Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing usufructs and leases here in Thailand. Let's explain. What are we talking about here?

Well a lease is pretty much what most people think it is, it's a lease. It has a term, basically somebody is going to pay rent or is going to pay all up front for the privilege of use and generally speaking just sort of quiet enjoyment, full enjoyment of a given piece of property and then at the end of the term of that lease, presumptively it will revert back to the original owner. Now there may be options to extend, not really the thrust of this video, I can get into that in other videos. Then you have got the usufruct, which the usufruct is a usage sort of instrument and it can be issued for a lifetime, it can be issued for a person's lifetime. I very much liken usufruct to what we call life estate in the Common Law System notably. Basically it allows somebody to basically have full right of use of land, it's almost as if they own it. There are certain restrictions, very limited restrictions but it's almost as if they own it out right during their lifetime. Then at the end of their life time that instrument is extinguished. So this is sort of the difference. Leases have a term on them, usufructs, their term generally can be the lifetime of the person to whom it is issued. 

Now the issue with this can become issues involving the formalities of these kind of documents which can cause you problems at the Land Office when you are trying to register them. There is a number of nuanced minutiae associated with both that if you are worried about it, the comparison is basically one is sort of a life estate, one has kind of a term on it. That said, if you are worried about the minutiae on this, especially if you are foreigner it is probably not a terrible idea to contact a legal professional, gain some insight and guidance into how best to proceed.