What to put in a rental management agreement in Thailand: a clause-by-clause checklist
Most fallouts between a rental manager and an owner trace back to something the agreement left unsaid: what the fee is taken from, who holds the licence, who owns the Airbnb listing when the owner leaves. This checklist goes clause by clause through what a Thai villa or condo management agreement should cover. It is a list of questions to settle, not a template; have a Thai lawyer draft or review the final contract.
Key takeaways
- Write the fee and its base (gross, net of OTA commission, or net of commission and cleaning) into the contract; the base can move an owner's payout by over 1,000 THB on a single booking.
- Say who obtains and holds the hotel licence or non-hotel certificate, and who files TM30 for foreign guests within 24 hours.
- Airbnb does not transfer accounts or reservations between hosts. Decide at signing whose account each listing lives in and what happens to future bookings on exit.
- Cover tax (5% or 15% withholding on rent paid to owners, 7% VAT on fees if registered), the contract language, and how you process guest data under the PDPA.
Before you start: what kind of agreement is it?
Thai rental management agreements come in roughly three shapes, and the shape changes the tax and liability answers further down:
- Service or agency agreement: the owner runs the rental and pays you a fee to manage it. Bookings may sit in the owner's name or yours.
- Master lease (sublet): you lease the unit from the owner and re-let it yourself, paying the owner rent. You carry the occupancy risk.
- Rental pool or revenue split: common in resort and branded developments; owners share net revenue after the operator's costs.
The Revenue Department has treated a company that rents owners' units out daily, with cleaning and other services, as running a hotel-like business, and required withholding on the rent it paid the owners. So the label on the contract matters less than what actually happens. Agree the model first, then write the clauses to match it.
Scope of services, fees and costs
1. Scope of services
List what is included: listing creation and photography, pricing, channel management, guest communication, check-in, cleaning and linen, maintenance, utilities, and reporting. Then list what is not included and how it is billed: major repairs, furniture replacement, pool and garden contracts, legal and licensing work.
2. Management fee and fee base
State the percentage and the number it is taken from. On a 30,000 THB Airbnb stay, 20% of gross and 20% of revenue net of commission and cleaning differ by 1,130 THB. Say who keeps the guest's cleaning fee and whether VAT is added to your fee. Our guide to owner statements and management fees has worked examples.
3. Costs and approval limits
Set a sign-off limit for repairs (some Phuket managers use 5,000 THB per job) above which the owner approves in writing, an emergency exception (burst pipe, power failure with guests in the villa), and whether parts or contractor invoices carry a markup. Require receipts or photos for every cost on the statement.
Owner use of the property
Owner stays are a frequent source of friction, especially in high season. Agree:
- How much notice the owner gives to block dates (for example 30 or 60 days), and whether peak weeks such as Christmas, New Year and Chinese New Year are excluded or capped.
- That confirmed guest bookings are never cancelled for owner use.
- Who pays cleaning and utilities for owner stays, and whether friends and family count as owner use or as discounted bookings.
- Whether the owner may take direct bookings themselves; if so, they must go on the shared calendar the same day.
Licences, TM30 and insurance
4. Hotel licence or non-hotel certificate
Paid stays shorter than monthly need a hotel licence, or, for houses and villas up to 8 rooms and 30 guests, a non-hotel accommodation certificate, valid for 5 years. Condo units cannot get either. The agreement should say who applies, in whose name, who pays for fire equipment and other works the inspector asks for, who diaries the renewal, and what happens to the certificate if the agreement ends. The hotel licence guide covers the larger properties.
5. TM30 foreign guest reporting
Anyone who houses a foreign national must report them to Immigration within 24 hours. Name the party who files (usually the manager, as the one who checks guests in), the account used, and how passport data is collected and stored. More in our TM30 guide.
6. Insurance
Require the owner to hold building and contents cover that does not exclude paid short-term letting, and the manager to hold public liability cover for its operations. Name who claims, who pays the excess, and how platform damage programmes (such as Airbnb's) fit in. Ask the insurer in writing; many home policies exclude commercial letting.
Payouts, statements and tax
7. Payouts and statements
Fix the statement period (calendar month), the statement date, the payout date (for example by the 15th of the following month, once channel payouts have arrived), the currency (THB) and the bank account. Say that issued statements are final and corrections go on the next statement as adjustments, and how long the owner has to query a statement.
8. Taxes and withholding
| Point | What sources say | What to write |
|---|---|---|
| Owner's rental income | Revenue Department rulings treat it as assessable income under section 40(5)(a), for daily as well as monthly rentals | That the owner is responsible for their own income tax |
| Company paying rent to a Thai owner | A 2013 ruling (กค 0702/8847) required 5% withholding on rent paid to unit owners | Whether and at what rate you withhold, and that you issue the withholding certificate |
| Non-resident owner | Rent paid to a non-resident is generally subject to 15% withholding | The same, plus who files |
| VAT on your fee | Registration is required once turnover passes 1.8 million THB in 12 months; the rate is 7% until 30 September 2027 | Whether fees are quoted including or excluding VAT |
| Stamp duty | Hire-of-work instruments: 1 THB per 1,000 THB of remuneration; leases: 1 THB per 1,000 THB of rent for the whole term | Which instrument the agreement is, and who pays |
Term, exclusivity and termination
9. Term and exclusivity
State the start date, the term (one year with automatic renewal is common), and whether you are the exclusive manager. If you are, the owner should not list the property elsewhere or with another agent during the term.
10. Termination and handover
Set a notice period (60–90 days is common for holiday rentals), grounds for immediate termination (non-payment, licence loss, serious breach), and what happens to bookings already confirmed for dates after the end: honoured by the manager on the old terms, or handed to the owner with the guest's money.
Write down what you hand over on exit: guest and booking records you are allowed to share, keys and access codes, supplier contacts, licence documents, and the final statement and payout.
Governing law, language and disputes
- Governing law: Thai law is the natural choice for a Thai property, and the property and the manager are both in Thailand.
- Language: English contracts can be valid, but Thai court proceedings are conducted in Thai, and the Civil Procedure Code lets the court require a certified Thai translation of a document written in another language. A bilingual Thai–English contract with a clause stating which version prevails avoids arguments about translation later.
- Disputes: set an escalation path, such as written notice, a meeting within 14 days, then mediation, arbitration or the Thai courts. Your lawyer can advise which forum suits the amounts involved.
Guest data and the PDPA
Managers handle passport copies, phone numbers and payment details. Under Thailand's Personal Data Protection Act, whoever decides why and how that data is used is the controller, and anyone processing it on their behalf is a processor. Decide which role each party plays, and put processing terms in writing: purpose, security, retention, breach notification and deletion on exit.
Enforcement is real. In August 2025 the regulator fined a collectible-toy company 500,000 THB and the data processor running its online reservation system 3 million THB after a breach of about 200,000 records, and in another case penalised a state agency and its developer partly for having no data processing agreement.
Making the agreement visible in your software
Agreements work when the numbers on the statement follow them. In Propool you set the management fee, cleaning and adjustments per property; owner statements are built from the reservations on the calendar, show the breakdown line by line in baht, and are locked once issued, with corrections carried to the next statement. Each owner can see only their own properties, statements and documents in the owner portal (access depends on plan), and each unit has a field for its licence number. See how owner statements work.
Questions
What should a property management agreement in Thailand include?
At minimum: services, the fee and its base, costs and approval limits, owner use, licence and TM30 responsibilities, insurance, payout timing, tax and withholding, term and termination, listing handover, governing law and language, and how guest data is handled.
Who owns the Airbnb listing if the owner changes manager?
The account holder. Airbnb does not transfer accounts or reservations between hosts, so a listing created in the manager's account stays there. Owners who want to keep the listing should hold it in their own account and add the manager as a co-host.
Does a management agreement in Thailand need to be in Thai?
Not necessarily, but Thai courts work in Thai and can order a certified translation. A bilingual contract that says which language prevails is the safer choice; ask a Thai lawyer.
What notice period is normal to end a villa management contract?
There is no legal standard; 60 to 90 days is common for holiday rentals. The contract should also say how bookings already confirmed for later dates are handled.
Does the manager have to withhold tax from the owner's income?
It depends on the structure. Revenue Department rulings have required 5% withholding when a company pays rent to Thai unit owners, and 15% generally applies to non-resident owners. Confirm with a Thai accountant.
Product guides
Sources
- Merging accounts or transferring ownership
- What co-hosts can do
- Revenue Department ruling กค 0702/8847 on daily room rental services
- Stamp duty rates
- Thai rental properties and personal income tax
- Cabinet approves extension of the 7% VAT rate to 30 September 2027
- Ministerial Regulation on hotel business types and criteria (No. 2) B.E. 2566
- Immigration reminder on reporting foreign guests (TM30)
- Civil Procedure Code: language of proceedings and translations (unofficial translation and annotation)
- More than a warning: eight serious fines imposed in Thai data protection cases
- Property management Phuket review: fees, coverage and what to ask