Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing leaseholds and title. That is leasing of property, land, real estate in Thailand. As many folks will be aware, foreign nationals are precluded from owning land here in Thailand but they are not precluded from leasing. Leasing can be a very effective methodology of utilizing land here in Thailand, utilizing real estate in a very efficient manner while remaining in compliance with relevant Thai Law. 

I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: PM allays foreign quota fears. And I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail, good information there for the most part. As we will get into here on this particular topic, there is some more nuance there. Quoting directly: "Currently foreigners can lease land for residential purposes for a maximum of 30 years, with one 30-year extension possible if both the landlord and lessee agree." 

Well hold on. Hold the phone there. I have seen issues in the past. Now again I am not a Thai Attorney but here in the firm we have them working with us and I have had to liaise on various cases over the years and yeah I have been sort of tertiarily looking over the shoulder if you will of my Thai colleagues and I am here to tell you, folks that think it's just a done deal that you can get an automatic extension of a 30-year lease, you need to be very, very careful with that. Because as we have discussed in other videos, Civil and Commercial Code notes that 30-year leasing is allowed but if not formally, the so-called option to extend, whatever you want to call it, if not formalized correctly, if you don't have all your bases covered, you don't have a legal professional that knows what they are doing with regard to leasing, this notion of an automatic extension can be something of a misnomer and it is a misnomer that I have seen cause a lot of consternation for a lot of folks in the past. 

So when reading stuff like this from the Press, sort of take it with a grain of salt I am not saying it is wrong per se, what I am saying is there's more nuance to it. It's not just a matter of "oh it's just a foregone conclusion". No. There are a lot of formalities that go into long-term leasing here in Thailand especially in the drafting of the agreement and how it complies with Thai Laws as well as the registration associated therewith, and if you don't get all your ducks in a row, you can find yourself in a real problem when you are looking to exercise that sort of "automatic" extension.