You are using an outdated browser and your browsing experience will not be optimal. Please update to the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox. Install Microsoft Edge

November 22, 2019

New Contract Controls Introduced for Residential Property Leasing Businesses in Thailand

Subscribe to Updates

The Contract Committee of the Consumer Protection Board has announced a number of new controls and lessee protections regarding residential property rental contracts executed from January 29, 2020, onward. These were detailed in the Notification of the Contract Committee Re: The Stipulation of Residential Property Leasing as a Contract-Controlled Business B.E. 2562 (2019), which was published in the Government Gazette on October 31, 2019.

This new notification replaces a similarly named notification issued by the Contract Committee in 2018, which designated residential property leasing as a contract-controlled business and governed any residential lease agreement executed from May 1, 2018, onward.

Any residential lease agreement entered into under the 2018 notification and currently in effect will continue to be in force until the expiration of the agreement, whereas any residential lease agreement executed from January 29, 2020, onward must comply with the Contract Committee’s new notification.

Like the 2018 notification, the new notification defines a “residential property leasing business” as a business that leases (or subleases) five units of property or more to individual lessees, for residential purposes, in exchange for a fee collected by the business operator, regardless of whether the units are in the same building. This includes all types of residential property that is leased for residential purposes, except for dormitories and hotels, which are regulated under a separate regime.

The new notification includes two lists: required terms and prohibited terms. Any business operator who fails to meet the notification requirements may be subject to imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to THB 100,000, or both.

Required Terms and Conditions

The following terms must be included in the residential lease. If any residential lease agreement does not contain them, it will be interpreted as including them as implied terms:

  • Residential lease agreements must include a version in Thai, wherein the size of the letters must not be less than 2 millimeters, and have no more than 11 letters within 1 inch and must contain the following details:
    • Name and address of the business operator and its authorized person;
    • Name and address of the lessee;
    • Name and location of the property;
    • Details of the property’s physical condition, including any items and equipment in the property;
    • Term of the lease, specifying its commencement date and expiration date;
    • Rental fee rates and due dates for payment;
    • Public utility fee rates (e.g., electricity, water supply, telephone) and the due dates for payments and their calculation method;
    • Service fee rates (i.e., services that are the business operator’s expenses, relating to the facilities and securities provided for the lease of property, which are not costs relating to the residential lease business), which must be reasonable and at the actual cost paid for the services, and which provide the due dates for payment along with their calculation method; and
    • Security deposit and advance rental fee rates.
  • Invoices for the fees in items 6–8 above must be sent to the lessee at least three days before their due dates, and the lessee will have the right to check the information relating to the payments that are shown in the invoices.
  • Details of the physical condition of the property and equipment (if any), which have been inspected and acknowledged by the lessee, must be attached to the lease agreement, and a duplicate must be delivered to the lessee.
  • The security deposit must be immediately returned to the lessee at the end of the agreement, unless the business operator has to investigate any damage in order to ascertain whether or not it is the responsibility of the lessee. If the lessee is found not to have caused any damage, the security deposit must be returned within seven days from the end of the agreement, and the business operator will re-take possession of the property. The business operator is responsible for any expenses incurred in returning the security deposit to the lessee.
  • If the agreement has a prescription period, the lessee has the right to terminate the agreement before expiration, provided the lessee has leased the property for no less than half of the period specified in the agreement. The lessee must provide at least 30 days’ advance written notice to the business operator, and must not be in default in respect to paying the rental fee or other expenses.
  • The business operator’s right to terminate the agreement must be written in red or black letters, or in bold or italics, and underlined, or emphasized in other ways that make such terms more pronounced than the other content of the agreement.
  • For termination of the agreement according to number 6 above, the business operator must provide at least 30 days’ advance written notice to the lessee. However, only 7 days’ advance notice is required if the cause of termination results from actions of the lessee that directly affect the normal livelihood of the other lessees. No advance notice is required if the lessee does not comply with the law and the regulations relating to public order and good morals.

Prohibited Terms and Conditions

If any of the prohibited terms listed below are included in a residential lease agreement, that agreement will be interpreted as not including them. These include the following:

  • Any waiver or limitation of the business operator’s liability from its breach of the agreement or wrongful acts, in respect to the material part, with no sufficient reason provided;
  • Any requirement placing the total amount of the advance rental fee and the security deposit above the equivalent of three months’ rent;
  • Any term that allows the business operator to change the rental fees, public utilities fees, service fees, or any other expenses before the end of the agreement;
  • Any term that allows the business operator to confiscate the security deposit or the advance rental fee without any fault on the part of the lessee;
  • Any term that allows the business operator, or its representative, to inspect the building or property without prior notice, unless it is an emergency circumstance that may create damage or have an impact on the business operator or the other lessees if the business operator does not conduct such emergency inspection;
  • Any stipulation of electricity and water supply fees that exceed the rates specified by the relevant authorities;
  • Any term that allows the business operator to prevent or obstruct the lessee’s access to the property to seize or remove the lessee’s belongings, without exercising the right to terminate the agreement legally;
  • Any term that allows the business operator to request any fee or expense for renewing the lease;
  • Any term that allows the business operator to terminate the agreement without any material breach of the lease agreement by the lessee;
  • Any term that makes the lessee liable for damages incurred due to ordinary wear and tear from the usage of the property’s contents and equipment;
  • Any term that makes the lessee liable for damage to the property, contents, and equipment that was not the lessee’s fault, and which occurred during force majeure situations; and
  • Any term that makes the lessee liable for defects to the property, contents, and equipment which were incurred due to ordinary wear and tear through usage.

Legal Basis

Through this notification, the Contract Committee of the Consumer Protection Board is exercising its power—granted by section 35 bis of the Consumer Protection Act B.E. 2522 (1979)—to ensure that written contracts between certain businesses and their consumers contain the necessary terms and conditions, thus preventing consumers from being unreasonably disadvantaged by unfair contract terms.

For more information on this or any notification of the Contract Committee or the Consumer Protection Board, or on any aspect of property leasing businesses in Thailand, please contact Tilleke & Gibbins at [email protected].

Related Professionals

Practices

Real Estate

Location

RELATED INSIGHTS​ 

August 11, 2026
Cambodia’s Ministry of Justice has launched a new platform on its official website to publish notices of forced sales issued by each municipal and provincial court of first instance. The platform’s stated purpose is to inform the public and facilitate greater participation in forced-sale auctions conducted in connection with court-ordered enforcement proceedings. How the Platform Works The platform publishes forced-sale notices from courts of first instance across Cambodia’s municipalities and provinces and includes a link where the public can view properties currently subject to forced sale. To participate in a forced-sale auction, individuals can download Khmer-language bidding application forms through links provided on the platform. The form typically requires the applicant’s name, sex, year of birth, identity card number and issue date, and address, together with details identifying the immovable property (including its ownership certificate number), the relevant enforcement case number and date, and the reference to the public auction or tender announcement issued by the court. Completed application forms must be submitted directly to the specific municipal or provincial court that issued the forced sale. For further inquiries about a particular forced sale, interested parties should likewise contact the relevant municipal or provincial court. Forced Sale of Immovable Property in Cambodia The publication of these notices relates to the forced sale procedure for immovable property under Cambodia’s Code of Civil Procedure (CPC). Unlike property seizure by a court, a forced sale is a compulsory execution proceeding—a subsequent enforcement step that arises only after an underlying dispute has been adjudicated and a debtor fails to pay the debt or outstanding amount due under a final and binding judgment or other enforceable title of execution. For the purposes of this procedure, the term “immovable property” under the CPC refers to land, registered buildings, jointly held shares of such property, registered
Read More
July 3, 2026
Thailand will keep its reduced government fees for property sale and mortgage registration in place for another year. Two Ministry of Interior notifications, issued following a cabinet resolution on June 30, 2026, and published in the Government Gazette on July 1, 2026, extend the previously reduced fee levels through June 30, 2027. The reduced registration fees apply to the sale and mortgage of the same property types covered in prior versions of the scheme: detached houses, semidetached houses, row houses, commercial buildings, land transferred together with such buildings, and condominium units. To be eligible for the reduced fees, the purchase price, the officially assessed value, and the mortgage amount must each not exceed THB 7 million, and the buyer must be a Thai individual. The reduced registration fees for eligible sales and mortgages are calculated as follows: Sale: 0.01% of the official assessed value (reduced from standard rate of 2%) Mortgage: 0.01% of the mortgage amount (reduced from standard rate of 1%) The reduced mortgage registration fee applies only if the mortgage is registered at the same time as the sale of the property.
Read More
April 30, 2026
Thailand’s Long-Term Resident (LTR) Visa regime offers an attractive immigration pathway for qualifying foreign nationals, providing a 10-year renewable permission to stay in Thailand. Following amendments under Board of Investment (BOI) Announcement No. Por. 3/2568 dated February 4, 2025, the regime now more explicitly accommodates property investment as a qualifying vehicle—a development of particular relevance to foreign nationals already considering real estate acquisitions in Thailand. The LTR Visa is available to several categories of applicants, including wealthy global citizens with global assets of at least USD 1 million, and wealthy pensioners aged 50 or older with an annual pension or fixed income of at least USD 40,000. Property as a Qualifying Investment For both categories, property investment is recognized as one of three eligible investment types alongside Thai government bonds (with at least five years remaining to maturity) and direct investments in Thai companies or approved venture capital or private equity vehicles. The minimum qualifying property investment is USD 500,000 for wealthy global citizens and USD 250,000 for wealthy pensioners. Eligible property types include freehold condominiums, buildings, or villas, as well as leasehold properties with a remaining lease term of at least 10 years. Health Coverage Requirement Beyond the investment threshold, applicants must demonstrate adequate health coverage. This requirement can be satisfied through a health insurance policy covering at least USD 50,000 in Thai medical expenses with at least 10 months of remaining coverage, evidence of social security benefits covering Thai medical costs, or a bank deposit of at least USD 100,000 retained for 12 months. Practical Considerations For foreign nationals already considering property acquisitions in prime residential markets—where investment values commonly meet or exceed the USD 500,000 threshold—the visa pathway effectively transforms a real estate purchase into a dual-purpose investment, combining asset ownership with long-term residence rights that
Read More
April 7, 2026
Real estate law specialists from Tilleke & Gibbins provided the chapter on Vietnam for Practical Law’s Commercial Real Estate Global Guide 2026, a comparative jurisdictional guide in Q&A format giving a high-level overview of real estate investment structures, restrictions on foreign ownership, and other important issues of real estate law. The main topics include the following: Real estate investment Title to real estate Sale of real estate Real estate tax Real estate finance Real estate leases Planning and development controls To read the Vietnam chapter, please visit the Practical Law website and enroll in the free Practical Law trial to gain full access.
Read More