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Thai law made simple
Foreigners may under section 86 of the land code act acquire land in Thailand by virtue of the provision of a treaty giving him the right to own land. There is currently no treaty with any country allowing foreigners to own land in Thailand. The Thai government created one specific and restrictive exemption for foreign land ownership in section 96 bis of this act.
Usufruct is a legal concept based on Thai Civil Law. In Thailand it is a part of the category real rights and governed by sections 1417 to 1428. In common law, when a right of usufruct or usufruct contract is registered over a residential home, it could be more or less compared with the concept of a life estate, and the usufructuary with the 'life tenant' but not with the concept of temporary owner. Usufruct contract in Thailand is not transferable and always ends at death of the usufructuary.
Real estate or property law in Thailand is the area of Thai law that governs the rights of use, possession and various forms of ownership of immovable property (land, house, condominium). In this article a brief legal introduction to the most common real estate laws in Thailand.
Real estate and real property laws in the Thailand Civil and Commercial Code governing land and building and who owns or has use of it
BOOK IV
TITLE I
Section 1298. Real rights may be created only by the virtue of this Code or other laws.
Servitude as a legal property right is governed by the sections 1387 to 1401 civil and commercial code. The practical use of a right of servitude is that it could be registered as a 'right of way' (easement) over one or more neighboring land plots in case a land plot is surrounded by other land plots without having direct access to a public road. It secures access to the public road. The right of servitude in Thailand has a broader use and can put several kinds of burdens or restrictions on a neighboring parcel or parcels of land (such as the use of a neighboring water well, or specifying private building restrictions).
A servitude is a registered right (with the Land Department) that a person has over the immovable property (not restricted to land) of another and is the legal right that runs with an immovable property, but servitude can also be acquired after a period of time a certain right or practice has existed (note section 1401 below).