Nominee Land Ownership: Tighter Enforcement Proposed, Not Yet Law

Thai authorities have spent much of 2026 tightening scrutiny of nominee land-ownership structures, and reported proposals now under review with the Cabinet would raise the penalties and enforcement tools significantly — though none of it is law yet.

Background: what's already illegal

Under existing Thai law, foreigners cannot own land outright. The main route to direct land ownership for a foreign investor is through the Board of Investment, which permits land purchases of up to 1 rai for a qualifying investment of at least THB 40 million, subject to ministerial approval. Using a nominee structure — where a Thai individual or entity holds land on paper for the real benefit of a foreign owner who actually controls it — has long been illegal under Thailand's existing land and foreign business laws. What has reportedly changed in 2026 is not the underlying illegality, but the intensity and tools of enforcement, and proposed increases to the penalties involved.

What's been reported this year

The Cabinet reviewed nominee-ownership enforcement measures in February 2026, reportedly including plans for AI-assisted screening tools at the Land Department to flag suspicious ownership patterns [1]. Public consultation on an amendment to the Foreign Business Act closed in April 2026 [2]. Most significantly, Thailand's Ombudsman said on 23 July 2026 that amendments carrying penalties of up to 3 years' imprisonment and fines of roughly THB 3 million for both Thai and foreign shareholders involved in nominee structures had been submitted to the Cabinet [3]. Separately, a proposal under study would allow land found to have been held through a nominee structure to be forfeited to the State under the Land Code [4].

None of these measures — the AI screening system, the amended penalties, or the forfeiture proposal — has been confirmed as enacted law as of this writing. They remain proposals submitted to or under review by the Cabinet, reported through official statements and consultation processes rather than published as new legislation.

What this means for foreign buyers

If you are a foreign buyer considering any property arrangement in Thailand, the reported crackdown is a signal to be more cautious, not a description of new rules that apply to you today. If your ownership plan relies on a Thai nominee — a friend, spouse, or company structured to disguise your effective control of land — that structure is already illegal under current law, independent of whatever new penalties are eventually enacted. The reported proposals would raise the stakes considerably if adopted: potential imprisonment, larger fines, and forfeiture of the land itself to the State. Legitimate paths to property ownership for foreigners remain condominium ownership (up to the 49% foreign quota per building) and, for land, the BOI investment route under the THB 40 million/1 rai/ministerial-approval conditions described above. Buyers should treat any adviser or developer proposing a nominee arrangement as a red flag regardless of how the pending legislation resolves.

What this means for agents and owners

Agents advising foreign clients should tighten due diligence now, ahead of any legislation taking effect. That means asking direct questions about how a foreign client intends to hold land-linked interests, flagging any structure that looks like it is designed to put a Thai name on a deed while leaving effective control with a foreign party, and steering clients toward condominium ownership or the BOI route rather than facilitating or staying silent on a nominee arrangement. Given that the Ombudsman's statement and the AI-screening reports both point toward more active investigation by the Land Department, agents and owners with existing nominee-adjacent structures in their portfolios — including older transactions arranged before current scrutiny increased — should treat this as a prompt to review those arrangements with a lawyer, rather than wait for the amendments to pass. It is worth being explicit with clients that as of today, the 3-year/THB 3 million penalty figures and the forfeiture-to-the-State proposal are reported items still under study — not yet enacted — and agents should avoid stating them as current law when briefing clients, while still treating the underlying nominee prohibition as settled, long-standing law.