A foreign owner may let a Thai condominium unit out. Nothing in the Condominium Act prevents it, and the freehold title a foreign buyer registers carries the same right to grant a tenancy that a Thai owner's does. What catches people out is everything around that right: which lease term is enforceable, which return the income belongs on, who withholds what before you ever see the money, and who opens the door when the air-conditioning fails and you are in Frankfurt.
This note sets out the machinery. It contains no rent forecast and no yield figure, because our files hold neither an achieved rent nor an occupancy rate for any building on this site. What we do hold, and what we do not, is stated in full at the end.
Can a foreign owner let a Thai condominium out, and on what lease?
Yes — and in practice the lease will run twelve months. A residential tenancy in Thailand is a hire of property under the Civil and Commercial Code, sections 537 to 571. Two provisions decide the shape of almost every lease you will be offered. Section 538 makes a lease of more than three years enforceable only for three years unless it is registered against the title at the Land Department; section 540 caps the registrable term at thirty years. This is why the ordinary residential tenancy runs twelve months and renews — it sits deliberately below the registration threshold, and both sides keep their flexibility.
A lease binds a successor in title. If you sell a unit that is let, the tenancy generally goes with it, which is the same rule that will one day apply to you as a buyer: it is why occupancy belongs in the sale contract rather than in a conversation. The resale due diligence checklist in the buyer guide covers that from the buying side.
Short-term letting is the part most foreign owners get wrong. Providing accommodation for periods shorter than thirty days is hotel business under the Hotel Act B.E. 2547 (2004) and requires a licence a condominium unit will not obtain. Separately, most buildings' own regulations — made under section 32 of the Condominium Act and binding on every owner — prohibit daily letting outright, and it is the juristic person at the lobby desk who enforces them. Treat a nightly-letting income assumption as unavailable rather than optimistic.
One more rule applies if you end up owning several units in the same building: the Contract Committee's notification of B.E. 2561 (2018), in force from 1 May 2018, makes residential leasing a contract-controlled business for any lessor letting five or more units in the same building or compound. It caps the deposit at one month's rent and the advance at one month, requires a specified contract form, and restricts termination. Below five units it does not apply.
How is rental income from a Thai condominium taxed?
As ordinary personal income, in Thailand, whether or not you live here. Rent from a building is assessable income under section 40(5) of the Revenue Code. It is Thai-sourced, so it is taxable in Thailand whether or not you ever set foot here: section 41 taxes income from property situated in Thailand irrespective of the recipient's residence. Being a Thai tax resident — 180 days or more in a calendar year — changes what else you are taxed on, not whether this is taxed.
The computation is ordinary personal income tax. You may deduct 30% of gross rent from a building as a standard deduction, or your actual documented expenses instead, under the Revenue Code and Royal Decree No. 11 B.E. 2502 (1959); allowances are then applied, and the progressive rates run from 5% on net income above ฿150,000 to 35% above ฿5,000,000. There is no separate, lower rate for rental income and no flat expatriate rate.
Two filings, not one. Income under section 40(5) earned between January and June goes on a half-year return, form PND 94, due by the end of September; the full year goes on PND 90 by 31 March following. Tax paid at the half year is credited against the annual bill.
Withholding depends entirely on who the tenant is. A Thai company or other juristic person paying rent must withhold 5% and give you a withholding certificate — Departmental Instruction Paw. 4/2528 under section 3 tredecim of the Revenue Code. That 5% is a payment on account, not a final tax, and the certificate is the credit you claim on your return. A private individual tenant withholds nothing at all, which means the entire tax liability lands on you at filing time.
Double taxation agreements do not usually remove the Thai tax. Thailand has concluded agreements with around sixty jurisdictions — the current list is published by the Revenue Department — and under the standard treaty article, income from immovable property may be taxed in the state where the property sits. What a treaty normally gives you is relief at home against Thai tax paid, not exemption in Thailand.
Who manages the unit when the owner lives abroad?
One of three parties: you, a letting agent, or a developer's leasing programme where one exists. Self-management works for owners who are in Thailand often or who have someone here they trust. It costs nothing in commission and everything in availability: viewings, deposits, the tenant's 2 a.m. water leak, the annual filing, the handover inspection.
A letting agent handles marketing, viewings and usually the tenancy paperwork, for a commission customarily quoted as a number of months' rent. We publish no figure for it here: agency commission is negotiated, varies with the term and the building, and we hold no dataset of what was actually charged. Ask two or three agents in the specific building and compare what you are quoted in writing.
A developer rental programme — where one exists — markets the unit through the developer's own leasing desk. Several developments in our inventory publish such a rate card beside their price sheet, as of July 2026 — each an asking rate, not an achieved rent, not an occupancy commitment and not a rental guarantee. No development on our books offers a rental guarantee or a rental pool today, and if one did we would print its terms verbatim rather than its headline.
- Confirm the building's own regulations on letting before you buy, not after
- Keep the tenancy at twelve months unless you have a reason to register a longer one
- Ask whether the tenant is a company — that decides whether 5% is withheld for you
- Diarise PND 94 in September and PND 90 in March
- Budget the common fee for the months the unit is empty; it does not pause
Can rental income be sent out of Thailand?
Yes. Rental income may be remitted abroad through a commercial bank under the Bank of Thailand's foreign exchange regulations. In practice the bank asks what the money is and where it came from, and for larger or regular transfers it will want to see that Thai tax has been dealt with. None of this is difficult; it is simply paperwork that is far easier to produce as you go than to reconstruct three years later.
Keep the original inward remittance evidence from your purchase — the Foreign Exchange Transaction form or the bank's credit advice — permanently, with the title documents. It is the document that proves the capital came from abroad, and it does work for you again when you eventually sell and repatriate the proceeds.
What this note does not tell you
Every note in this section carries this block. It is not a disclaimer bolted on at the end — it is the part that decides whether the rest can be trusted.
- This note does not estimate what your unit would let for, how long it would take to find a tenant, or whether it would let at all. We hold no achieved rents, no occupancy or vacancy rates, no tenancy agreements and no letting-agency records for any building on this site.
- The rent figures published on this site are developers' own asking rate cards, dated July 2026, for the developments that publish one. An asking rate is what a leasing desk hopes to achieve. It is not evidence of what was achieved, and it is not a promise about any unit.
- Rates, deductions and filing dates change, and your own tax residence and treaty position change the answer materially. This is general information, not tax advice. Have a Thai tax adviser confirm your position before you sign a tenancy — and, if you are letting from abroad, an adviser in your home country as well.
- Suwanvara Property is a property brokerage. We do not operate a letting or management business, take no share of any rent, and endorse no rental programme, including the one described above.
Sources
Named instruments and named public bodies, with their dates. Where a figure comes from our own price sheets instead, the file it was computed from is named in the same list.
- Civil and Commercial Code, Book III Title IV (Hire of Property), sections 537–571Section 538 — a lease of immovable property for more than three years is enforceable for three years only unless registered with the competent official; section 540 — the maximum term is thirty years. Registration is handled by the Department of Lands (dol.go.th).
- Revenue Code, sections 40(5), 41, 48 and 50; Royal Decree No. 11 B.E. 2502 (1959)Rent from a building is assessable income; income from property situated in Thailand is taxable regardless of the recipient's residence; a 30% standard deduction is allowed for buildings in place of actual expenses. Published by the Revenue Department (rd.go.th).
- Departmental Instruction No. Paw. 4/2528, under section 3 tredecim of the Revenue CodeA juristic person paying rent must withhold tax at 5% and issue a withholding certificate to the recipient. Revenue Department.
- Hotel Act B.E. 2547 (2004)Providing accommodation for periods of less than thirty days is hotel business and requires a licence. Administered by the Department of Provincial Administration, Ministry of Interior.
- Notification of the Contract Committee on residential building leasing as a contract-controlled business, B.E. 2561 (2018), in force 1 May 2018Applies to a lessor letting five or more residential units in the same building or compound: prescribed contract form, deposit capped at one month's rent, advance rent capped at one month. Office of the Consumer Protection Board.
- Condominium Act B.E. 2522 (1979), section 32Each condominium's registered regulations bind every co-owner and govern use of units, including restrictions on letting. The building's juristic person administers them.
- Bank of Thailand foreign exchange regulationsOutward remittance of income and of sale proceeds by a non-resident through a commercial bank, and the inward remittance documentation (Foreign Exchange Transaction form) a foreign purchase relies on. Bank of Thailand (bot.or.th).
These notes are general information for foreign buyers, not investment, tax or legal advice. No rental income, occupancy, yield or capital growth is projected, promised or implied, and no figure here is verified or endorsed by Suwanvara Property as a return. Figures are either computed from the developer price sheets we hold, attributed to the named public source shown, or entered by you. Rules, rates and procedures change and individual situations differ; take Thai tax and legal advice on your own position.