Renting Out Your Phuket Property Legally: Hotel Act, the 30-Day Rule and Licences

Thailand's Hotel Act B.E. 2547 (2004) defines a hotel as accommodation provided for a fee on a temporary basis. A ministerial regulation of 2008 (B.E. 2551) sets the line: stays of less than 30 days are hotel business. Anyone offering them needs a hotel licence or an exemption.

This applies to condos and villas alike, and to listings on Airbnb, Booking.com and similar platforms. Accommodation established solely for paid stays of a month or longer is excluded from the Act's definition of a hotel. A single 30-night booking does not by itself create that exclusion: what counts is how the premises are actually operated, and condo or estate rules, permitted use and contracts still apply.

The rule is not theoretical: in reported 2018 cases, Hua Hin Provincial Court penalised condo owners for short-term rentals. Operating a hotel without the required licence can attract up to one year's imprisonment, a fine of up to 20,000 THB, or both, plus a continuing fine of up to 10,000 THB per day.

In Phuket, enforcement against individual owners became active from late 2023, and officials cross-check platform listings with tax and immigration records.

Even if the Hotel Act question were solved, a condominium's own bylaws, made under section 32 of the Condominium Act, often prohibit short-term letting. The juristic person can enforce them directly: key-card restrictions, fines, and action against the owner.

So for a condo, check three documents before you buy:

1. The registered bylaws. Do they ban stays under 30 days or commercial use of units?
2. The building's licence. Is the project, or part of it, a licensed hotel or serviced apartment with a rental programme? Condo-hotels and branded residences with a licensed operator are the clean way to earn nightly income from a condo.
3. The rental programme contract. If you join the operator's pool, how are revenue and costs split, how many owner nights do you keep, and how long are you locked in?

What owners of ordinary condos do

• Rent monthly or yearly to long-stay tenants: legal, steadier, and often less work.
• Use it themselves and rent it out for the high-season months on 30-day-plus contracts.

Monthly letting earns less per night but avoids the main legal and building risks.

A private pool villa has three legal ways to take guests.

1. A small accommodation registration

Small properties can apply at the district office (amphoe) for a notification or certificate as non-hotel accommodation instead of a full hotel licence. The commonly cited limits are up to 8 rooms and up to 30 guests, but meeting the size limits is not enough on its own: building type, land use, safety, fire and local requirements also apply, and the details vary. Get advice before relying on it.

2. A hotel licence

Villa resorts and estates run by an operator can be licensed as hotels. This is the route for managed villa estates that sell nightly stays. If you buy into one, the licence belongs to the operator or the estate: check it covers your villa.

3. Monthly-or-longer letting

Potentially outside hotel licensing when the property is genuinely operated on monthly-or-longer terms; estate rules, permitted use and tax still apply. Long-stay families, digital nomads on DTV visas and seasonal visitors rent villas for months at a time.

Tax applies on rental income in all three cases: see our rental yield guide.

Two things are moving at once.

• Enforcement is data-driven. Authorities match platform listings with tax filings, immigration reports of guests and district records. Unlicensed listings are easier to find than they used to be.
• Reform is being discussed. On 14 October 2026 Tilleke & Gibbins reported a draft law to replace the Hotel Act and allow other types of accommodation. Earlier reform ideas have circulated too. None is law yet, and drafts can change substantially or stall.

Until a new law is published and in force, the 30-day line applies. Do not buy on the assumption that a reform will legalise a rental model that is illegal today, and be wary of sellers who present a draft as settled.

• Which route allows stays under 30 days here: hotel licence, non-hotel registration, or none? Ask for the licence or registration document and check the address and room count.
• For a condo, read the registered bylaws on short stays and commercial use.
• For a rental pool, read the operator contract: revenue split, costs charged to owners, owner nights, term, exit.
• Ask for real booking statements and bank deposits, not projections. Our rental yield guide shows how to turn them into a net return.
• Confirm who files and pays tax on the rental income and who reports guests to immigration (the TM30 notification).
• Check land and building tax: a unit used commercially can move from the residential rate to the higher "other use" rate.

If a property's income plan only works with unlicensed nightly rentals, the price is built on a risk you would carry. Our catalogue states the rental route for each listing where we know it, and we can check a specific property for you.