Freehold, Leasehold and Company-Held Property on Koh Lanta
This is general information, not legal advice. Thai property law has real consequences for how a purchase is structured, and those consequences change with each person’s circumstances — nationality, how the property will be used, whether a company is involved. Nothing here replaces independent advice from a qualified Thai legal professional before you sign anything, and any tenure claim on this site is only ever a starting point for that conversation, never a substitute for it.
With that said — here’s what the terms actually mean, and why Koh Lanta specifically makes this worth understanding before you start looking at properties for sale.
Freehold
Freehold (chanote) is outright ownership of land and whatever’s built on it, for as long as the owner wants to hold it. It’s the strongest form of title Thai law recognises. The complication for a foreign buyer isn’t the title itself — it’s that Thai law generally doesn’t let a foreign individual hold freehold title to land. A foreigner can freehold a condominium unit (subject to the building’s foreign-ownership quota), but land, and a house on land, is a different question — which is why the two structures below exist at all.
Leasehold
A leasehold is a long-term right to use land and any building on it, registered against the title, without owning the land itself. Registered leases in Thailand commonly run up to 30 years, sometimes with a renewal option written into the contract — though a renewal option is a contractual promise between the parties, not a guarantee enforceable against a future owner of the land in the same way the original lease is. This is the single most important thing to have a lawyer actually check: what the contract says about renewal, and how much that’s actually worth.
For a foreigner buying a house on Koh Lanta rather than a condo unit, leasehold is usually the structure in play. It’s a completely normal, common way to hold property here — not a compromise or a red flag — but the length of the term and the strength of any renewal clause are exactly the kind of thing this site’s own verification badges are careful never to imply we’ve confirmed. A “verified owner” badge means the ownership documents have been professionally reviewed and the person listing the property is entitled to let or sell it — it is not a statement about lease terms, and it should never be read as one.
Company-held
The third structure is a Thai limited company, majority Thai-owned, that holds the freehold title, with the foreign buyer as a minority shareholder and often a director. Done properly, with real Thai shareholders and an actual business purpose, this is a legitimate structure. Done as a paper exercise purely to work around the foreign land-ownership rule — nominee shareholders with no real stake — it sits in genuinely contested legal territory, and enforcement of nominee arrangements has tightened over the years. This is the structure that most needs a lawyer before, not after.
Why this matters more on Koh Lanta specifically
A lot of villa and house stock on the island sits on leasehold or company-held land rather than titled freehold house-and-land — simply because most of the housing stock foreigners are interested in is houses and land, not condominiums, and freehold land ownership is closed to foreign individuals. That’s not unique to Lanta, but the mix of structures you’ll actually encounter while browsing what’s for sale here skews more toward leasehold and company-held than in, say, a beachfront condo market elsewhere in Thailand. Knowing the difference before you start looking saves you from falling for a listing on the strength of the property alone and only asking about tenure once you’re already attached to it.
What to actually do about it
- Ask the listing’s tenure structure early, not after you’ve decided you want the place — every listing states it, and it’s exactly the kind of legally significant detail staff, not the property’s owner, are responsible for keeping accurate.
- Get an independent Thai lawyer — one you engaged, not one the seller recommended — to review the actual title documents and the lease or company structure before you commit to anything.
- Ask specifically about renewal terms on any leasehold, and about who the other shareholders and directors actually are on any company structure.
None of that is legal advice either — it’s the short list of questions a lawyer will actually need to answer for your situation. For where tenure fits into the wider purchase — the offer, due diligence, and the transfer itself — see how buying property on Koh Lanta actually works. Or browse what’s currently for sale, or read about what “verified” means on a listing before you start.