East Pattaya houses and pool villas

East Pattaya, nicknamed the Darkside, is the informal name for the land east of Sukhumvit Road and the railway line. It is mostly residential, with few hotels. It is not an official administrative area, so addresses use tambon names, such as Tambon Nong Prue.

That matters for paperwork. Tambon Nong Prue is split between Pattaya City and Nong Prue Town Municipality, so ask which local office covers a house before you sign. The zone stretches east from Sukhumvit Road towards Mabprachan Reservoir, the city's nearest source of raw water.

Sukhumvit Road forms the western edge. Soi Siam Country Club, also called Soi Pornprapanimit, is the way to Pattaya Railway Station, just east of Sukhumvit, and Siam Country Club golf course is one of the area's landmarks. Chaiyaphonwithi Road runs past the Million-Year Stone Park and Crocodile Farm, and Motorway 7 reaches Sukhumvit through a Pattaya spur with a Nong Prue Interchange, which helps on trips to Bangkok.

Public transport is thin once you leave Sukhumvit Road. Plan on a car; if you are new in town, a monthly car rental lets you live in an estate before you decide to buy a vehicle.

Foreigners cannot own land in Thailand in their own name, so a foreign buyer of a house usually holds a registered lease on the land. Under the Civil and Commercial Code a lease of immovable property cannot exceed 30 years, and a lease over three years must be registered to be enforceable beyond three years. Check the title deed type too: a chanote gives full ownership with surveyed boundaries.

Read our guide to Thai land title deeds and what foreigners can and cannot own before you view, then see houses for sale.