It starts at the third flat

In Thailand, a landlord letting homes as a business may take no more than three months’ rent up front, deposit and advance rent together. When the lease ends, the deposit comes back at once, within seven days if the landlord inspects, or within fourteen if repairs are deducted.

Those rules apply only to a landlord letting three or more homes. A condominium owner letting one or two flats is not covered by any of it.

What the rules say

The rules are a Contract Committee announcement under the Consumer Protection Act, in force since 4 September 2025. It replaced a 2019 version; leases signed under the old one run to their end on the old terms. A landlord it covers must use a contract in Thai, in print no smaller than 2 millimetres, following the substance of a standard lease annexed to the announcement, and must hand the tenant a copy on signing.

The announcement lists terms a landlord’s contract may not contain. Among them:

• deposit and advance rent that together exceed three months’ rent, for a lease with monthly rent (for a long lease with yearly rent, the ceiling is a year’s rent);
• keeping the deposit or advance rent where the tenant is not at fault;
• raising the rent or service charges during the lease;
• charging for water or electricity at more than the utility charges the landlord;
• entering the home without notice, except in an emergency;
• locking the tenant out or removing their belongings;
• charging a fee to renew;
• ending the lease when the tenant has not broken a material term;
• making the tenant pay for normal wear or for damage they could not have prevented.

The standard lease adds duties. The landlord must send an invoice at least three days before rent is due, and must attach a record of the home’s condition and fittings to the contract, with a copy for the tenant. Necessary repairs, beyond the minor ones the tenant is expected to do, are the landlord’s job.

The electricity side, and the separate price-control rule on what a landlord may charge per unit, are in article 72 Your bill is not broken.

Getting the deposit back

Clause 10 of the standard lease sets three outcomes. The clock starts when the lease ends and the landlord has the home back:

• if the landlord does not wish to inspect, the deposit is returned immediately;
• if the landlord inspects and the tenant caused no damage, within seven days;
• if the tenant caused damage, the landlord may deduct what it actually costs to put it right, and returns the rest within fourteen days.

Normal wear and tear cannot be deducted, and nor can damage from normal use, anything that was not the tenant’s fault, or anything the tenant could not have prevented. The landlord pays the cost of sending the money back, by the method the tenant asks for.

A widely read Thai guide published this year says the remainder after deductions is also due within seven days. The standard lease says fourteen. The difference matters most to the tenant who is owed money and is counting days.

Leaving early

A tenant may end a lease early under the standard lease, if three things are true:

• they have lived there for at least half the term;
• they give at least thirty days’ written notice;
• they owe no rent.

Rent already paid for the months after they leave comes back within seven days.

A landlord may end the lease for a breach of a material term, but must first give thirty days’ written notice to put it right. That falls to seven days’ notice where the tenant’s conduct disturbs other residents, and the lease may end at once for conduct against public order or good morals.

Who is covered

The announcement applies to a business letting buildings for people to live in. It covers:

• a landlord letting three or more units to individuals, whether the units are in one building or several, as rooms, houses, condominium units or apartments;
• lets arranged online;
• leases of up to three years, on one standard form, and longer leases, on another.

It does not cover dormitories under the dormitory law or hotels, which have their own laws.

So the tenant of a landlord with one or two units, however professionally that landlord runs them, has the contract and the general law. The three-month cap and the seven- and fourteen-day deadlines come from the announcement, and do not bind a landlord outside it.

The first version, in 2018, started at five units. The 2025 version starts at three.

How it got here

The first announcement took effect on 1 May 2018. On The Standard’s account at the time, it applied from five units and allowed:

• no more than one month’s advance rent and one month’s deposit;
• utilities at no more than the utility’s rate;
• a deposit returned within seven days where the landlord inspected and found no damage.

It was replaced by a 2019 version, in force from 30 January 2020. On a Krungthep Turakij legal column’s reading of it:

• advance rent and deposit were combined under one ceiling of three months’ rent;
• a deposit could be kept where the tenant was at fault, which the 2018 text had not allowed;
• the invoice notice fell from seven days to three;
• a tenant could leave early after half the term without having to show a “necessary reason”.

The column’s view was that the changes were fairer to landlords and, through rents, to tenants. The 2025 version kept the three-month ceiling and lowered the threshold.

Enforcement

A landlord who breaks the rules faces up to a year in prison, a fine of up to ฿200,000, or both, according to the minister overseeing the Office of the Consumer Protection Board in a statement of 17 July 2026.

The same statement listed two inspections of rental businesses, in the Ramkhamhaeng area of Bangkok on 28 May 2026 and in Udon Thani on 19 June. It said the checks had been ordered extended to the rest of the country. It did not say how many landlords had been found in breach, and no count of prosecutions under the rules was found for this article.

Complaints go to the office’s 1166 hotline, its OCPB Connect app, ocpb.go.th or any provincial Damrongtham centre, on the same statement. Thai guides to the rules say a term that breaches the announcement has no effect even if the tenant signed it. This article has not read the Act’s own wording on that point.

What this adds up to

The rules are specific about money. They set a ceiling, a deadline and a list of what may and may not be deducted. And the line now sits lower than it did in 2018, at three units rather than five.

But the protection does not attach to the tenant. It attaches to the landlord, and only once the landlord counts as a business. Whether a tenant is protected depends on how many other homes their landlord lets, which is not something a tenant is usually in a position to know.

This is the second finding again, in its plainest form. Protection that attaches to a category will be missing for whoever falls just outside it. Here the category is drawn by the landlord’s portfolio, and the line is the third unit.

Nothing in this article is legal advice.

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Common misconceptions

“A landlord can take whatever deposit they like.” A landlord letting three or more homes may take no more than three months’ rent in deposit and advance rent together.

“The deposit must be back within seven days, whatever happens.” Seven days applies where the landlord inspects and finds no damage. Where repairs are deducted, the rest is due within fourteen days.

“The rules cover every rental.” They cover landlords letting three or more units to individuals. A landlord with one or two units, a dormitory under the dormitory law and a hotel are outside them.

“The rules still start at five units.” That was the 2018 version. The 2025 version starts at three.

“A tenant who leaves early always loses the deposit.” Under the standard lease, a tenant who has lived there at least half the term, gives thirty days’ written notice and owes no rent may leave early.

“The landlord can bill normal wear and tear.” The standard lease excludes normal wear, normal use, damage that was not the tenant’s fault and damage they could not have prevented.