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  • 1410-1416 Civil Law Right of Superficies

    Thai Land Laws – Right of Superficies in Thailand

    Civil Code Sections 1410–1416 Governing Rights of Superficies


    The Right of Superficies (สิทธิเหนือพื้นดิน) is a registrable real right under Thai property law that separates ownership of land from ownership of buildings, structures, or plantations situated on or under the land.

    Under a superficies structure, one person owns the land itself while another person may legally own buildings, structures, or plantations on the land without acquiring ownership rights in the land itself. Because foreigners generally cannot own land in Thailand, the right of superficies is commonly used in long-term residential and investment structures involving foreign ownership of houses or buildings located on Thai-owned land.

    In comparative civil-law systems, the Thai right of superficies is conceptually similar to the French droit de superficie, the German Erbbaurecht, and the Dutch recht van opstal.

  • ownership of a home in thailand

    Thai style building and owner's documents

    Buying a Thai Home
    foreign ownership of a house

    Foreigners cannot own land in Thailand but are allowed to lease land under a land lease agreement registered with the land department and own the structure built on leased land. Obtaining the correct legal ownership of the building upon the leased land greatly increases the land lessee's rights and long term interest in the property. The right to own a building upon another man's land however always relates to the right to use and possess the land, i.e the term of the land lease (and optional the term of an additional right of superficies).

  • Superficies

    Right of superficies (สิทธิเหนือพื้นดิน) is a registered land right in Thai civil law that lets a person use land and own any buildings/structures on it, separate from the landowner, either for the holder’s lifetime or up to 30 years. It functions similarly to a long-term lease in common-law systems but also gives ownership of the structures. A landowner in Thailand may grant this right to another person (including a foreigner).