Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing property and real estate here in Thailand, specifically condominiums and purchase and the purchase process in 2026. For those who are unaware, foreign nationals here in Thailand are explicitly precluded from owning land, proper land in Thailand. Now there may be other instruments that one could avail oneself of in order to have usage of land, for example long-term leasing as well as Usufructs - usufructs being a long-term, basically a perpetual right of use, a lifetime right of use if you will; we would call that a Life Estate in the Common Law vernacular. 

Now the thing to take away from this video is we are talking about condos. Condos are an exemption to the overall restrictions associated with real estate for foreigners. Pursuant to the Thai Condominium Act, it is possible for a foreign national to be able to obtain what is called Chanote Title, that would be called Freehold Title in a Westminster Law vernacular, so Australia or the UK, what we would call in the Commonwealth American vernacular Fee Simple Absolute Title, that is what folks think of in an Anglo sense, what they think of when they think of Chanote Title here in Thailand; you have the title deed in hand, so you actually have the title. So that's extremely important. It is possible for foreign nationals to buy a condo in Thailand and be conferred title. There are certain formalities pursuant to the Condominium Act that one has to go through, for example formalities associated with Banking and the funds associated with the purchase of the condo. There are also issues associated with the Thai to foreign quota: so Thais make up 51% of a given condo complex while foreigners make up 49% of a given condo complex. To simplify it, if you have a condo with 100 units, 51% of them have to be Thai, only 49% of them can be foreign owned. Again these are requirements and formalities associated with being able to purchase a condo as a foreigner here in Thailand.

The question posed, is there anything that I can see that's going to be changing with regard to the process of purchasing a condo in 2026? And frankly, as of the time of this video, I'm not really seeing any major changes coming down the pike. Now that being said, in 2025, we have had a substantial amount of scrutiny associated not only with businesses in Thailand but also real estate in Thailand, and real estate where it's being rented out. And that is an important thing to also understand is in the real estate context, short-term renting, the sort of Airbnb model, that is a tricky thing here in Thailand to say the least. It could be illegal in fact depending on the circumstances, and foreigners who are engaging in businesses pertaining to property and property development could also be in violation of various restricted occupations here in Thailand.

The point I'm trying to make with regard to this video is although the process may not be changing in 2026 with regard to obtention if you will or obtainment of a Thai condominium, it still remains a rather Byzantine and somewhat formalistic process. Those who feel a bit overwhelmed by all of this, it may not be a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.