A townhouse can look like a whole house, with its own entrance, two floors, a pool, a terrace and a small garden, and still be registered as a condominium unit. When it is, the buyer’s registered ownership is the unit plus a co-owned share of the common property, land included, in proportion to the unit’s floor area. Under the Condominium Act B.E. 2522 (1979), the land under the building and land set aside for shared use are common property. Whether the buyer alone may use the garden, the pool or the parking is a separate question, and the registration must answer it.
Phuket brokers have been asking us whether a townhouse can be registered as a condominium so that a foreign buyer can take it freehold. We also gave this answer on video on 13 October 2026: the label does not say what the buyer owns, the registration does.
The Act splits every condominium into owned and shared parts
Section 4 defines a condominium as a building in which ownership can be held in separate parts, each made of ownership of personal property and co-ownership of common property. Personal property “means a unit, and includes a structure or land set aside as belonging to each individual unit owner”. Common property is the part that is not a unit, the land on which the condominium stands, and land or other property provided for the joint use or benefit of the co-owners.
A unit owner owns his personal property and co-owns the common property (section 13). His share of the common property is his unit’s floor area as a ratio of the total unit floor area, measured when the application to register the condominium is made (section 14). The unit title deed is the evidence of both (section 4). It shows the land plot the condominium stands on and the unit’s share of the common property (section 21).
The land under a townhouse is common property, co-owned by unit owners
Section 15 deems common property to include the land on which the condominium stands, land provided for joint use or benefit, buildings or parts of buildings and equipment provided for joint use or benefit, and facilities provided as services to the whole condominium. Under section 16, common property that is immovable cannot be sued for partition, enforced by mortgage or sold at auction separately from the personal property. It is managed under the Act and the condominium’s registered rules, through the juristic person.
So the test for a pool, a garden, a terrace or a parking space starts with the registration. The application to register a condominium must include the details of the units, the personal property and the common property (section 6). The Act lets personal property include land set aside for a unit owner, but it also deems the land under the condominium and land for joint use to be common property. It does not say how the two fit, or how a Phuket townhouse project registers land as a unit’s own. Whether a foreign buyer can hold land listed as unit property is open: foreigners take units freehold under section 19, but freehold land is generally closed to them under the Land Code. Use of common and personal property is set by the condominium’s registered bylaws (sections 17 and 32).
Because the project is a condominium, the 49% quota applies too. Aliens and the juristic persons specified in section 19 may together hold units up to 49% of the total floor area of all units, measured when the application to register the condominium is made under section 6 (section 19 bis).
In practice, the registered documents decide the deal
A foreign buyer generally cannot hold land freehold under the Land Code. The Department of Lands publishes the Section 96 bis procedure for one of the narrow exceptions: a qualifying investment of THB 40 million, held for at least five years, with Minister of Interior approval, for up to one rai of residential land. So a villa or townhouse that is not a condominium usually means the building owned and the land on a registered long-term lease. A townhouse project registered as a condominium can offer units to foreign buyers as freehold within the 49% quota. What the condominium form adds is a co-owned share of the land, which a long lease does not give. Exclusive use of a garden or pool outside the unit is a different matter, and the bylaws decide it.
A name for a legal scheme in an advertisement is not a registered right. Phrases such as “a whole townhouse in freehold” or “foreigners can now buy villas in freehold” sometimes describe a well-built legal structure and sometimes are only marketing wording. Registered title comes from the registered documents. The advertisement still counts: under section 6/1, a condominium’s sales advertising forms part of the sale agreement, and where it conflicts with the agreement it is read in the buyer’s favour. So a promise in an advert may give the buyer a contract claim even where it does not change registered title.
What to ask before you reserve
Ask to see the documents and read the scheme part by part: what is owned, what is leased, what is common area, which rights are registered with the Land Department. Freehold of what, exactly? Where do the boundaries run? What share of the land comes with the unit, and who owns the pool? Is the garden your own property or common territory? Which bylaw gives any exclusive right of use, can it be changed, and by whom? What happens on resale? Then compare the Land Department’s documents with the brochure, and keep the brochure. This is our checklist, not legal advice. For the background, see the Condominium Act explained, freehold versus leasehold, the 49% foreign quota and how foreigners hold Thai property.
