Longer leases: Good or bad?

Real estate firm Colliers International (Thailand) has published an insightful report looking at the topical yet controversial issue of 99-year property leases in the Kingdom.

The report looks at both sides of the argument, listing the pros and cons on each side of the debate.

In its conclusion, Colliers said it believes that 99-year leases would, overall, be a good thing for Thailand and should be supported.

“Given the problems experienced implementing the Leasehold Act, the logical and simplest way to reform the leasehold system would be to amend the terms of the Civil & Commercial Code from stipulating a maximum term of 30-years to a maximum term of 99-years.”

It added that in order to make sure the amendment is used for its intended purpose of encouraging urban property development, rather than allowing massive land grabs, it may be necessary to maintain the restriction of 30 years on agricultural or rural land while allowing 99-years on urban and resort properties.

Dot Property Group believes this is one of the most informative documents on the topic and anyone with an interest in property and real estate in Thailand should download the research document.

Maximum leashold in ASEAN chart