Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing 30-year leasing here in Thailand. Specifically, we are discussing, well what does that look like in 2026? I like to take the opportunity at the New Year to make videos where some of it's for promotional purposes and talking about things as you go into a New Year. It's kind of a good touchstone just mentioning that we are going into a New Year, here's this topic. But I also like to do it so that, I forget that there is an audience to this channel, and I never intended or thought that I would ever have an audience for a channel like this, but here we are, and I very much appreciate you by the way. It's sort of unexpected and it humbles me a lot when I interact with people and things that have seen my videos and stuff. 

In any event, the point I'm trying to make with regard to this video regarding 30-year leasing, I like to take the opportunity to get back to the fundamentals of this stuff because some of the audience hasn't heard about this. And I've been doing these videos for 9 years, so I sometimes forget that people that just came in two months ago might not have heard about 30-year leasing and issues associated with that. So my expectation in 2026 is the 30-year leasing will largely be unchanged, but it's important to point out that there was recently a major change with regard to 30-year leasing in the past roughly 18 months, and that was the Thai Supreme Court handing down a decision that said, "30 + 30 + 30 leasing is no longer available and no longer allowed". And this was an important thing because there was always kind of this legal limbo that unfortunately a lot of the foreigners and the charlatans of foreign extraction would come in here and basically be fake lawyers - they are all fake lawyers - pretending to be able to provide legal advice even though that's precluded under the Restricted Occupations if you're not Thai. Then we have the outright frauds who are literal frauds. They have no legal credentials whatsoever and should not be advising people regarding legal matters at all. 

That being said, this 30 + 30 + 30 leasing scheme was based on the notion that the mechanism allowing for automatic renewal was not in violation of Thailand's Civil and Commercial Code which stipulates that leasing can only be for 30 years at a maximum. And any lease over three years must be registered on the Chanote; so a 30-year lease must be registered on the Chanote. For those who are unaware, a Chanote is the Thai word for the Title Deed, what we would call the deed that is held in the American vernacular, Fee Simple Absolute title, or what is sometimes referred to by the Australian and the Westminster Legal crowd as Freehold Title. That's what Chanote Title means. It means Freehold title; it means the title deed itself. In order to have a 30-year lease, your name as the lessee needs to be literally written on the back of that Title Deed in order to enjoy those type of property rights; so that's the thing to understand. But there was this mechanism which people had said for a number of years allowed for automatic renewal by 30 years when the initial 30 years would end, and people would say, "oh well, that allows, or that's not in violation of the Civil and Commercial Code”. The Supreme Court came out and said, "yeah no, we are not allowing that. In our interpretation that violates the Law", and they are the Supreme Court, and that is how it is now." 

So that's something to take away from this video is understand, 30 + 30 + 30 which you will sometimes hear about in the foreign community is not legal now under Thai Law. So that means the maximum lease that can be garnered is 30 years, and I do not foresee this changing in 2026, here in the Kingdom of Thailand.