Land, and the house standing on it, cannot be registered to a foreigner in Thailand. The workaround on offer is a Thai company: 51% of the shares go to Thai nationals, 49% stays with the foreign buyer, the company buys the property, and the foreigner becomes a director and runs it. The arrangement is sold as lawful, and in form the law does not prohibit it. What is unlawful is something else — Thai shareholders who exist only on paper. Since 2025 these structures have been investigated nationwide, owners and the professionals who set them up have been arrested, and properties have been ordered sold.
This article covers how a genuine company is told apart from a nominee one, the signs investigators look for, what an owner faces, and what to do if your property is already held this way. Every form of ownership open to a foreigner is set out in our guide on how a foreigner buys property in Thailand.
Content:
- What is lawful in this arrangement and what is not
- The signs that mark a structure out as a nominee arrangement
- What has changed in the checks
- How many properties this has already touched
- What an owner faces
- What to do if your property is already held through a company
- Who should avoid buying through a company, and who genuinely needs one
- Frequently asked questions
What is lawful in this arrangement and what is not
A Thai company may own land and a house where the majority of shares belong to Thai nationals. A foreigner may be a shareholder and a director of it. So far everything is within the law.
The breach begins where the Thai shareholders exist on paper alone. Such people are called nominees: usually staff of an agency, acquaintances or strangers who signed the incorporation papers for a modest fee. They put in none of their own money, take no decisions, receive no income and often have no idea what the company owns. The foreigner funded 100% of it, uses the house and controls it.
The law prohibits this from both sides. Section 36 of the Foreign Business Act bars a Thai national from holding shares on a foreigner's behalf; Section 37 bars a foreigner from using such a service. Both sides are liable, and the fact that the Thai shareholder agreed willingly changes nothing. The Land Code adds a separate rule: land may not be acquired for a foreigner through an intermediary, whether a stand-in Thai national or a company set up for the purpose. Such an acquisition is treated as void, and the property has to be sold.
The courts look past the articles of association to how the company works in practice: whose money paid for the shares, who takes decisions and who receives the income. Where the Thai shareholders put in someone else's money, play no part in the business and receive no profit, the 51-to-49 split on paper counts for nothing.
The signs that mark a structure out as a nominee arrangement
The Land Department sorts companies with foreign participation into four risk groups. A review begins once a property falls into any one of them.
| Risk group | What is examined |
|---|---|
| Foreign shareholding above the limit | foreign participation beyond the statutory cap, and capital increases or new foreign shareholders after the property was acquired |
| Frequent changes within the company | repeated share transfers, capital increases or swaps of proportions with no clear commercial reason |
| Layered ownership | a chain of companies where the first tier looks Thai while the combined foreign share exceeds the cap |
| Control in practice | the proportions are in order, yet the property is run by the foreigner: they are the director, the Thai shareholders' income does not match their investment, and loans or leases hand them control |
Purchases registered to a Thai national married to a foreigner are examined separately: the source of the money has to be shown to be personal rather than marital property. Transactions putting property in the name of a foreigner's minor children are reviewed on the same footing.
One further marker is a company with no trading activity. Where there is no revenue, no staff and no filings, and the only asset is the house the foreigner lives in, there is nothing left to point to as a commercial purpose.
What has changed in the checks
Land offices used to take a company's paperwork at face value. The position now is different: examining the shareholders, movements of capital, the source of funds and the ultimate beneficiaries is required under a single set of rules applying in every province.
- Land offices keep registers of corporate owners, flagging separately those with foreign participation.
- Provincial committees review such companies every month and report to the department quarterly.
- Transactions from 5,000,000 baht ($139,000) and cash settlements from 2,000,000 baht ($55,000) trigger a mandatory source-of-funds review, with a report to the anti-money-laundering authority.
- The department cross-checks the companies register daily: a change of shareholders filed electronically after the purchase is visible to the reviewers.
That daily cross-check has retired a piece of advice once given routinely — buy the property through a company with a suitable shareholder list, then rewrite the shares in favour of your own people a year or two later.
How many properties this has already touched
The investigations have come in waves since 2025 and have reached every major resort market.
- On 23 May 2026 Koh Phangan saw the largest operation in the island's history: 22 foreign nationals were arrested and more than six hectares of land worth over 200,000,000 baht ($5.6m) were seized.
- On 21 June 2026 Phuket, Phang Nga and Krabi were searched simultaneously: 55 warrants, 48 people arrested, of whom 27 were Thai nationals and 21 foreigners, with seized assets valued at 1,053,000,000 baht ($29m).
- In July 2026 the turn came for Chiang Mai: 31 companies and five foreign nationals arrested.
- In August 2026 a sixth wave followed — 15 addresses in Hua Hin and 13 foreign nationals arrested.
By the middle of 2026, proceedings had been brought against 852 companies, damage to the economy was put at 15,100,000,000 baht ($420m), and seized assets exceeded 24,000,000,000 baht ($670m).
One detail matters for buyers: the investigations have reached not only owners but the law and accountancy firms that assembled these structures. Pointing to professional advice is no defence — liability rests with the person the company is registered to and who uses it.
What an owner faces
The consequences fall into two parts: penalties for the people involved, and the fate of the property itself.
| For what | What it carries |
|---|---|
| Using nominee shareholders | up to 3 years' imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 to 1,000,000 baht ($2,800–28,000) |
| Continuing the breach after notice | 10,000 to 50,000 baht ($280–1,400) for every day |
| Acquiring land on behalf of a foreigner | up to 2 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to 20,000 baht ($550) |
| Breach by a legal entity | a fine of up to 50,000 baht ($1,400) |
| False statements in documents | up to 3 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to 60,000 baht ($1,700) |
Now the property itself. Where a structure is found to be a nominee arrangement, the land must be sold within a period ranging from 180 days to a year. If the owner misses that deadline, the Director-General of the Land Department carries out the sale in their place. Under the law as it stands the proceeds remain with the owner, though an amendment is under discussion that would pass such land to the state. The company is wound up, and the foreign participant may be deported.
"Buyers ask about company ownership mainly in connection with villas on land, where the alternatives are thin. We do not put these structures together and we do not see them in our transactions: three quarters of our Thai sales are condominium units, where the question is answered by the foreign quota or by a lease," says a sales specialist for Thailand.
What to do if your property is already held through a company
The first step is to look at the structure through a reviewer's eyes. The questions are plain ones: where did the Thai shareholders get the money for their shares, does the company carry on any activity at all, who actually takes the decisions, and are there loans or agreements handing the foreigner control beyond their shareholding.
The second is to bring the company into line. Where the Thai shareholders are genuine and invested their own money, the evidence is worth assembling in advance: statements, loan agreements, filed accounts. Where the shareholders are there for form's sake, changing the form of ownership before a review arrives is the safer course.
The third is to consider replacing the structure altogether. A condominium unit is usually re-registered as freehold where the building still has room in the foreign quota. How to check the remaining share, we cover in our guide to when a foreigner cannot register a Thai condo as freehold. For a house on land the alternative is a lease: how a 30-year leasehold works and what to expect on inheritance.
"It pays to review the structure before the property goes on the market. A buyer and their solicitor will look at the shareholder list and the company's filings in any event, and the questions then surface in the middle of a negotiation," says a sales specialist for Thailand.
Who should avoid buying through a company, and who genuinely needs one
The form suits neither every buyer nor every purpose.
- Not for anyone buying a home for themselves. A dormant company whose only asset is a house is a textbook sign of a nominee arrangement.
- Not for anyone looking to save money. A company requires bookkeeping and annual filings, and those costs sit on top of the price of the property.
- Not for anyone planning a quick exit. Buyers for a shareholding in a land-owning company are thin on the ground at present, and reviewing the structure drags the sale out. How an exit works and what it costs, we cover in our guide to selling property in Thailand and the taxes and fees involved.
- Suitable for anyone running a real business in Thailand. A hotel, a restaurant or a serviced apartment operation gives the company revenue, staff and a commercial purpose, and owning property sits naturally within that.
The documents needed to re-register under any of these options, and the procedure itself, are covered separately: how a transfer of ownership works at the Land Office.
Frequently asked questions
Is it lawful to buy property in Thailand through a Thai company?
Yes, where the company is genuine: the Thai shareholders invested their own money and take part in its affairs. Participation for form's sake is prohibited.
How do reviewers establish that shareholders are nominees?
They examine the source of the money paid for the shares, the company's activity, changes in the shareholder list, and who actually controls the property.
What happens to the house if the structure is found to be a nominee one?
The land must be sold within 180 days to a year. If the owner does not do so, the Land Department carries out the sale.
Is the lawyer who set up the company liable?
The investigations have reached consultancy firms, but that does not relieve the owner of liability.
Can a property be moved out of a company into another form of ownership?
A condominium unit can become freehold where there is room in the foreign quota; a house on land can move to a long lease.
Does increasing the Thai shareholders' stake help?
Not in itself. What counts is whose money was invested and who takes the decisions, not the proportion in the articles.