Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing usufructs and leases. For those who are unaware, I look at a usufruct, it is basically a right of usage of land in Thailand, real estate specifically and it can be created in such a way that it can be a lifetime usage of that land. 

I look at this much akin to what is called a Life Estate in the Common Law tradition or specifically the American Common Law tradition where it is basically a right to use that land, that real estate for the whole of one's lifetime and then it reverts to someone else at the time of death. Kind of similar to how the usufruct operates in practice, we all know generally speaking what leases are. As we noted in other videos on this channel, Thai Law has restrictions with respect to the duration of a Thai lease. Generally speaking 30 years is going to be the outside of which you are going to be able to have a lease here in the Kingdom of Thailand which begs the question posed by this video. Which is “better", usufructs or leases? It depends on your circumstances; it depends on what level of comfort you have with either a lease or a usufruct. It also may depend on the local Land Office. In some circumstances associated with how their sort of local policies on recording and recordation of things like leases and usufructs, notwithstanding the fact there are laws that apply, Officers at Land Offices here in Thailand do have some wide discretion with respect to making decisions on the ground. 

So again when deciding between a lease and a usufruct, there are a number of factors at play but at the end of the day it really is very much going to be circumstantially dependent on the underlying facts of the given case.