up to a year in prison or a 20,000 baht fine.
The devices that pay back in a let property are the digital lock, the leak sensor and energy measurement. Cutting power or water or locking a tenant out remotely is not allowed: the 2025 Contract Committee Announcement caps utility charges at the authority's actual rate, and terminating a lease needs at least seven days' written notice.
MEA and PEA are registering rooftop solar installers and equipment from 1 August to 30 September 2026, with documents checked to 30 October and approved names published from 15 October 2026. The government said on 5 August that a measure to support installation costs is being prepared, targeting 500,000 households in its first phase.
The standard residential fire policy covers four natural perils, windstorm, flood, earthquake and hail, up to a combined THB 20,000 per year, which is a sub-limit rather than the sum insured. Meaningful cover has to be bought as an extension, and in a condominium the split between common property and the unit has to be clear.
A sale with right of redemption transfers ownership to the buyer on the day of registration, leaving only the right to redeem. The 2019 protection Act sets the redemption period at one to ten years, caps the redemption sum at 15% a year as interest, and lets the seller stay in the property without paying consideration.
Land so surrounded that it has no way out to a public road may pass over the surrounding land under Section 1349 of the Civil and Commercial Code, on the least damaging reasonable alignment, and compensation is the rule. Where a subdivision or partial transfer created the problem, Section 1350 gives the way without compensation.
Arrears of three months or more on estate maintenance charges can cost you the use of the shared facilities, and at six months the official may suspend registration of rights over that plot until the debt is paid, under Section 50 of the Land Subdivision Act B.E. 2543. The debt is a preferential claim over the plot.
Construction or alteration needs a permit, or a notification under Section 39 bis, under Section 21 of the Building Control Act B.E. 2522. Ministerial Regulation No. 11 B.E. 2528 exempts five cases, including a floor or roof changed by not more than 5 sqm combined without touching columns or beams. Breach carries up to THB 10,000 a day.
A gift to a child and an inheritance both carry a registration fee of 0.5% of appraised value against the ordinary 2%. A gift to a legitimate child carries no income tax for the giver and is exempt for the child up to THB 20 million a tax year, while inheritance tax begins only above THB 100 million.
Four checks are free and self-service before a deposit: the appraised value at assessprice.treasury.go.th, the parcel position and shape at the Land Department LandsMaps service, the zoning through Bangkok city planning or the Department of Public Works, and expropriation decrees in the Royal Gazette. Mortgages and injunctions still require a certified copy of the deed at the land office.
A sale within five years attracts specific business tax of 3.3% unless the seller has been in the house registration for at least a year, while withholding tax rises with the holding period because the flat expense allowance falls from 92% to 50%. On a THB 3 million home sold in year three, that document is worth THB 84,000.
Arrears on condominium common fees attract a surcharge of up to 12% a year, rising to 20% once six months are outstanding, and at that point the co-owner may lose the use of common property and the vote at the general meeting. More decisively, no transfer registers without the debt-free certificate required by Section 29.
