Condominium freehold, within the quota
A foreigner can own a condominium unit outright, provided the building has room within its foreign quota. The unit is registered in your own name and it is the simplest form of foreign ownership available. Two things are checked before purchase: that the quota has space, and that the purchase funds were remitted into Thailand in foreign currency, because the bank’s foreign-exchange documents are examined at transfer.
A registered long lease
Land and houses can be held on a lease registered at the Land Office. Registration is what makes the full term a real right — including against a new owner if the property is sold — and an unregistered lease is enforceable only for three years however long the paper says. Thirty years is the registrable maximum, and a promise to renew afterwards is a contractual obligation on today’s lessor rather than a registered right against tomorrow’s owner.
Usufruct, superficies and habitation
Thai law recognises several registrable real rights short of ownership. A usufruct gives the right to use and take the fruits of land for a period or for life; superficies supports owning a building on land belonging to someone else; a right of habitation allows a person to live in a dwelling. Each is registered against the title and each suits a different objective, which is why the goal is defined before the instrument is chosen.
The company that owns the house
A Thai company formed for the sole purpose of holding a foreigner’s home, with Thai shareholders who did not genuinely invest, is a nominee structure — unlawful, and exposing the company, the foreign buyer and the Thai shareholders. Where a company genuinely trades and property is part of its business, that is a different question entirely, and one worth asking properly.
Plan for what happens afterwards
Whichever route is used, the inheritance question follows it. A foreigner may inherit as an heir but generally cannot hold land outright and is typically required to dispose of it within a set period. Deciding in advance what should happen — a sale instruction, a condominium within the quota, or a registered right for a surviving spouse — is far better than the family discovering the limit at the Land Office counter.