Surat Thani authorities are moving to revoke land rights held by 112 companies on Koh Pha Ngan after finding their foreign shareholdings exceeded limits set by law.

Governor Jumpot Wannachatsiri has instructed officials to take action against the landholdings, as part of an ongoing scrutiny of corporate ownership of land on the island.

The cases involve 124 land plots with a combined area of about 87 rai. While the announcement concerns companies rather than individual property owners, it is a reminder for foreign investors and expats using Thai companies to hold land that authorities are examining ownership structures on Koh Pha Ngan.

More than 1,800 landholding entities checked

Officials reviewed 1,832 entities holding land on the island. Of those, 93.9% were classified as general entities.

A further 5.7%, representing 112 entities, were found to have foreign shareholdings above the legal threshold. Another 0.4% had previously been ordered by the governor to dispose of land.

Of the 112 companies now identified, 104 were uncovered during inspections. The remaining eight had already been the subject of court rulings.

Thailand generally restricts foreign ownership of land, although foreigners may have rights to occupy or use property through certain legal arrangements. The current action is focused on companies whose shareholding arrangements were found to exceed the limit prescribed by law.

Disposal orders under way

Officials are considering disposal orders for 28 of the companies. Another 76 cases are under review by the Koh Pha Ngan branch land office before being submitted for disposal proceedings.

Jumpot has already issued disposal orders against eight entities, covering nine land plots.

Relevant agencies will continue to investigate and follow up the remaining cases within the timeframes required by law, according to officials. They said the measures were intended to protect national interests.

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24 August 2026

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30 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

More than 1,800 landholding entities checked

Officials reviewed 1,832 entities holding land on the island. Of those, 93.9% were classified as general entities.

A further 5.7%, representing 112 entities, were found to have foreign shareholdings above the legal threshold. Another 0.4% had previously been ordered by the governor to dispose of land.

So of the 93.9% general entities only 5.7% were found to have illegit foreign holdings i.e. 94% were legit.

Yet others on here will still prognosticate doom & gloom for the holiday type islands real estate futures.

Cue bigoted posts....3....2..1

In fact the outdated Thai laws and conservative attitude are debit of this. Thai lawyers advice people and the Chamber of Commerce register the companies. You can expect that both know and advice the people what the possibilities are and if these lawyers find a way in the Thai laws to own a property, you may expect that it is ok. If Thailand in the past decades just adjusted the law as many tourists and long stayers wanted to buy a house, that a non Thai can only possess 1/2 rai land max for own housing there would be no problems at all. But the conservative and protecting attitude of everything in Thailand is killing the economy, the tourism and the name of Thailand. In foreign media it is in the news too that Thailand is doing a witch hunt at the moment, and only blaming the foreigners, while the real people who advised and had to control are innocent. Thailand claims to be a number 1 destination for retirement, but such actions fueled by the government have the opposite effect. People will stay away.

38 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

while the real people who advised and had to control are innocent.

I don't think anyone uses the word 'innocent'. It is just that the investigation and prosecution of those ancillary is not the same as the foreign real-owner participant -- and there are likely, with some, time constraints.

Edited August 23Aug 23 by JerryM

1 hour ago, JerryM said:

So of the 93.9% general entities only 5.7% were found to have illegit foreign holdings i.e. 94% were legit.

Yet others on here will still prognosticate doom & gloom for the holiday type islands real estate futures.

Not sure about "others" on here, but I prognosticate doom & gloom for ill-advised and illegal foreign involvement in the "holiday type islands real estate" business.

PS. Don't forget the 0.4% that had previously been ordered by the governor to dispose of land.

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

In fact the outdated Thai laws and conservative attitude are debit of this. Thai lawyers advice people and the Chamber of Commerce register the companies. You can expect that both know and advice the people what the possibilities are and if these lawyers find a way in the Thai laws to own a property, you may expect that it is ok. If Thailand in the past decades just adjusted the law as many tourists and long stayers wanted to buy a house, that a non Thai can only possess 1/2 rai land max for own housing there would be no problems at all. But the conservative and protecting attitude of everything in Thailand is killing the economy, the tourism and the name of Thailand. In foreign media it is in the news too that Thailand is doing a witch hunt at the moment, and only blaming the foreigners, while the real people who advised and had to control are innocent. Thailand claims to be a number 1 destination for retirement, but such actions fueled by the government have the opposite effect. People will stay away.

Meanwhile, next door in Cambodia, where their government allows Chinese businesses to own vast tracts of prime beach resort land, everything is on the up-and-up, tourism is making and absolute killing, and in a short while their economy will surge well past that of Thailand.

Tourists do not want to buy land and houses in the countries they visit. Long-stay and retired foreigners have legal methods to stay in their beach villas, gated communities and isolated plots in Bahn Nawk.

The bottom line is to be legal here, one has to follow Thailand's laws. That means a pot secured in a bank, annual filing, paying taxes when applicable and knowing the meaning of the pages of Thai "gobbledygook" one's lawyer had one sign.

Taking advantage of the innate corruption here is a two-edged sword.

37 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Not sure about "others" on here, but I prognosticate doom & gloom for ill-advised and illegal foreign involvement in the "holiday type islands real estate" business.

Others prognosticate doom & gloom if you no longer CAN buy properties same as before.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by JerryM

3 minutes ago, JerryM said:

Others prognosticate doom & gloom if you no longer CAN buy properties same as before.

Well house sales likely will go down, certainly second hand ones. Thais may well keep the market going but they prefer to buy new. Foreigners, you can have an over-priced condo and lump it! Some enterprising entrepreneurs may come up with a newly configured way for foreigners to get a house.. but who knows how long it will be before Thailand has issues with it! Perhaps Thai land ownership with a superficies or usufruct arrangement.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by jacko45k

Oh no!

I can no longer go to a beautiful Thai island and stay at hotels owned by Israelis or the Swiss money launderers.

I feel so sad.

No wonder the Smart Money™ is moving to lovely Hanoi 😄

1 hour ago, ikke1959 said:

In fact the outdated Thai laws and conservative attitude are debit of this. Thai lawyers a non Thai can only possess 1/2 rai land

No country should be selling off their land to foreigners, or even dual citizens for that matter.

5 minutes ago, JerryM said:

Others prognosticate doom & gloom if you no longer CAN buy properties same as before.

Doom & gloom if they can no longer buy properties in Thailand the same WAY as before.

5 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Doom & gloom if they can no longer buy properties in Thailand the same WAY as before.

Right and as they say, there goes the market.

15 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Foreigners, you can have an over-priced condo and lump it!

Or get your wife's family to buy it with their money or mortgage. I just rent it from them with no binding agreement.

Edited August 24Aug 24 by JerryM

1 minute ago, JerryM said:

Or get your wife's family to buy it with their money or mortgage.

Poor as a church mouse...... doubt they could get a mortgage. Nowadays I would not have an issue using my good lady, but many years ago I was more cautious and had more time left to risk losing things.

5 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Poor as a church mouse...... doubt they could get a mortgage.

OK just there are other options to lumping it.

3 hours ago, ikke1959 said:

In fact the outdated Thai laws and conservative attitude are debit of this. Thai lawyers advice people and the Chamber of Commerce register the companies. You can expect that both know and advice the people what the possibilities are and if these lawyers find a way in the Thai laws to own a property, you may expect that it is ok. If Thailand in the past decades just adjusted the law as many tourists and long stayers wanted to buy a house, that a non Thai can only possess 1/2 rai land max for own housing there would be no problems at all. But the conservative and protecting attitude of everything in Thailand is killing the economy, the tourism and the name of Thailand. In foreign media it is in the news too that Thailand is doing a witch hunt at the moment, and only blaming the foreigners, while the real people who advised and had to control are innocent. Thailand claims to be a number 1 destination for retirement, but such actions fueled by the government have the opposite effect. People will stay away.

Some people are really happy about the fact others are stand to lose their investment.

Some are even gloating and calling these people criminals.

I despise people like that!

Many years ago before i was fifty but already living here ,i had to make a visa run every 3 months in order to live here.

Was it totally legal? Probably not but it was the thing to do in those days.

It was accepted by the Thai government.

Am i a criminal for bending the rules back then and so should i be removed from Thailand?

More questions than answers,

2 hours ago, jvs said:

Some people are really happy about the fact others are stand to lose their investment.

Some are even gloating and calling these people criminals.

I despise people like that!

Many years ago before i was fifty but already living here ,i had to make a visa run every 3 months in order to live here.

Was it totally legal? Probably not but it was the thing to do in those days.

It was accepted by the Thai government.

Am i a criminal for bending the rules back then and so should i be removed from Thailand?

More questions than answers,

I'm just happy I didn't invest that way, because I understood this could actually have consequences. Every time I discussed the facts with someone who had invested, they either laughed at you or even called you stupid. And if you bought land in your girlfriend's or wife's name, even worse.

21 hours ago, jvs said:

Am i a criminal for bending the rules back then and so should i be removed from Thailand?

More questions than answers,

Many have falsified holding 800k to obtain a retirement extension for years and years. Are their Permission to Stay (Visa) to be cancelled backdated to the first one!

15 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

Many have falsified holding 800k to obtain a retirement extension for years and years. Are their Permission to Stay (Visa) to be cancelled backdated to the first one!

From what I have read they MAYBE just given 7 days to exit the Kinggdonm.

2 minutes ago, JerryM said:

From what I have read they MAYBE just given 7 days to exit the Kinggdonm.

I have not seen anything, it was a hypothetical comment. No need to start rumours.

1 minute ago, jacko45k said:

I have not seen anything, it was a hypothetical comment. No need to start rumours.

That rumor is on Thai law firm websites on the rent-the-money scenario.

22 hours ago, jvs said:

Some people are really happy about the fact others are stand to lose their investment.

Some are even gloating and calling these people criminals.

I despise people like that!

i understand your point, but only to a certain extent ...

eg. if your home country has a law stating that foreigners cannot own land, and that law is well known, would you react any differently if a foreigner deliberately set up a fake company to circumvent it? of course not ...

too many people seem to assume that because laws and regulations in thailand are sometimes loosely enforced, or not enforced at all, anything goes. then, when the law eventually catches up with them, the complaints and excuses begin: they were misled, they didn’t know, they thought it was allowed ... they know the risk ...

but the basic facts were never a secret! everyone knew that foreigners cannot own land in thailand, and everyone understood that setting up a fake company simply to get around that restriction was unlawful! weak enforcement does not make something legal ... it only means that, for a while, people may get away with it ...

13 minutes ago, motdaeng said:

if a foreigner deliberately set up a fake company

The foreigners do not set up the company themselves, they engage a Thai lawyer. Those Thais do not seem to resent circumventing the law, their own law. Twenty years ago little was said of the illegality of it.....we had non Thais sitting in those very legal offices!

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