Renting out a Thai condo legally: moving from nightly Airbnb to monthly lets

Why condos cannot take nightly guests

Three separate rules stack up against nightly condo letting. We cover them in detail in Thailand's short-term rental law in 2026; in short:

• The Hotel Act. Paid temporary stays run as a business are a hotel. A condo unit cannot get a hotel licence or a non-hotel accommodation certificate.
• The Department of Lands. A circular of 6 November 2023 says commercial use of condo units does not include hotel business, even with the co-owners' consent.
• The building's own regulations. Many juristic persons ban daily rentals, and the Department of Provincial Administration has warned that a juristic person that knowingly allows hotel-style letting may itself be at fault.

Enforcement uses the listings themselves. On 16 October 2026 officials in Chiang Mai raided a condo on Chang Khlan Road where about 10 units were let daily through Airbnb and Agoda, after making an undercover booking. Running a hotel without a licence carries up to 1 year in prison and/or a 20,000 THB fine under section 59 of the Hotel Act, plus up to 10,000 THB a day.

What a genuine monthly lease looks like

Leases are governed by the Civil and Commercial Code, sections 537 onwards. The points that matter for a manager switching units over:

• In writing and signed. Under section 538, a lease of immovable property cannot be enforced in court without written evidence signed by the party liable.
• Over 3 years means registration. A lease longer than 3 years must be in writing and registered at the Land Office, or it is enforceable for 3 years only. The maximum term is 30 years (section 540).
• Rent charged by the month. Invoice and collect monthly. Do not sell the unit by the night and call the result a lease.
• A residence, not a service. The tenant lives there. The more the stay looks like a hotel (daily housekeeping, linen changes, front-desk check-in), the harder it is to call it residential letting.
• Repairs and use. The landlord delivers the unit in good repair and makes major repairs; the tenant may not use it for a different purpose (sections 546, 550 and 552).

What to put in the lease

1. Parties, with the owner as lessor (or the manager with written authority from the owner).
2. Unit number, building and an inventory of furniture and appliances with photos.
3. Term (for example 6 or 12 months), monthly rent, due date and payment method.
4. Deposit and advance rent, and when and how the deposit is returned.
5. Who pays electricity, water, internet and the building's common fees.
6. The building's regulations, attached, with the tenant's agreement to follow them.
7. Notice and early termination terms, and what happens if rent is late.
8. For foreign tenants: passport details for TM30 and the tenant's consent to share them with Immigration.

Deposits

Common practice is a deposit of about two months' rent plus one month in advance. Check the current consumer-protection rules before you set your terms: a Thai law firm reports that a residential rental controlled-contract notification of B.E. 2568, in force since 4 September 2025, caps deposit and advance rent at three months combined where the landlord lets three or more units. A management company letting a portfolio should assume it is caught and have its lease template reviewed.

Stamp duty

A lease of land or a building carries stamp duty of 1 THB for every 1,000 THB, or part of 1,000 THB, of the rent for the entire lease period. Where rent is 1 million THB or more, the lessor pays the duty in cash at the Revenue Department rather than with stamps, before or within 15 days of signing.

Check the juristic person's rules first

A registered condominium has a juristic person and its own regulations, and many buildings add house rules on top. Before you market a unit, even monthly, get both in writing:

1. 1

   Ask the juristic person office for the current regulations

   Request a copy of the registered regulations and any resolutions from recent co-owner meetings that deal with letting. Ask whether there is a minimum lease term.

2. 2

   Ask how tenants are registered

   Ask what the office needs before it issues key cards or parking stickers (for example a copy of the lease and the tenant's ID or passport), and whether it charges move-in fees or deposits.

3. 3

   Check the owner's account is clear

   Confirm with the office that the unit's common fees are paid up before the tenant moves in.

4. 4

   Keep the answers on file

   Store the regulations and the office's replies with the unit, so the next manager or owner does not have to ask again.

Pricing a monthly let against nightly income

Owners used to nightly payouts often expect monthly rent to be much worse. Once the costs of nightly letting are counted, the gap is usually smaller than the headline. Here is one 1-bedroom Bangkok condo, compared over a typical month.

To set the rent, compare similar units in the same building on long-term rental listings, not nightly rates divided by 30. Compare like with like: furnished or unfurnished, internet, workspace, parking and floor.

Where monthly tenants come from

Monthly tenants come mostly through local rental agents, property portals, relocation and corporate housing contacts, and repeat guests. Some managers also keep a listing on Airbnb or another platform for stays of a month or more.

Whatever the channel, the legal test is the arrangement, not the platform. If a booking arrives through an OTA, it should still become a signed lease charged monthly, with the building's tenant registration done. Platform features and terms for long stays change; check each channel's current help pages before you rely on them, and remember that Airbnb's host-only fee of 15.5% applies to most hosts who connect through property management software.

TM30 still applies to foreign tenants

A monthly lease takes the unit outside the Hotel Act, not outside the Immigration Act. When a foreign tenant moves in, the owner (or the manager filing for the owner) must report them to Immigration within 24 hours. The fine for an owner or possessor who does not is up to 2,000 THB. Our TM30 guide explains how to file and who files when a manager runs the unit.

A switch checklist for a condo portfolio

1. 1

   List every condo unit and how it is let today

   Separate units in buildings with a building-wide hotel licence (where the operator holds the licence) from ordinary condo units, which can only be let monthly or longer.

2. 2

   Collect each building's regulations

   Note minimum lease terms, tenant registration steps and fees per building.

3. 3

   Honour or move existing nightly bookings

   Decide a cut-off date, stop taking new nightly bookings and contact guests with future stays. Do this before high season fills the calendar.

4. 4

   Change the listings

   Close nightly listings for condo units, or change them to monthly-only stays that convert into leases. Raise minimum stays on every connected channel at the same time.

5. 5

   Prepare the lease template

   Have a Thai lawyer review it for the deposit rules, termination terms and the building's regulations.

6. 6

   Tell the owners in writing

   Explain the legal reason, the new income model and the expected rent, and update the management agreement and fee basis.

7. 7

   Set up the move-in routine

   Lease signed, stamp duty paid, building registration done, inventory photographed, TM30 filed for foreign tenants.

Running monthly and nightly units side by side in Propool

Most portfolios end up mixed: villas with licences or non-hotel certificates letting nightly, and condo units letting monthly. In Propool each unit has its own calendar and its own rule lists for minimum stay, maximum stay and check-in days, with a lowest allowed minimum stay so a condo unit cannot be opened to short stays by mistake. A change is sent to every connected channel.

Where you want a channel to keep its own prices, an availability-only connection sends booked dates without overwriting the channel's rates. Read more in the channel manager guide.

Questions