Ownership · family trust locus — the long view

What you hold, and the year-30 conversation — before the deposit.

A 30-year registered lease, a superficies over the villa, two renewal terms that are contractual not registrable — and the three things that can happen when the term ends, downside stated.

What you hold

A 30-year registered lease of your plot: Registered at the Phuket Land Office against Chanote [12345], noted on the title. 30 years is the maximum registrable term for residential land (Civil & Commercial Code §540). Phase 1 runs 1 Dec 2027 – 30 Nov 2057; Phase 2 runs 1 Sep 2028 – 31 Aug 2058.
A registered superficies over the villa: You are the registered owner of the building itself, separately from the land (CCC §1410). A foreigner may hold this. Registered at the same time as the lease, for the same term, with the same two renewal options.
Two further 30-year terms, as options in the lease: Written into your lease agreement as the land company promise to grant, and re-register, a new 30-year lease at the end of each term, for the registration fees only. Phase 1 → to 2087, then 2117. Phase 2 → to 2088, then 2118.

The difference we will not blur

A renewal clause cannot be pre-registered for more than the current 30 years. It is a contract, not a property right. Thai courts enforce it between the original parties, but it does not automatically bind a person who later buys the freehold land, and it does not survive the land company dissolution. Anyone selling you "90 years secure" or "freehold-equivalent" is describing a promise as if it were a registration. We are not.

What makes this enforceable in practice, not just on paper

The land company articles: Ao Lom Land Co., Ltd. articles require the board to offer each lessee the renewal at year 28 of each term, on registration-fee-only terms, and bar the sale of the freehold without first offering it to the lessees collectively (a right of first refusal, also in every lease).
The shareholders are disclosed and real: Paid-up capital ฿80,000,000; shareholders Sonhin Development Co., Ltd. 60%, Andaman Regional Fund (a Thai-registered property fund) 40%. Both Thai-majority. Audited annually. This is one company holding the whole estate with named institutional shareholders — not a shell set up per buyer.
The lessees can take control of the outcome: If ≥ 70% of lessees wish to buy the freehold at any point, the lease gives them a collective option at an independent valuation. On exercise the land transfers to a lessee-owned juristic entity and the leasehold structure ends.

The three things that can happen at year 30

1 / 3

Renewal granted and re-registered

What happens: The board offers the new 30-year lease (per the articles); you pay the Land Office registration fees (~1.1% of the stated rent) and re-register; your superficies is renewed to match.

Our assessment: Most likely. The articles require the offer; the shareholders interest is a functioning estate, not a reversion windfall.

2 / 3

The lessees buy the freehold

What happens: ≥ 70% of lessees exercise the collective option; an independent valuation sets the price; the land moves to a lessee-owned entity; you own a share of the freehold and the leasehold ends.

Our assessment: Available on demand. The mechanism and the valuation basis are in your lease.

3 / 3

Renewal refused, or the land company fails

What happens: You own the villa structure (your superficies) but not the land under it. A superficies can be granted for a term longer than a lease or for life; ours is registered for the lease term only, so in this scenario your right to keep the building on the land also ends unless separately re-agreed. You would be a building owner without land rights — the weakest position, and the one the "90 years" language exists to stop you thinking about.

Our assessment: We rate this low, and we are telling you it exists. If it happened, your recourse is contractual damages against the land company, whose only asset is the land.

The nominee route we will not arrange

Setting up a Thai company with nominee shareholders so that you control the land under your villa is illegal — Land Code §96 and §96bis, and the Ministry of Interior 2006 nominee-scrutiny instruction. The Land Department examines company land-buyers for real Thai capital, real business purpose, and genuine shareholder contribution. A structure that fails that test is void, the land is forced to sale, and the directors are exposed to criminal liability. Sonhin does not build or sell into it. The estate-wide land company here is the opposite arrangement: one disclosed entity, real institutional capital, and you are a lessee on the title — not a hidden shareholder.

If none of this works for you

Then this villa is not right for you, and we will say so at the viewing rather than after the deposit. A registered lease with a superficies is a real, common, legally clean way for a foreigner to hold a Thai villa for a generation. It is not freehold, and we will not call it that.

The companies

Ao Lom Land Co., Ltd.

Owns: The freehold land — Chanote [12345], ≈ 6,880 m², one title, subdividing into 18 leasehold plots + common land
Paid-up capital: ฿80,000,000
Shareholders: Sonhin Development Co., Ltd. 60% · Andaman Regional Fund (a Thai-registered property fund) 40%. Both Thai-majority. Audited annually.
Its articles require: the board to offer each lessee the renewal at year 28 on registration-fee-only terms, and bar sale of the freehold without first offering it to the lessees collectively

Sonhin Development Co., Ltd.

Registered: 2014 (12 years)
Paid-up capital: ฿120,000,000, fully paid; family-held plus one institutional shareholder; not SET-listed
Business: Small hillside villa estates on Phuket — nothing above 3 storeys, no condominiums, no land banking
Completed: Baan Lang Kaew (Cherngtalay, 2018, 9 villas) · Suan Yang (Rawai, 2021, 6 villas) — you can visit these
Directors: Not named on the site. The companies and their registrations are named; individuals are not.

Sonhin House Co., Ltd.

Role: Estate services and the optional rental programme. A Sonhin Development subsidiary. Runs the two completed estates; its actual occupancy record is on /rental.

as of 31 August 2026 · stamped, not live.Arrange a private viewing