Maximum Rental Agreement Duration

[canopy]

It seems 6 months or a year rental agreements are typical. Can a 10 year, 20 year or longer agreement be made and be just as bulletproof per Thai law? The rental agreement in question is planned to be used for various local certification purposes at the amphur and orbidor. What is the legal maximum limit on how long a house rental agreement can be?

 

[ThomasThBKK]

30 years?

 

Every lease over 3 years has to be registered at the land office on the back of the chanote, the maximum duration of a lease is 30 years.

[canopy]

No chanote in this area, just very weak land titles but the house has a blue book. So reading your good information it might be advisable to cap it at 3 years to be safe?

[smutcakes]

22 hours ago, canopy said:

No chanote in this area, just very weak land titles but the house has a blue book. So reading your good information it might be advisable to cap it at 3 years to be safe?

If you want surety of tenure you should do it over 3 years as you would register your lease at the lands department. 

[sometimewoodworker]

23 hours ago, ThomasThBKK said:

30 years?

 

Every lease over 3 years has to be registered at the land office on the back of the chanote, the maximum duration of a lease is 30 years.

Correction for the word chanote substitute land registration document.

 

There are many different land registration documents only 1 of which is a Chanote. The majority are under the Land office, some are registered with different offices. The non Land Office registered land titles may have the same requirement for a lease of over 3 years.

Edited November 24, 2019 by sometimewoodworker

[Lacessit]

On 11/23/2019 at 10:03 AM, ThomasThBKK said:

30 years?

 

Every lease over 3 years has to be registered at the land office on the back of the chanote, the maximum duration of a lease is 30 years.

Does the same apply to a condo apartment? My lease has no expiry date, only a clause of one month's notice by either party. Immigration has not questioned it.

[BigFun]

3 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Does the same apply to a condo apartment? My lease has no expiry date, only a clause of one month's notice by either party. Immigration has not questioned it.

Yes, statutory law states 30 years max, unless commercial property which is 40 I seem to recall.

[moontang]

you gotta pay 1% tax on the full amount, too.  Also leaves a skeleton in the closet for unpaid rent tax..+penalties.

Edited November 25, 2019 by moontang

[canopy]

Right. Is a rental amount of 0 baht a month still a legal rental contract in cases the owner really is genuinely renting out for free?

 

[moontang]

2 minutes ago, canopy said:

Right. Is a rental amount of 0 baht a month still a legal rental contract in cases the owner really is genuinely renting out for free?

 

my lawyer tried 300,000...and they settled for 500,000...on a house that cost a million.  How they deal with that can vary by land office.  Doing anything to circumvent laws preventing foreigners from owning land is illegal...that is the catch all.....and that could include giving the money to the wife to buy it...but is some offices, they make the foreigner sign something saying he has zero claim to the property.  Some have been able to seperate the house from the land, but that too is no go in some offices.

[Survivor9]

How many Thai landlords are there? That is how many different answers you will get. I would ask a professional but even then. Do they follow it? Just like any other country.

[Lacessit]

19 hours ago, BigFun said:

Yes, statutory law states 30 years max, unless commercial property which is 40 I seem to recall.

So presumably the law is applied as time elapsed from the date of signing the lease, on a contract with no end date. But what happens if the lease is never registered with the Land Office? Does that make it unenforceable?

Edited November 26, 2019 by Lacessit

[moontang]

22 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

So presumably the law is applied as time elapsed from the date of signing the lease, on a contract with no end date. But what happens if the lease is never registered with the Land Office? Does that make it unenforceable?

it would allow other encumbrances to be placed ahead of your lease..a non recorded lease would allow for someone producing a lease after the fact, perhaps death of the owner..then what?  Also, were rental taxes paid during the full term of the unrecorded lease?  Not sure if registering it is actually required, though, for long term leases..good question for land office. 

[Lacessit]

On 11/26/2019 at 2:54 PM, moontang said:

it would allow other encumbrances to be placed ahead of your lease..a non recorded lease would allow for someone producing a lease after the fact, perhaps death of the owner..then what?  Also, were rental taxes paid during the full term of the unrecorded lease?  Not sure if registering it is actually required, though, for long term leases..good question for land office. 

Statistically, I am far more likely to die than the owner. Said owner is unlikely to get a better rental income from another tenant.

What encumbrances are you referring to?

[smutcakes]

On 11/25/2019 at 3:53 PM, Lacessit said:

Does the same apply to a condo apartment? My lease has no expiry date, only a clause of one month's notice by either party. Immigration has not questioned it.

I would expect the fact your lease has a one month break clause for either party, it would not be deemed a lease in excess of 3 years and would not need to be registered. It is rare for residential leases to be more than 1 or 2 years and the lease registration is far more focused on commercial leases rather than residential ones. I expect the immigration officer is not even aware of lease registration.

[moontang]

17 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Statistically, I am far more likely to die than the owner. Said owner is unlikely to get a better rental income from another tenant.

What encumbrances are you referring to?

The owner taking a mortgage out against the property...that is an old GF favorite..lots of bad gamblers, pyramids, sharks, etc.., or even a large unpaid hospital bill.