In decision No. 4655/2566 of 2025, the Supreme Court of Thailand refused a lessee’s claim to compel the grant of a second leasehold term. The debate around it continues, and buyers are being told that developers will take back their property after 30 years, that a lease carrying a right to two further terms under the 30+30+30 arrangement is void in its entirety and the property will be taken back now, and that leasehold purchases are safe only from developers that are public companies.
The facts of the case
Two individuals — a Thai lessor and a foreign lessee — entered into a 30-year lease of a plot of land and the buildings on it, with the lessor undertaking to renew the lease for two further 30-year terms. The lessee paid for all three terms: THB 1.5 million for the first and THB 600,000 each for the second and third.
Thirty years later the lessor went to court to evict the lessee, and the lessee counterclaimed to compel the lessor to enter into a new lease. The court of first instance ruled for the lessee; the court of appeal set that ruling aside and ordered the lessee to vacate the plot. The Supreme Court upheld the eviction and awarded damages of THB 30,000 for each month of unlawful occupation of the plot.
The court’s reasoning and the limits of the ruling
The court proceeds from the position that economic conditions change, that the parties cannot foresee rental values more than 30 years ahead, and that one of them will clearly be harmed as those values shift.
The parties may not extend the lease term privately by relying on freedom of contract: were that permitted, the 30-year limit would serve no purpose.
What is void is not the lease as a whole but only the part providing for renewal for two further terms. The lease itself remains in force.
Leasehold purchases from a developer
The one conclusion that follows from the decision is that a developer cannot be compelled through the courts to grant a leasehold for a second and third term. The conclusion is provisional.
The legal basis
The 30-year limit on lease terms is set by section 540 of the Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand. The text of the decision can be retrieved by case number from the Supreme Court database.
Author: Aleksandra Agapitova.
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