Can a foreigner rent a house in Thailand?

Short and long term house rentals in Thailand are very popular and common among foreigners who are looking for a way to live there without having to rely on hotel rooms or serviced apartment buildings. It is far more simple to lease a house as a homeowner in Thailand to a foreign entity as opposite to the very complex process of selling a house to the latter. The lessor just has to sign the contract and prepare a TM-30 for the foreign lessee who will stay in the house for a definite period of time. What is the TM-30 you may ask? The TM-30 is a proof of the address of where you live in Thailand and needs to be updated every time you move out to a new place, or when you get out of the country and comeback.

How much does it cost to rent a house in Thailand?

Depends on what type of house you are looking for. People are often wondering what is the cheapest place to live in Thailand and Chiang Mai is often in the top of the list. There are townhouses, detached houses and villa houses, the latters being usually the most expensive ones, more adapted for group rentals or short term vacations in the Kingdom of Thailand. Most of the time, the houses for rent in Thailand and in Chiang Mai will be part of a Muuban, a small village, generally offering amenities and security services in exchange of a small monthly fee that you pay directly to the Muban’s dedicated office. We are talking not more than 200 baht in general.

For the house rental prices, for a town house you can find good deals under 10 000 baht per month, but it comes with the downside of having less privacy compared to a detached house. On the detached house market, in Chiang Mai you can find something nice between 10k and 15k in general. For a huge mansion or villa, we talk about 30k or 40k and up per month.

Add to that the cost of the water and electricity, the maintenance fee, your internet, and then all the daily life things like food, garbage bags, soap, toilet paper and whatnot, for let’s say a 3 bedroom 12 000 baht per month property, with all this in total you should arrive close to 25 000-30 000 baht per month with all the expenses added.

If you are looking for something bigger for a family; a brand new, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom modern house to the North of Chiang Mai center would cost around 45 000 baht per month. Just to give you a full spectrum of what it can cost.

The deposit is something very important to take into account. Your landlord will usually ask to pay 2 months in advance for the first rent payment, so be prepared to shell out this amount of money in addition with the rest when you will budget for your first rental in Thailand.