Sap-Ing-Sith Thailand: The 30-Year Right Explained

DanSiam Property does not give legal advice. This article is an update on the current situation, drawn from public sources; for your own case, speak to a Thai lawyer.

Since 2019, Thai law has allowed the owner of Chanote land or a condominium unit to grant a registered right over it for up to 30 years, and the person who holds that right may sell it, mortgage it and leave it to their heirs. It is called Sap-Ing-Sith (ทรัพย์อิงสิทธิ), and because the Act sets no nationality test, it sits alongside the lease, usufruct and superficies as one of the rights Thai property law for foreigners leaves open to them. Since this year’s crackdown on nominee companies it has started to appear in sales material as the answer for every villa held through a company. The right is genuine and, for a buyer who wants something they can sell or pass on, better than a lease, but it is narrower than much of what is now said about it.

What is Sap-Ing-Sith, and where does the law come from?

The Act on Sap-Ing-Sith B.E. 2562 was published in the Royal Gazette on 30 April 2019 and came into force 180 days later, in late October 2019 (the Act as published, via the Thai Senate). Its stated purpose was to close a gap: a lease under the Civil and Commercial Code is only a contract between two parties, and Parliament wanted a right to use property that could be transferred and mortgaged in its own name. Registration became practical only once the ministerial regulations of 2020 (B.E. 2563) had set out the procedure and the fees (Dharmniti Law Office). What the Act creates is a real right: the land office records it on the title deed and issues a Sap-Ing-Sith certificate in two counterparts, one for the owner and one kept at the office. In practice the owner creates the right in their own name and then transfers it to the person who will use the property, so every Sap-Ing-Sith begins with the registered owner.

What can it be registered over, and for how long?

Section 3 of the Act limits the right to land with a Chanote title deed, land together with the buildings on it, and condominium units (Tilleke & Gibbins). Land on a Nor Sor 3 Gor does not qualify, and nor does a building on its own, so check the title first; our guide to buying land in Hua Hin and its title deeds explains the two deeds. Section 4 sets the rules of creation. Only the owner can create the right, at the land office, over the whole property and never part of a plot or unit, for a fixed term of at most 30 years, and a mortgagee or other registered right-holder must consent in writing first. The Act contains no renewal provision (Samui For Sale): anything longer needs a new agreement and a fresh registration when the first term ends, which the owner at that point is free to decline.

What does the holder get, and what stays with the owner?

The Act gives the holder the rights, duties and liabilities of an owner, with two exceptions: recovering the property from someone holding it unlawfully, and stopping unlawful interference with it, remain with the landowner. Otherwise the holder may live in the property, let it, alter it and build on it without asking. What the holder builds on land passes to the landowner when the right ends unless the two agree otherwise, while alterations inside a condominium unit stay with the holder. While the right exists, the plot cannot be subdivided or merged.

Section 9 sets out the owner’s side. Once the right is registered, the owner cannot create another real right over the property without the holder’s written consent, but can still sell or mortgage it, and a buyer takes the land subject to the registered right. One limit is easy to miss: if the title deed beneath it is ever revoked, the certificate falls with it (Thammasat University thesis, 2021). A holder’s position is strong, but only as sound as the owner’s title.

Sap-Ing-Sith, lease, usufruct or superficies: how do they compare?

Thai law already offered other ways to use property you do not own, and three matter to a buyer. Besides the familiar lease, a usufruct gives a named person the use and fruits of a property, often for life, and a superficies gives the right to own buildings on someone else’s land, which is one way a foreign buyer can own a house while leasing the land beneath it.

Right	What you hold	Longest term	Selling or assigning it	On the holder’s death
Lease	A personal contract to use the property	30 years; a pre-agreed automatic renewal was struck down in 2023	Needs the landowner’s consent	Generally ends, unless the lease allows assignment
Usufruct	Possession, use and the fruits of the property	For life, or a fixed term of up to 30 years	Only the exercise of the right can pass	Always ends
Superficies	Ownership of buildings on another’s land	Up to 30 years, renewable, or for the life of the owner or holder	Yes, unless the grant says otherwise	Passes to heirs unless the grant says otherwise
Sap-Ing-Sith	A registered real right over the whole property	Up to 30 years, fixed, with no renewal in the Act	Yes, without the owner’s consent, by registered transfer	Passes to heirs for the rest of the term, through a court-appointed administrator

The lease row rests partly on Supreme Court case law rather than statute, and our page on whether a Thai lease can be renewed covers those decisions and the 2023 ruling on "30+30" renewals in full. The gap is still real: a 2023 knowledge sheet from Thailand’s Land Development Department notes that a Civil Code lease cannot be used as collateral, while a Sap-Ing-Sith can be mortgaged, let, sold and inherited (Land Development Department). The usufruct and superficies rows follow sections 1417 to 1428 and 1410 to 1412 of the Civil and Commercial Code (Civil and Commercial Code, Book IV).

Can a foreigner hold it, and what does registration cost?

A foreigner can. The Act places no restriction on the holder’s nationality, as the Dharmniti Law Office and a 2021 Thammasat University thesis both confirm (Dharmniti Law Office), although any business use of the property by a foreigner stays under the Foreign Business Act 1999. Our 2025 guide to property ownership for foreigners and our article on what foreigners can own on the beachfront set out the wider picture.

The 2020 ministerial regulation sets the land office fees, as the Thammasat thesis records. Creating and registering the right costs 20,000 THB, charged when the owner creates it in their own name, plus 10,000 THB for issuing the Sap-Ing-Sith certificate. The person taking it over then acquires it by registered transfer at 2% of the declared value, while a transfer without payment, such as a gift or an inheritance, costs 1,000 THB (Thai Law Online). A mortgage over the right costs 1% of the sum secured, and cancelling a registration 20,000 THB. We found no Revenue Department ruling on how a transfer is taxed and the secondary sources disagree, so ask a Thai tax adviser before you agree a price.

Where does it fit when a company-held villa is restructured?

A company can lawfully own land when the venture is genuinely jointly funded by Thai and foreign investors and foreigners hold no more than 49%, as the Director-General of the Department of Business Development, Poonpong Naiyanapakorn, said in August (The Nation). What is unlawful is the nominee arrangement, and our September update on the nominee crackdown in Hua Hin sets out the enforcement, the penalties and the local figures in full.

Read plainly, the Act allows one lawful sequence. A company that may not hold its land disposes of it to a genuine owner, as the Land Code requires. That owner may then grant a Sap-Ing-Sith in place of a lease, and the occupier ends up with a registered right that can be sold, mortgaged and inherited rather than a personal contract.

What it cannot do is cure the arrangement it replaces. Only the registered owner can create the right, so in a nominee structure the grantor is the nominee company itself: the unlawful landholding stays exactly where it was, and a right granted to the company’s own foreign backer fixes nothing. Our guide to buying a villa in Hua Hin as a foreigner sets out the lawful routes for a new purchase. For an existing structure, speak to a Thai lawyer before anything moves.

What happens when the term ends, on a sale of the land, and on death?

When the term ends, the right ends and the property returns to the owner as it stands; since any building the holder put up on the land passes with it unless the two have agreed otherwise, a holder who plans to build a villa should settle that in writing before registration. A sale of the land during the term does not disturb the right, which is registered on the title. Nor is a longer term on the way: the 99-year right in the headlines was a single draft amendment to this Act, which Bhumjaithai’s deputy leader said on 16 September 2025 "will not be pursued further" (The Nation). We have found no record that it was enacted, and our July 2026 update on the 99-year proposal has the detail.

Inheritance works, but not by itself. The right passes to the heirs for the rest of the term, yet under the 2020 ministerial regulation only an estate administrator appointed by a Thai court can apply to register the change, even for a single heir or a foreign holder, according to the same thesis, so heirs should expect a court application in Thailand. Selling or mortgaging the right during the term is just as formal: each dealing is made in writing and registered at the land office, which then notifies the owner.

Why do so few land offices register it yet?

Few owners have used it, and some offices are still unfamiliar with the procedure. The 2021 Thammasat thesis found from registration statistics that the Act had "not yet been put to use", and Thai Law Online, a Thai firm that registers these rights, writes that "some land offices are not very aware of this". We found no official count of registrations and no Thai court ruling on a dispute under the Act, so its protections rest on the text rather than on tested cases. In practice a first registration at a given office may take longer than a lease, and your lawyer should be one who has registered a Sap-Ing-Sith before.

Sap-Ing-Sith is a better instrument than a lease for someone who wants to use a property for up to 30 years and keep the freedom to sell, mortgage or pass on that use, and it is worth raising with an owner whenever a villa sits on Chanote land or the property is a condominium unit. It is not a route around the rules on who may own land, and it will not repair a structure that was wrong from the start. This is information, not legal advice. Speak to a Thai property lawyer about your own position before you sign anything or move a title.

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Weighing a villa or condo in Hua Hin?

A Sap-Ing-Sith starts with a genuine owner and the right title. Browse what we have for sale, and ask us about the title and ownership behind any listing before you commit. Own a villa through a company and want to sell it? Tell us and we will help you sell. Restructuring an ownership is a matter for a Thai lawyer.