Married to a Thai, looking to aquire some land in Isaan and build a house. I am looking for any advice regarding the pros and cons of Superficies and Usufructs. Basically I would like to have some right to the building on the land if possible. I imagine the legal fees involved in setting the above up may be high. Wonder if anyone has first hand experience. Thanks for any advice.

Others with more recent and detailed knowledge will be along shortly, in the meantime:

 

An usufruct gives the grantee (potentially you) the right to live in the property either for life or for the duration of the usufruct, it ends when you die. Importantly, it also confers the right to say who can and cannot live in the property. An usufructee (you) cannot sell the property but they can issue a 30 year lease to a third party.

 

Superficies gives you the right to control the building which you own and the land upon which it is built, land that you don't own. Superficies can be for a specific term or for the life of the grantor or the receiver, if for a specific term the superficies can be willed to others.

 

An usufruct can be registered at the Land Office at the time of purchase/sale, the cost used to be less than 100 baht. Using a lawyer may give you more comfort but this will cost you several thousand (I paid 10k).

 

This may help explain further.

 

https://www.samuiforsale.com/real-rights/

 

And here's a previous discussion on the subject:

 

 

You can put the house in your name without a problem usually.

How come Americans can own 1 Rai of land?

On 4/14/2025 at 2:06 AM, still kicking said:

How come Americans can own 1 Rai of land?

 

They can not.