Property
Foreigners cannot own land; thram registration governs title
Land ownership is restricted to Bhutanese citizens. Title is recorded in the thram register under the Land Act 2007, and there is a constitutional ceiling on how much land one person may hold.
Governing law
- Land Act of Bhutan, 2007
- Constitution art. 112
- Tenancy Act, 2015
In practice
The holding ceiling is twenty-five acres. Registration in the thram is the operative act of title, and the National Land Commission maintains cadastral records with reasonably good coverage for a country of Bhutan's terrain. Foreign-invested companies lease rather than own. Inheritance of rural land traditionally favoured daughters in much of the country, a matrilineal pattern that statute has not displaced.