Can foreign investors buy land in Thailand? What the new rule changed

01The principle: foreign companies cannot buy land, with three main exemptions

When Chinese-invested companies come to Thailand to build a plant, the question that comes up at the site-selection stage is almost always the same: can the company simply buy the land? The answer has two layers. Thai law says no in principle to foreign land ownership, but it left a door open for BOI-promoted companies — and after September 2025 that door is closed to part of the manufacturing sector.

The Land Code, promulgated in 1954, prohibits foreign individuals and foreign legal persons from buying or holding land unless the competent authority grants permission. Three statutory exemptions matter:

• Section 27 of the Investment Promotion Act. An investor holding BOI promotion may hold land for the promoted activity; if the project ends or is transferred, the land must be sold within one year.
• Section 44 of the IEAT Act. An approved company may hold land inside an industrial estate; if the project ends, the land must be returned or transferred within three years.
• Concession arrangements under the petroleum law, which have little bearing on ordinary manufacturing.

For manufacturing clients, the BOI land privilege is in practice the only realistic route to holding land directly.

One warning to add here: putting the land behind a Thai shareholder holding it on your behalf is not a tolerated workaround. There are specific rules aimed at foreigners who hold land through a nominally Thai majority, and that line is worth understanding on its own. See the legal line on Thai nominee shareholders.

02What tightened: six manufacturing categories lost the land privilege

BOI Announcement No. ส.7/2568, signed on 22 July 2025 and effective 1 September 2025, revised the list of promoted activities. For BOI applications submitted on or after the effective date, foreign-majority companies in the following six categories no longer receive the land privilege:

• Rolling, drawing, casting and forging of non-ferrous metals (5.4.9)
• Ferrous metal products and parts (5.4.11.2)
• Non-ferrous metal products and parts for industrial use (5.4.11.4)
• Other metal products (5.4.11.5)
• Industrial chemicals (6.2)
• Plastic products and parts for industrial use (6.4.1)

Where this most often goes wrong. Auto parts makers, metal structural component makers and plastic parts makers land in these six categories in large numbers. The activity code has to be checked line by line at the BOI tier assessment stage. Finding out only after the promotion certificate arrives that you cannot buy the land can force the site, the investment projections and even the shareholding structure to be redone. See how the BOI tiers work.

03Who is not affected: the large-group exemption and data centres

The new rule leaves one exemption open. A legal entity that has already obtained at least three BOI-promoted projects in the past 15 years, with cumulative investment (excluding land cost and working capital) reaching 5 billion baht, is not caught by the restriction. That is plainly a channel for large groups with a long history in Thailand; a company coming to Thailand for the first time will not reach it.

The other question we get asked often is data centres. Data centres are not inside the six restricted categories, and the land exemption for BOI-promoted data centre projects still stands. That also shows that whether the land privilege is available depends on the specific promoted category. The blanket statement that BOI projects can buy land no longer holds.

04If you cannot buy: long lease, industrial estates, and splitting building from land

Companies that fall inside the restricted categories still have three ordinary alternatives.

• Locate in an IEAT industrial estate and hold land inside the estate under the estate legislation.
• Take a long lease on the land. A common arrangement is a 30-year term with an agreed renewal, but the renewal right is a contractual right and does not necessarily bind a later purchaser of the land. Longer arrangements vary with the governing law and the intended use, so go by the official rules currently in force.
• Separate ownership of the building from ownership of the land. A foreign company can own the factory building it puts up itself, with the land handled by long lease.

If you are buying an existing factory and its land, the due diligence must check the level of title — a full Chanot title deed is the strongest — and whether the title carries an "under investigation" annotation. An annotated plot is not legally barred from transfer, but buyers generally will not take it on, so while the investigation runs it cannot change hands in practice.

Buying, entering an estate or leasing long: there is no general answer. It depends on the promoted activity code, the size of the investment and the site plan. For an individual case, have our advisers check it item by item against your BOI approval, your activity code and the land contract before you decide. What the company and shareholding engagement covers.