Can a foreigner buy a villa in Phuket?

Yes — the house, in your own name. Not the land under it. Thai law bars foreigners from owning land outright, so anyone promising you "freehold land" is either confused or selling you a problem. Here's how ownership actually works in 2026, and how we structure it so you're protected past the first thirty years.

The one rule everything follows

Foreigners cannot own land in Thailand — Land Code, Section 86. No visa, company trick, or lease dressed up as ownership changes that. Understand the structure before you sign, not after.

How we structure it at Intira

Three parts, in plain terms:

1. The house — freehold, in your name. You own the villa structure outright, registered to you. That part is genuinely yours, not leased.

2. The land — a registered 30-year lease. The land under your house is leased to you and registered at the Land Office, which makes it a real, enforceable right for its full term — not a private handshake. Thirty years is the maximum term Thai law lets us register, so that's what we register.

3. The protection past year 30 — an extension undertaking, backed by a buy-back. Here's where most developers wave their hands and we don't. We commit to extend your lease at the end of the term — or, if Thai law by then allows a longer one, to move you onto it (at cost). But a promise to renew is only as good as the law behind it, and in 2025 Thailand's Supreme Court ruled that pre-agreed "renew forever" clauses are void beyond the first thirty years. So we don't rely on one.

Instead, your contract carries a binding obligation on us: if we do not extend your lease, we buy your house back — at its independent market valuation at that time. Not the price you paid decades earlier; its assessed worth then. That isn't a renewal right the court can strike down — it's a repurchase obligation, reviewed by our lawyers as enforceable under current law. You either keep the home, or you're made whole for it.

Why that structure, and not a company?

You'll read everywhere that foreigners "just set up a Thai company" to hold the land. For years it was the standard advice. It's now the fastest way to lose the property.

Thailand is running a hard, cross-agency crackdown on nominee companies — Thai shareholders who hold shares in name only for a foreign buyer. Penalties reach forced sale. We don't use nominee structures, and if anyone offers you one, walk. The whole point of our model is that you own what you can legally own — the house — and hold the land on an instrument that's registered, real, and backstopped.

The "99-year lease" you may have heard about

Proposed in 2024, fast-tracked in headlines through 2025 — and then shelved. The current government confirmed it will not pursue the 99-year plan, and as of mid-2026 nothing has passed Parliament. Treat any "coming 99-year lease" pitch as noise until it appears in the Royal Gazette. Our extension undertaking is written to use a longer term if one ever becomes law, but your security doesn't depend on that ever happening.

What it costs

Registering the land lease at the Land Office runs about 1.1% of the lease value (a 1% fee plus 0.1% stamp duty). Purchase funds come in from abroad and are recorded properly. Most foreign purchases here are cash — Thai banks rarely lend to non-residents.

Before you sign — verify

• The land title (a Chanote is the gold standard) and that the lessor holds clean title.
• That your lease is registered at the Land Office, not just signed.
• That the house is registered to you.
• That the extension undertaking and buy-back obligation are written into the contract, with the valuation method spelled out.

This is general information, not legal or financial advice. Have your own independent Thai property lawyer review the title, the lease, and the buy-back clause before you commit funds. Current as of July 2026 — Thai property law is moving, and we track it weekly on our Phuket news page.

Ready to look at real villas?

We've built and sold pool villas in Rawai since 2010, and we'll walk you through the structure line by line — no pressure, no jargon. See villas for sale or contact us.