Selling Property in Chiang Mai as a Foreigner: What to Prepare Before You List
In our experience, the paperwork you keep on the day you buy decides how smoothly you leave. Foreign owners can sell a Chiang Mai condo or a leasehold home and send the money home, as long as the purchase records are kept safe and the buyer’s own money arrives the right way.
Picture an owner who bought a condo near Nimman some years ago and is now planning a move home. The photos are taken, a buyer is interested, and a date is pencilled in at the Land Office. Then the bank asks a simple question: where is the record showing how the purchase money first came into Thailand? It is an easy question when you planned for it, and a slow one when you did not. This guide is about the plan.
Yes. A foreigner can sell a Chiang Mai condo or house and send the proceeds home through a Thai bank. Keep the FET or credit note from your purchase, the Land Office sale agreement and the tax receipts: the bank asks for them before sending.
Can a foreigner sell property in Chiang Mai and send the money home?
Yes. The money goes out through an authorised Thai bank, which asks for the sale agreement and proof that ownership has transferred, and in practice most banks also ask for the original FET or credit note from your purchase.
Thailand controls how foreign currency moves in and out, and the Bank of Thailand sets the rules that banks follow. For sending the proceeds of a property sale to someone abroad, its rules list two documents: the purchase and sale agreement, and evidence that ownership of the property has been transferred. Separately, banks must ask for supporting documents on large foreign exchange transactions.
In practice, banks usually want one more thing. The FET form (Foreign Exchange Transaction form) or bank credit note you received when you bought shows that your purchase money came into Thailand from abroad in foreign currency. That is the same record the Land Office checked when it registered a condo in your name, and it is the record most banks ask to see before they send sale money back out.
| Document | Where it comes from | Why the bank asks |
|---|---|---|
| FET form or bank credit note | The Thai bank that received your purchase money | Keep the original. Shows the money came in from abroad in foreign currencyCommonly requested by banks; confirm with yours |
| Land Office sale agreement | The Land Office, on transfer day | The sale agreement on the Bank of Thailand listBank of Thailand exchange control rules |
| Title showing the transfer | The Land Office, on transfer day | Evidence that ownership has passed to the buyerBank of Thailand exchange control rules |
| Land Office tax receipts | The Land Office, on transfer day | Shows the taxes on the sale were paid |
| Passport | You | Identity, and a match with every name on the documents |
If you sell for more than you paid, the gain is part of the money you send home. The Bank of Thailand list does not cap the transfer at what you originally brought in, but your bank may ask for more paperwork on the difference. Ask your bank what it needs before transfer day, not after.
Who can buy your Chiang Mai property, and why does it matter?
A condo can be sold to a Thai buyer, or to a foreign buyer if the building still has foreign quota and the buyer brings the purchase money into Thailand from abroad. Land can only be sold to a Thai buyer.
A foreign buyer has to qualify for ownership in their own name, just as you did. The building must still have room within its 49 percent foreign quota, measured by floor area, and the buyer must remit the purchase money into Thailand in foreign currency so their bank can issue their own FET or credit note. Our condo foreign quota guide explains how the quota is checked.
A foreign buyer cannot pay you outside Thailand for a Chiang Mai condo. Their money has to arrive in Thailand in foreign currency, because that transfer is what qualifies them to own the unit.
The buyer’s transfer is also where the timing risk now sits. Since 29 December 2025, the Bank of Thailand has told banks to check supporting documents for every incoming foreign currency transfer of USD 200,000 or more whose purpose is investment in Thai real estate, with no shortcut for customers the bank already knows. In our reading of these rules, the slow step in a sale to another foreigner is usually the buyer’s money coming in, not yours going out. Agree a realistic transfer date with that in mind.
A Thai buyer does not need foreign quota or an FET. A Thai individual buying a condo, a house or land with a building on it, where both the price and the official appraisal are 7,000,000 THB or less, pays a reduced transfer fee of 0.01 percent until 30 June 2027. Foreign buyers pay the standard 2 percent at any price.
What taxes does a seller pay at the Chiang Mai Land Office?
An individual seller usually pays withholding tax, plus either 3.3 percent Specific Business Tax or 0.5 percent stamp duty, and the 2 percent transfer fee is shared by agreement. All of it is paid at the Land Office on transfer day.
These rules apply to every individual seller, Thai or foreign. They are calculated on the Land Office appraised value, or on the higher of the appraised value and the sale price where noted.
| Cost | Rate | Who usually pays |
|---|---|---|
| Transfer fee | 2% of the appraised value | Shared as agreed in the contract |
| Specific Business Tax | 3.3% if sold within five years of buyingOn the higher of appraised value and sale price | Seller |
| Stamp duty | 0.5%, only where Specific Business Tax does not applyYou pay one or the other, never both | Seller |
| Withholding tax | Progressive, on the appraised value less a deduction for the years heldA company seller pays 1% | Seller |
There is one exemption worth knowing. Under Royal Decree No. 342, Specific Business Tax does not apply when the property was the seller’s principal residence and the seller’s name has been in the house registration for at least one year. Foreign owners are entered in the yellow house registration book (Tor Ror 13) rather than the blue one. We have not found an official ruling that settles whether the yellow book counts for this exemption, so ask your lawyer and the Land Office to confirm before you rely on it.
If an individual seller treats the withholding tax as final, the total tax on the sale cannot exceed 20 percent of the sale price. For how each tax is worked out, see our Thailand property tax guide.
Can you sell a leasehold villa or a house on leased land?
Yes, but you are selling your lease rights for the years that remain. Unless your lease allows you to transfer it, the landowner has to agree.
Under Section 544 of the Civil and Commercial Code, a tenant cannot transfer lease rights to someone else unless the lease contract allows it. Many leases written for foreign buyers include a transfer clause, and many do not. Read yours before you set a price, and have a Thai lawyer confirm what the Land Office will need to register the transfer and what it will cost. The house itself can be registered to the new owner alongside the lease.
A buyer will value the years left on the registered lease, not the headline term. A villa with 25 years remaining and the same villa with 12 years remaining are different purchases, and any renewal promised in advance cannot be relied on. Our guide to year 30 of a Thai lease explains why.
If your home is held through a Thai company, a sale draws the same scrutiny as any company landholding. On 19 October 2026 the government launched a national operation against land held through Thai nominees for foreigners, covering 2,360 plots worth 14.01 billion baht, with investigations due by December 2026 and checks on buyers so land does not simply pass to another nominee. Speak to a Thai lawyer before you market the property, and see our nominee company guide.
Can you sell your Chiang Mai property from abroad?
Yes. You can appoint a representative on the Land Office’s own power of attorney form: Or Chor 21 for a condo unit, or Tor Dor 21 for land and houses.
The Land Office registers a sale through a representative only on its own Thai-script form. A general power of attorney drafted at home, even one that has been notarised, is normally refused. If you sign the form outside Thailand, have your signature certified at a Thai embassy or consulate, or notarised and legalised, and attach a signed copy of your passport.
Keep the authority narrow. Name one representative, state the property and the price, and say plainly whether that person may receive the sale money. If the form is silent, arrange for the money to be paid to you directly.
How long does it take to sell property in Chiang Mai right now?
It varies by property type, location and price. A resale also competes with unsold developer stock, which the Real Estate Information Center estimates would take about 50 months to clear in Chiang Mai at the current pace.
The Real Estate Information Center (REIC) of the Government Housing Bank counted 12,715 housing units on the Chiang Mai market in the first half of 2026, up 12.7 percent on a year earlier. The condo segment showed the clearest recovery, helped by foreign demand, while housing estates in central Chiang Mai and around Payap University had estimated clearance periods of 163 to 380 months. Across Thailand, foreign buyers took ownership of 6,533 condo units in the first half of 2026, down 8.8 percent on a year earlier.
We do not quote an average number of days to sell, because the honest answer depends on the property. What we can say is that a resale is competing with developers who can offer discounts and free transfer fees. How to price and present a home for that market is covered in our guide to selling your home.
Why does exit planning matter for Chiang Mai owners in 2026?
Because the checks have tightened on both sides of a sale. Banks now examine large real estate transfers into Thailand more closely, and the government is actively investigating land held through nominees.
None of this stops a well-documented sale. It does reward owners who keep their records from the start and who check how their property is held before they list it. If you are still buying, the easiest exit plan is made on purchase day. Our guide to buying property in Chiang Mai covers the documents to collect.
Make one folder on the day you buy, on paper and scanned: the FET or bank credit note, the Land Office sale agreement, the tax receipts and a copy of the title. If the FET has gone missing, ask the bank that received your purchase money what replacement evidence it can issue, and ask before you list.
Sources we relied on: Bank of Thailand exchange control summary; Bank of Thailand rules on documents for remittances; Bank of Thailand letter to banks, 26 December 2025; Revenue Department, Royal Decree No. 342; Royal Thai Embassy, power of attorney forms; Nation Thailand on REIC Chiang Mai data, September 2026; Nation Thailand on foreign condo transfers, September 2026; Nation Thailand on the nominee land operation, October 2026.
People Also Ask
Can a foreigner sell property in Chiang Mai and send the money home?
Yes. An authorised Thai bank can transfer the sale proceeds abroad once you show the Land Office sale agreement and proof of transfer, and most banks also ask for the original FET or credit note from your purchase.
Can I sell my Chiang Mai condo to another foreigner?
Yes, if the building still has foreign quota and the buyer remits the purchase money into Thailand in foreign currency. The buyer needs their own FET or credit note, so the funds cannot be paid to you offshore.
Can I sell my Chiang Mai property while living abroad?
Yes. You can appoint a representative on the Land Office form, Or Chor 21 for a condo or Tor Dor 21 for land and houses, signed at a Thai embassy or notarised and legalised.
Planning to sell your Chiang Mai property?
Tell me what you own, how it is held and where you will be when you sell. I will help you check the paperwork, the likely buyers and the timing, and I will always send you to a Thai lawyer and your bank for the legal and transfer detail.
Contact Goen at Chiangmai Properties on WhatsApp at +66 64 338 9597 to talk it through.
We are real estate professionals sharing local market observations based on our experience in Chiang Mai. This is not legal or financial advice, and it is not tax advice. For your specific sale, consult a licensed Thai attorney, your bank, the Land Department and the Revenue Department, and a tax adviser in your home country about any tax due there.
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