Owning Rental Property in Thailand as a Foreigner: Visas, Work Permits, Tax and Marriage

This is the third article in my series on deposits and property in Thailand. The first looked at the business side of taking and paying deposits. You can read it here.

The second looked at the same problem from the tenant’s side. You can read it here.

This one came out of a question I asked myself while writing the first: what happens when the landlord is a foreigner?

Many foreigners in Chiang Mai own one or more condos and rent them out. Some live here on a retirement, marriage, Thailand Privilege or other non-working visa. Others bought a condo while living here and have since moved abroad. Most of them pay their tax and assume that is the end of it. It isn’t, and the rules around visas, work and marriage often catch people out.

The three-unit rule for landlords

Since 2025, anyone who rents out three or more residential units is treated as a business operator under the Office of the Consumer Protection Board rules. Until then, the threshold was five units, so if you own three or four and checked the rules a few years ago, you may now be covered without realising it. Being a business operator means using a written lease in the required form and returning deposits within seven working days, with penalties if you don’t. I covered this in detail in the first article. The rules apply to foreign landlords exactly as they apply to Thai ones.

Paying tax on rental income

Rental income from a Thai property is taxable in Thailand, whatever your visa, wherever you live and wherever the rent is paid, including into a bank account abroad. There is no grey area here.

To file a Thai tax return, you need a Thai tax identification number. If you don’t have one, you can apply at your local Revenue Department office with your passport. Do this before your first filing deadline, not on the day to avoid late fees.

Thailand asks landlords to pay part of their tax halfway through the year. If your rental income for January to June is more than 60,000 THB, or if you are married, more than 120,000 THB for the two of you combined, you file a mid-year return, the PND 94, between July and the end of September and pay tax on that half year’s income. You then file your annual return by 31 March, and anything you paid mid-year is credited against your final bill. If your income for the first half is below the threshold, you only file the annual return.

You can deduct a standard 30% for expenses, or your actual costs if you have the receipts.

Paying your tax is one obligation. The rules on visas and work are separate, and paying tax does not cover them. I come back to those below.

Withholding tax when your tenant is a company

Withholding tax only applies when your tenant is a company. A private tenant pays you the full rent, and you deal with the tax through your own return. If your tenant is a company, it has to deduct 5% from every rent payment it makes to you, even if you own the condo as a private person and pay that 5% to the Revenue Department on your behalf. 

This 5% is not a cost to you. It’s an advance payment of your own tax, which you claim back when you file your annual return. To do that, you need the withholding tax certificate, the 50 Tawi, for every rent payment. I see landlords lose track of these all the time and then pay tax twice on the same income. Agree in the lease whether the rent is before or after withholding, keep every certificate, and make sure the rent you declare matches what the company has reported. If you live abroad and rent to a company, the withholding rate may be higher, so check with your accountant before you sign. And if you own the property through a company, Thai or foreign, the rules are different again, so get advice for your own setup.

Land and Building Tax

On top of income tax, you pay an annual Land and Building Tax simply for owning the property. A home you live in and are registered at is largely exempt, but a rented condo is taxed from the first baht. The rate is 0.02% a year of the government’s appraised value, which is usually well below the market price, so a condo appraised at 3 million THB pays around 600 THB a year.

You don’t file a return for it. The local authority assesses the property and sends you a bill, usually in the first half of the year. The deadlines have changed several times in recent years, so check the date on your bill. Paying late is expensive compared to the tax itself: penalties run from 10% to 40% of the tax, plus 1% a month. The mistake I see is owners who never receive the bill because it goes to an old address. Make sure the local office has your current contact details, tell them within 60 days if you stop living in the property and start renting it out, and keep the receipts, because you will need them when you sell.

Catching up if you haven’t been filing tax

Some readers will realise from this article that they should have been filing returns or paying Land and Building Tax and haven’t. Don’t ignore it. Speak to an accountant about catching up. Sorting it out yourself is almost always simpler and cheaper than waiting for it to be found, for example when you sell the property or when a tenant’s company reports the rent it has paid you.

Work permits and managing your own property

Owning a property and receiving rent from it is not work. Running the rental yourself can be work. Under Thai law, finding tenants, advertising, showing the unit, handling check-ins and negotiating leases all count as work. This is true even if you are not paid. Retirement, marriage, Thailand Privilege and other non-working visas do not allow you to work. How strictly this is applied varies, but it is a risk to your visa that is easy to avoid.

The safe approach is simple. Your role is to own the property and receive the income. Someone else does the active work.

When renting out several condos can count as a business

There is a second, less clear point. Rental services are a restricted business for foreigners under the Foreign Business Act. A foreigner renting out their own condo is not normally treated as running a rental business, but the law draws no clear line. The more units you own, the more actively you manage them and the more income you make, the more it starts to look like one. If you are building a portfolio, get proper advice on structure before you grow it further.

Who can manage the property for you

A Thai spouse, a Thai relative, a property manager or an agent can all do the active work, because a Thai national does not need a work permit. What matters is that you, the foreign owner, stay out of the day-to-day running. If your Thai spouse manages the condo but you still answer tenant messages and fix the air conditioning, that can still count as working.

Agents need particular care. Thailand has no licensing system for real estate agents, so anyone can call themselves one. I will cover how to choose an agent and what to put in your agreement in the next article in this series.

Marriage and rental income

Marriage changes who owns the income. Under Thai law, marital property includes what you earn during the marriage and also the income from property you owned before it. So even if the condo was yours before the wedding, the rent it earns after the wedding can become shared marital property. This matters if the marriage ends, and it can affect how the income is reported for tax.

Since 2012, married couples in Thailand can choose to file tax jointly or separately. How rent from shared property is split between two returns depends on your situation, so this is one to discuss with your accountant.

Prenuptial agreements and why the timing matters

Thai law allows couples to agree how their property will be treated, through a prenuptial agreement. The rules are strict, the agreement must be in writing, signed by both of you and two witnesses. Registered at the district office on the same day as the marriage. If it is not registered with the marriage, it is not valid.

The timing is what catches people out. Once you are married, you cannot make a prenuptial agreement. An existing prenup can only be changed with a court’s permission. Any agreement you make with your spouse about property during the marriage gives you very little protection, because Thai law allows either spouse to cancel it. In practice, if you married without a prenuptial agreement, the standard marital property rules apply, and there is no simple way to separate your property afterwards.

The agreement must also follow Thai law. A clause saying your property will be governed by the law of your home country is void. Since January 2025, these rules apply to all married couples, including same-sex couples.

If you own rental property here and are planning to marry in Thailand, decide before the wedding whether the property and its income should stay yours. After the wedding, it is very difficult to change.

Marriages and prenuptial agreements made abroad

Many foreign owners married in their home country before buying property here. Don’t assume a prenuptial agreement from home will protect your Thai property. Thai law treats property located in Thailand under Thai rules, and a foreign agreement will not automatically meet Thai requirements. You also cannot register a Thai prenuptial agreement after a marriage abroad, because as I wrote here it has to be registered together with the marriage itself.

If you own property in Thailand, or plan to, and you are getting married anywhere in the world, speak to a Thai lawyer before the wedding. It is the only point at which you can still make arrangements that will hold. If you are already married, keep clear records of where the money for your property came from, such as bank transfers and the foreign exchange forms from your purchase. They will not change the rules, but they can help show what was yours.

Tax when you own a Thai condo but live abroad

Moving abroad does not end your Thai tax obligations. Rent from a Thai property is Thai income, so you still file a Thai return. Your home country may tax the rent as well. Tax treaties generally give Thailand the first right to tax income from property located here, and whether you get credit for Thai tax at home depends on your own country’s rules and its treaty with Thailand.

Daily and weekly rentals: hotel licences and condo rules

Renting your condo by the day or week, for example through Airbnb, is not allowed unless you hold a hotel licence or are properly registered under the separate rules for small accommodation and homestays. Under the Hotel Act, accommodation rented for less than a month counts as a hotel. The courts have applied this to condos: in a case at the Phetchaburi Provincial Court (case no. 782/2561), daily condo rentals were prosecuted, and a court in Hua Hin ruled that owners without a hotel licence could only legally rent for 30 days or more.

Condo’s also have their own rules, and many ban short stays outright. The condo management can and does act against owners who break them. In a case at the Appeal Court (case no. 2773/2562), the condo’s juristic person (the building’s own legal entity) which works much like a company and manages the building on behalf of all the owners, sued an owner for renting daily and won at both the first court and on appeal.

The homestay and small accommodation rules were designed mainly for houses, and condo buildings add their own restrictions on top, so for most condo owner’s monthly rentals are the only safe option. I will look at hotel licences, homestay registration and the condo situation in more detail in a later article in this series.

For a foreigner on a non-working visa, there is a second issue. Daily rentals mean constant check-ins, cleaning and guest messages, which is exactly the kind of active work your visa does not allow.

Reporting foreign tenants to Immigration (TM30)

If your tenant is a foreigner, you must report where they are staying to Immigration within 24 hours of them moving in. This is the TM30 notification, and it applies to monthly tenants just as much as hotel guests. The fine for not reporting is up to 2,000 THB. Many landlords don’t realise this is their responsibility rather than the tenant’s, and it often only comes up when the tenant tries to extend their visa and Immigration asks for the TM30 receipt. If an agent or your Thai spouse manages the property, agree clearly who files it.

Practical points for foreign landlords

Get a Thai tax ID, pay your tax and file on time, including the mid-year return if your income is above the threshold, and keep every withholding tax certificate. Pay your Land and Building Tax and make sure the bill reaches you. If you haven’t been filing, speak to an accountant and catch up. Keep your own role passive and let a Thai spouse, relative or agent do the active work. 

If you are growing a portfolio, get advice on structure before you add more units. If you are planning to marry, here or abroad, speak to a Thai lawyer before the wedding. If you live abroad, check how your home country treats Thai rental income. Rent for a month or longer, never by the day or week. And file the TM30 every time a foreign tenant moves in.

None of this is meant to put anyone off owning property here. Most of the problems I see come from people not knowing the rules, not from people trying to break them. I’d be interested to hear from other foreign owners in the CMBN community. 

How have you set up the management of your property, and what would you do differently if you were buying again today?