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As the title of this video suggests, we are posing the question "are there lifetime property leases in Thailand?" Okay strictly speaking, the answer to that question is no. As we have discussed in other videos, the maximum lease that you can have in Thailand in terms of a true lease, is 30 years per the Thai and Civil Commercial Code.  

That said, a thing called a usufruct is a different animal and a usufruct, sometimes they talk also about superficies, the sort of surface of the property, usufruct associated with usage of the property. I liken a usufruct to what we would call a life estate in the American Common Law vernacular. Now I have had other professionals tell me "geez Ben, no lay person uses the word life estate; barely any lawyers use the word life estate out there, any attorneys in the American context. Anyway, it's kind of this anachronistic notion in American Property Jurisprudence.

That said, these exist in Thailand and yes as a practical matter one could have something akin to a lifetime lease for themselves over a piece of property here in Thailand. Yes the underlying property would be owned by somebody else, Thai nationals specifically. As noted in other videos, it is illegal for foreign nationals to own land here in Thailand but it is not illegal for foreign nationals to necessarily have a usufruct, a right of use for their lifetime here in Thailand, and that can be highly beneficial. It can be highly beneficial to Thais as well because it may see a situation where a foreigner invests in a piece of property, vests the remainder if you will, the right of reverter as we would say in the American Common Law vernacular, the right of reverter for the property to go back to the underlying Thai owner. 

So again there are a lot of beneficial circumstances that can be created as a result of the existence of these type of usufruct structures here in the Kingdom of Thailand.