Nation Thailand
Thailand nominee crackdown exposes property law loopholes
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The accelerated crackdown on nominee businesses and foreign ownership of real estate in Thailand throughout 2025-2026 reflects the state’s efforts to bring order to the property market, especially in key tourist areas such as Phuket, Koh Samui and Koh Pha-ngan, destinations for foreign investors from many countries.
Key facts
- However, even as enforcement has become more intensive, experts and related agencies still view the main problem as lying not only in detecting offenders, but in the “structural loopholes”
- A deeper look at individual areas finds that Koh Samui has 8,213 companies with foreign investment, with French investors forming the largest group at about 24%.
- Koh Pha-ngan has 3,213 foreign-shareholding companies, with Israeli investors holding the highest share at about 22%.
- The operation led to the freezing and seizure of assets linked to a nominee network with a combined value of more than THB200 million.
- Another issue discussed continuously is the requirement under the Condominium Act that limits foreign ownership of condominium units to no more than 49% of the total saleable area in each project.
- A key channel is the use of Thai companies as intermediaries to hold condominium units, because companies with Thai shareholders holding no less than 51% are regarded as Thai juristic persons and can buy units under the Thai quota.
Summary
However, even as enforcement has become more intensive, experts and related agencies still view the main problem as lying not only in detecting offenders, but in the “structural loopholes” in the law and regulatory system that continue to make nominee investment an economically attractive activity.
The problem covers issues ranging from Section 94 of the Land Code, the use of nominee companies to circumvent restrictions on real estate ownership, tax avoidance through share transfers, and constraints in checking the foreign condominium ownership quota, which the law caps at no more than 49%.