Usufruct in Thailand, and what happens when you die
Not sure where to start? Start here
Written by Greg Berryman. Sources last checked 23 August 2026.
A usufruct is a registered right to live in and take the income from a property somebody else owns. In Thai, สิทธิเก็บกิน. It is the usual answer for a foreigner living in a house on land held in a Thai spouse or partner's name.
It holds up when the owner dies. It ends the day the holder dies, and passes to nobody.
The chart below runs through whether one protects you, and what to do next.
Every box with an underlined heading opens the page that explains it.
What is a usufruct in Thailand?
Section 1417 of the Civil and Commercial Code gives the holder possession of the property, with the use, enjoyment and management of it. The owner keeps ownership. You get everything you would have as an owner short of the title itself, including the right to let the property and keep the rent, unless the grant says otherwise. Section 1422.
It only works on immovable property that carries a registered title, and it has to be registered at the Land Office against that title. Registration is what makes it bind anyone who comes later. An unregistered agreement between the two of you binds only the two of you.
Which document the property holds decides whether that is possible at all. A chanote takes one without a waiting period, a Nor Sor 3 Gor is reported to work the same way, a plain Nor Sor 3 is disputed, and a Sor Kor 1 cannot carry one until it is upgraded. See what a chanote is, and the Thai land titles below it.
How long does a usufruct last?
Either for your life, or for a fixed period of up to thirty years, renewable for up to thirty more. Section 1418.
Where no period is stated, the law presumes it is for your life. For most foreigners living in a house they expect to stay in, that is the version worth having.
What happens to a usufruct when someone dies?
This is where a usufruct earns its place, and where it stops.
| What happens | What becomes of the usufruct |
|---|---|
| The owner dies | It continues. Whoever inherits the land takes it with your right registered on it |
| The owner sells the property | It continues. The buyer takes the land with your right registered on it |
| You and the owner separate | It continues. It is a registered right, not a term of the relationship |
| You leave Thailand | It continues. It is tied to the property, not to your visa |
| You lose capacity | It continues, but nobody can deal with it on your behalf until a court appoints a guardian |
| You die | It ends. Section 1418, final paragraph |
The first row is the whole point. A foreigner cannot own land here, so without something registered there is no legal right to be in the house at all. If the owner dies, the land passes to the statutory heirs under section 1629, and those heirs are her relatives rather than yours. A usufruct means they inherit the land with you still living in it.
The last row is the limit. A usufruct is personal to the holder and cannot be inherited. It does not pass to your children, to a later partner, or to anyone named in your will. On the day you die the land goes back to the owner or the owner's heirs, clear of it.
Does a usufruct protect the other person?
No. It runs one way.
A usufruct protects the person who does not own the land. If the foreign spouse or partner dies first, it simply ends, and the Thai owner is left where they already were, holding the land outright.
Where a couple want cover in both directions, that is two separate arrangements and a question for a lawyer rather than a website.
Does a usufruct help an unmarried partner?
Yes, and it is one of the few things on this site that does.
An unmarried partner inherits nothing under Thai law, whatever the length of the relationship. Section 1629 lists six classes of heir and a partner appears in none of them. A registered usufruct sidesteps that entirely, because it is not inheritance. It is a right that already exists on the title before anybody dies, and the heirs take the land subject to it.
It gives no share of the property and no money. It gives somewhere to live. What else an unmarried partner faces is on what happens to your partner if you die in Thailand.
What does a usufruct not do?
It is not ownership. You cannot sell the land, mortgage it or leave it to anyone. The owner cannot sell it out from under your right, but the land is still theirs.
It does not get round the land rules. A foreigner still cannot own land. A usufruct is a lawful registered right rather than a way around section 86 of the Land Code, and it should not be presented to a Land Office as anything else.
It does not put you on the title as an owner. It is registered against the deed as an encumbrance on the owner's title.
It does nothing for your estate. It has no value to leave. When you die there is nothing there for an estate administrator to collect.
It does not survive your incapacity in any useful sense. The right continues, but you cannot exercise it, deal with it or defend it, and no power of attorney you signed earlier will let anyone do so for you. See power of attorney in Thailand.
What are you responsible for while it runs?
More than a tenant, less than an owner.
You must look after the property as a person of ordinary prudence would look after their own, and keep its substance unaltered. Ordinary maintenance and small repairs are yours. Sections 1421 and 1424. Where a major repair is needed you have to tell the owner and let them carry it out, and if they will not, you can have the work done at their expense.
The annual taxes and charges on the property fall to you while the usufruct runs. Section 1426. The owner can require you to insure the property. Section 1427.
When it ends, the property goes back to the owner in the condition ordinary use left it in. Section 1420.
Can the owner cancel a usufruct?
Not unilaterally. Once registered it is a real right attached to the land, and it stands until it expires, until you die, or until you agree to release it.
The owner can go to court to end it if the holder uses the property unlawfully or fails in the duties above. That is a court's decision rather than the owner's.
How do you register a usufruct in Thailand?
Both parties attend the Land Office that holds the title deed, with the deed, passports or identity cards, and evidence of any marriage.
What does registration cost?
Very little, where the usufruct is granted for nothing, which is the usual family arrangement.
The Department of Lands publishes the fee for registering a right or juristic act where no consideration passes: 50 baht per plot of land, and 100 baht per condominium unit. No stamp duty is payable in that case.
Where money does change hands for the usufruct, the fee becomes 1 per cent of that consideration, with stamp duty of 0.5 per cent on top.
Two things worth settling before you go. Whether it runs for life or for a term, because the default where nothing is said is life. And whether you may let the property, because section 1422 allows it unless the grant excludes it.
Can the Land Office refuse?
Yes, and this is worth knowing before you build plans on it.
Section 74 of the Land Code requires the officer to examine an application and to refuse registration where the transaction is one the law does not permit. Thai practitioners report that officers apply this to usufructs granted to foreigners, on the basis that some are attempts to hold land on a foreigner's behalf, and that practice varies between provinces. The Department of Lands publishes no policy on the point.
Ask at the Land Office that holds the deed before you make arrangements that depend on the answer.
Where does this sit against the rest of it?
A usufruct answers one question: where do you live if the owner dies first. It answers nothing else.
The bank account still freezes, and only a court order releases it. See the court order that unfreezes a Thai bank account. Nobody can act for you if you lose capacity. See losing capacity in Thailand. And a will still decides who gets everything that is not the land. See wills in Thailand, and which country's law applies.
If you hold land, a house or a condominium here, this is the point to instruct a Thai lawyer rather than read a website. The interaction between a usufruct, marital property and inheritance turns on facts this page cannot see.
What is in the guide?
This page covers one registered right and what happens to it on a death. The guide contains an asset and document inventory, the next of kin authorisation letter in the wording the embassies ask for, and separate modules for British, American, Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and Irish citizens, because the six governments define next of kin differently.
Sources
- Thai Civil and Commercial Code, Book IV, Title V, sections 1417 to 1428 on usufruct. Section 1417 on the rights conferred, section 1418 on duration and on the usufruct ending with the death of the usufructuary, section 1420 on return of the property, sections 1421 and 1424 on the standard of care and on maintenance and repairs, section 1422 on transferring the exercise of the right, section 1426 on taxes and charges, and section 1427 on insurance.
- Thai Civil and Commercial Code, section 1629 on the six classes of statutory heir, and section 1299 on the registration of rights over immovable property.
- ค่าธรรมเนียม ภาษี และอากร, Department of Lands, Ministry of Interior. Source of the registration fee of 50 baht per plot where no consideration passes, and of the condominium figure under the ministerial regulation issued under the Condominium Act B.E. 2522. Thai language. Checked 23 August 2026.
- Land Code, section 86 on the acquisition of land by foreigners, and section 74 on the duty of the officer to examine an application and refuse registration of a transaction the law does not permit.
- That land officers apply section 74 to usufructs granted to foreigners, and that practice varies by province, is reported by Thai practitioners rather than published by the Department of Lands. The 1 per cent fee and 0.5 per cent stamp duty where consideration is paid are also as reported rather than taken from the Department's own schedule.
- Which land documents can carry a registered usufruct is set out on the chanote page, where the position for a chanote, a Nor Sor 3 Gor, a plain Nor Sor 3 and a Sor Kor 1 is graded separately. The chanote and Nor Sor 3 Gor position is reported by Thai property lawyers rather than published by the Land Department, and the Nor Sor 3 position is reported inconsistently.
- Code sections are cited from published English translations. No official English text of Thai legislation exists. Only the Thai text as published in the Royal Gazette has legal force. Thai legal review of these sections is under way. Section numbers are given so the provisions can be checked directly. See about this site.