Buyers Guide > Building Regulations on Koh Samui

If you have purchased some land on Koh Samui, you must obtain the necessary permission before starting building. The building permit dictates what you can build, and the conditions that must be met, depending on the physical location of your land.

A recent change to the regulations means that all new constructions must have peaked roofs, rather than flat ones.

Stage 1 – up to 10 metres of the beach

No construction is permitted in Stage 1

Stage 2 – up to 50 metres from the beach

Single storey buildings up to a height of 6 metres (including the roof), and no more than 75 square metres floor space can be built on Stage 2 land.

Stage 3 – up to 200 metres from the beach

Larger buildings up to 12 metres high and to a size not exceeding 2000 square metres can be built on Stage 3 classified land.

Stage 4 – more than 200 metres from the beach

Buildings up to 12 metres high, no restriction on size.

The following is a diagram illustrating the different zones in relation to their distance from the beach.