Thailand is tightening controls on foreigners who attempt to circumvent the ban on direct land ownership by using Thai nominee owners or specially created companies. Authorities are moving toward systematic inspections of land transactions, corporate structures, sources of financing, and actual control over real estate.
According to market operators, special inspection committees are being established in every province of the country, comprising representatives from land authorities, the police, the tax service, and other agencies. Their task is to identify schemes in which a foreign buyer effectively controls a land plot but formally registers it in the name of a Thai individual or a company with Thai shareholders.
Legal consultants in Thailand also note that starting in 2026, controls will be tightened regarding company registration and land transactions. The Department of Business Development requires confirmation of the actual source of funds and investment declarations when establishing or amending companies, while the Department of Land Resources cross-checks corporate data against land titles.
The focus is on so-called nominee structures, where Thai citizens or companies act as nominal owners of land on behalf of a foreigner. Thai law generally prohibits foreigners from directly owning land, although foreigners may own condominium units within established quotas, enter into long-term land leases, or own a building separately from the land.
The new checks will apply not only to future transactions but also to existing arrangements. Authorities intend to analyze the source of funds, the composition of shareholders, the family and business ties of the parties, the actual use of the land, as well as signs that the Thai nominee owner has no independent economic interest in the property.
For foreign buyers, this means a sharp increase in legal risks. The use of Thai nominee shareholders or fictitious structures may lead to criminal prosecution, liquidation of the company, forced sale of the land, and loss of control over the asset. Lawyers advise investors to review old ownership structures and bring them into compliance with the law in advance.
This is particularly important for Thailand’s real estate market amid growing foreign demand. In recent years, foreign buyers—including investors from Russia, China, Europe, and the Middle East—have shown strong interest in properties in Phuket, Bangkok, Pattaya, Samui, and other tourist destinations. Part of the demand has been for villas and land plots, where legal restrictions are significantly stricter than in the apartment segment.
Tighter controls could cool some villa and land transactions, especially if they were based on informal agreements with nominal owners. At the same time, this could increase demand for more transparent formats—such as purchasing condominium units within the foreign quota, long-term land leases, officially structured investments, and projects with legally verified ownership models.
Ukraine’s local budgets received 4.9 billion UAH in taxes on real estate other than land plots from January through April 2026, a 14.5% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the State Tax Service (STS).
The largest amounts of revenue were recorded in Kyiv (UAH 1.05 billion), Kyiv (UAH 547.3 million), Dnipropetrovsk (UAH 490 million), and Lviv regions (UAH 487 million). The agency noted that this tax is levied only on the area exceeding the tax-exempt thresholds: over 60 square meters for apartments, over 120 square meters for houses, and over 180 square meters for various types of housing. The tax rate is set by local authorities but cannot exceed 1.5% of the minimum wage per square meter above the threshold.
At the same time, land tax revenues for the first four months of this year increased by 14.3% compared to the same period in 2025—reaching 15.8 billion UAH. The additional revenue for local communities from this payment amounted to nearly UAH 2 billion. The leaders in land tax payments were Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (UAH 3 billion), Kyiv (UAH 2.3 billion), Odesa (UAH 1.4 billion), and Lviv (UAH 1.2 billion) Oblasts.
Land tax is a mandatory local payment made by owners of land plots, land shares, and permanent land users. For individuals, assessments are made by tax authorities, and payment must be made within 60 days of receiving the tax notice-decision. Legal entities calculate the tax themselves and file returns annually by February 20.
Land tax exemptions are available for senior citizens, individuals with disabilities of Groups I and II, war veterans, large families, and individuals affected by the Chernobyl disaster. The exemption applies within the established limits on plot size. The State Tax Service notes that the obligation to pay the tax remains with the owner even if no notice is received, and the status of payments can be checked through the taxpayer’s electronic account.
Land tax revenues to local budgets in January-November 2025 amounted to UAH 41.4 billion, which is 15% more than in the same period last year, according to the State Tax Service (STS).
According to the report, the leaders in land payments in regional terms were Dnipropetrovsk region (UAH 7.3 billion in taxes paid), Kyiv (UAH 5.9 billion), Odesa region (UAH 3.7 billion), and Lviv region (UAH 2.9 billion).
The STS reminded that every taxpayer has the right to check the correctness of land tax calculations and, if necessary, clarify their data. To do this, they must apply to the tax authority in writing or electronically, in particular to clarify the size of the area and the number of land plots or shares owned or used, as well as the availability of land tax exemptions.
The relevant application can be submitted either at the place of registration of the taxpayer or at the location of one of the land plots.
If, during the verification, there are discrepancies between the tax authority’s data and the taxpayer’s documents (ownership, use, exemptions, etc.) or if the land tax rate has changed, the State Tax Service will recalculate the tax within 10 working days, generate a new tax notice-decision with a detailed calculation, and send it to the taxpayer. In this case, the previous notice-decision is considered canceled (revoked).
The State Tax Service suggests checking the information about the accrued land tax in the electronic office.
The weighted average price of land in Ukraine has increased by 10.4% to 38.5 thousand UAH/ha since the beginning of 2023, and the capitalization of the agricultural land market has increased by 115.1 billion UAH, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reports.
“The second stage of the land reform will increase the value of privately owned land plots and landowners’ incomes. Revenues to local community budgets will also increase. In addition, Ukrainian agricultural producers will have access to bank lending secured by land,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy commented on the launch of the second stage of the land market in Ukraine on January 1, 2024.
The ministry drew the attention of communities to the fact that they now have the opportunity to lease communal agricultural land through Prozorro.
“The sale fills their budgets with UAH 355.2 million in revenue annually. And the turnover and use of agricultural land brings communities an average of 10%-12% of the total community budget,” the agriculture ministry said, adding that only 1% of land was sold in Ukraine during the market’s operation, of which 99.5% remained in agricultural production.
As reported, the land market in Ukraine was opened on July 1, 2021, after the entry into force of the Law of Ukraine No. 552-IX “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine on the Conditions for the Turnover of Agricultural Land”.
The second phase of the implementation of the Land Market Law started in Ukraine on January 1, 2024: the market was opened to legal entities resident in Ukraine, and citizens were entitled to acquire up to 10 thousand hectares of land instead of 100 hectares in the first phase. The minimum purchase price of agricultural land should not be lower than the NMV (normative monetary value). Leaseholders retain the preemptive right to purchase the land. Foreigners have no right to sell or buy land. The sale of municipal and state land remains prohibited.
The weighted average price of land in Ukraine in January-September 2023 increased by 10.4% to 38.5 thousand UAH/ha, according to a report on the state of the land market in Ukraine, prepared by experts of the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) with the support of the USAID AGRO Program.
Analysts noted that 31.1 million hectares of land in Ukraine are privately owned, so a 10.4% price increase is equal to an increase in the capitalization of the agricultural land market by UAH 115.1 billion, which corresponds to about a tenth of the country’s general budget revenues in 2023.
“In September 2023, the weighted average price of one hectare of all agricultural land amounted to UAH 38.45 thousand. At the same time, the weighted average price of land designated for commercial agricultural production was higher than the average and amounted to UAH 39.0 thousand per hectare. This means that “commodity” land is valued by the market somewhat more than other types of agricultural land in Ukraine,” the study says.
According to KSE experts, the highest prices for agricultural land are observed in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Volyn and Ternopil regions, as well as Kyiv and Poltava regions. The lowest prices are in the areas affected by hostilities and in the frontline regions.
According to the study, in the third quarter of 2023, 21.4 thousand transactions of sale and purchase of agricultural land covering 43.5 thousand hectares were carried out, which is slightly different from the second quarter, when 44.0 thousand hectares of farmland were sold under the same number of sale and purchase agreements. At the same time, in the second and third quarters of 2023, the land market was significantly more active than in the first quarter, when 15.7 thousand transactions with a total area of 32 thousand hectares were concluded.
In the fourth quarter, the land market may grow even more, as after the harvest is over and additional resources are released for land purchases, buyers are expected to become more active and demand for land plots is expected to increase, KSE predicts.
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine expects prices on the land market in Ukraine to rise after it opens for legal entities on January 1, 2024, said Denys Bashlyk, deputy head of the ministry for digital development.
“Those who have been waiting for a long time – legal entities that want to own land to be able to develop long-term investment projects – will enter the market. This, of course, will entail a price increase,” the ministry’s press service quoted him as saying.
Bashlyk noted that currently the highest prices on the land market in Ukraine are recorded in Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Ternopil regions, where they reached $2 thousand, $1.45 thousand, and $1.4 thousand, respectively.
During a press conference at the Ukraine Media Center on Friday, Prozorro.Sale CEO Serhiy But said that almost 38,000 hectares of land had been sold or leased through the electronic auction system. The vast majority of them are assets of local authorities, cities and towns.
“The organizers hold the largest number of land auctions for agricultural land. At lease auctions, the share of agricultural land is 70%, and at sale auctions – 60%,” he said.
In total, the Prozorro.Sale system has already held auctions for the sale of 2.7 thousand hectares of land for a total of UAH 1.3 billion. A total of 35.1 thousand hectares of land have been leased through auctions.
According to Dmytro Makarenko, acting head of the State Service of Ukraine for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre, who also took part in the press conference, as of early October 2023, almost 80 thousand hectares of agricultural land have already been sold.
“In 2021, over 100 thousand hectares of land were put into circulation in the first six months of the land market. In the military year of 2022, the market, of course, shrank and 69 thousand hectares were put into circulation. In 2023, as of October, we already see that almost 80 thousand hectares have been sold and the figures are approaching the pre-war levels,” he said.
As reported, the second stage of the land market will start on January 1, 2024, during which legal entities will also be able to acquire ownership of agricultural land with a limit of 10 thousand hectares per person.
At the same time, the sale of state and municipal agricultural land, as well as its sale to foreigners, will remain prohibited. The preemptive right to purchase a land plot belongs to its lessee. The minimum value of land cannot be lower than its regulatory monetary value.
