Renting in Thailand: the deposit, the standard contract and the landlord who falls outside it

Yes, renting is the normal start in Thailand, and it is well regulated as long as you know who you are renting from. Since 2025 a regulation of the Thai consumer authority OCPB sets what a landlord with three or more homes may ask: deposit and advance rent together at most three months' rent, the deposit back within seven days, and water and electricity no more expensive than what the utility charges the landlord himself. The pitfall lies in that number three. If you rent one flat from a private owner, that owner falls outside the regulation, and only what the two of you write down applies.

Which rules apply since 2025?

The regulation's full name is renting out buildings for residence as a contract-controlled business, B.E. 2568. It appeared in the Thai Royal Gazette on 6 June 2025 and took effect ninety days later; it replaces the regulation of 2019. It applies to a landlord who rents housing to a private individual, if he rents out three or more units, in one building or spread over several, and also when the letting runs through an online platform.

The regulation has two standard contracts: model A for tenancies of up to and including three years, model B for longer than three years up to thirty years. What may in any case not be in the contract:

What the landlord may not do	Short contract (up to 3 years)	Long contract (3 to 30 years)
Deposit and advance rent combined	no more than 3 months' rent	no more than 3 months' rent, or 1 year's rent if you pay per year
Water and electricity	no more than the rate the utility charges him	same
Raise rent or charges	not before the contract ends	same
Lock you out or remove your belongings	not while the contract has not been lawfully terminated	same
Enter without notice	only in an emergency	same
Charge you for normal wear and tear	no	no

The contract must be in Thai, in type of at least two millimetres, in two copies, and you receive one copy immediately on signing. The landlord also draws up a record of the condition of the home and its contents, and you receive a copy of that too.

When do you get your deposit back?

Standard contract A is precise about it. If you have damaged nothing, the landlord repays the deposit within seven days after the contract has ended and he has the home back. If there is damage, he may deduct the repair costs, but not for normal wear and tear, and you receive the rest within fourteen days. The cost of the transfer is his.

If you want to leave earlier, that is possible too. You must then have lived in the home for at least half of the contract term, you give thirty days' written notice, and you may have no arrears. What you prepaid for the period after that, you get back within seven days.

If you rent from a private owner with one or two homes, the regulation does not help you. That is exactly the situation of many condos that foreigners rent: the owner has one unit. Put the points from the table into the contract yourself, have an English translation signed alongside the Thai text, and take photos of every room at the key handover.

What does that mean for your budget?

With a landlord who falls under the regulation, count on at most three months' rent at the start, on top of the first month that you simply pay as rent. With a private landlord there is no legal ceiling. Always ask too what water and electricity cost and how they are billed: that is exactly the item the regulation stepped in on, because landlords charged more than the utility. How rents differ by region is in the cost indication for Thailand.

Why must your landlord report you within 24 hours?

This is not tenancy law but immigration law, and it affects you at once. The owner or head occupant of the home where a foreigner stays reports it within 24 hours to Immigration on form TM30. That also applies to those with an LTR visa. The proof of that report is your proof of address in Thailand: the immigration service names it explicitly as a document for your first Thai driving licence, and you need it for your extension and your ninety-day report. How those clocks run together is in the four clocks of your Thai stay.

So agree on it before you sign: who does the TM30, and when do you get the proof. A landlord who is vague about that gives you a problem later at a counter where he himself is not standing.

And if you want to buy later?

A year of renting before you buy is more than advice in Thailand: as a foreigner you cannot own land, and a flat is only possible within a condominium's foreign quota. What is and is not legally possible is in living and buying in Thailand. The order of renting, registering and extending is in the journey at /thailand.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.6: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Thailand or go straight to step 5.6 in the open plan.