Skeety65

On 3/7/2024 at 8:42 AM, VinnieK said:

My 7 month cat has a serious case of the flu or something close to it.

Laboured breathing, raspy sound from the lungs and some blood discharge from the mouth...

Three days already and zero food or water.

A visit to a vet would be the obvious step but I'm looking at a 1000 with multiple visits/injections

As a farang ,obviously I'm a prime target for overcharging etc.

Seasoned cat owners out there...u think the little guy can survive with no help or not? He has a strong constitution ,for what it's worth                     Btw...his mother has another litter nearby and will be dumped on me in a month or so..😁

 

Any animals life is worth trying to save and 1000 baht isn’t a lot of money to do that. I don’t know where you live but here in pattaya we have an animal hospital which is very cheap. 
It’s the animal army hospital in Bansaray tel 0850935954 Dr Kwanchai. 
the cats urgently needs fluids and antibiotics which don’t cost that much.

pls do the right thing and take the cat to a vet ASAP 

3 hours ago, ravip said:

As per the recent news items, the Brits seems to be surpassing the number of Chinese & Indian quality tourists.

Another stupid predicable comment from a keyboard warrior. 

2 hours ago, transam said:

Perhaps you should start your own thread, "This is my Life"...........🥴

18 hours ago, Ralf001 said:

The exodus from Pattaya similar. 5 friend's have gone home in a coffin since December.

I’ve lived in pattaya for 12 years and you’re right it has become a cesspit which I can no longer live in so I’m selling up and moving to Samui.

the city is at saturation point with constant traffic, road works, disgusting air pollution and what seems like hundreds of large tour buses pumping out their black smoke and clotting the city’s roads. 
Driving around even on a motorcycle is a pure misery and very dangerous as the roads are lawless.

ive been coming to Thailand since the late 80s especially pattaya and it’s sad to see what it has become. I accept everywhere changes but you’d hope for the better but unfortunately not pattaya so I for one will be happy to see the back of it. 
 

And for people who don’t know this the air pollution in pattaya most days is worse than Bangkok especially at this time of year 

17 hours ago, EVENKEEL said:

Hey you Brits, what's with you guys?

What a stupid pathetic remark. 

On 1/20/2024 at 1:08 PM, alyx said:

Good morning  Thank you for taking the time to read my question: The painting of a 22 story building  has been  voted by the General Assembly and will start soon. One ( malicious) co-owner is trying to stop the Juristic  from doing  it and… forbids the  workers  to paint the eternal walls I surrounding his flat

Result: the outside wall of 191 flats will be painted and  one flat will not be ….leaving a dirty stain on the face of the building

 Can this person stop us fro m painting ( from the outside ) ?

If he  can, is it possible ro sue him for damaging the image of the building ?

 

thanks 

( kindly comment on the legal approach of this matter and refrain from commenting the behaviour of the parties involved) 

 

have a great day 

Im currently servicing as a committee member in a large Jomtein condominium and I can tell you that if the painting of the building has been agreed by the co-owners at a AGM then there’s absolutely nothing he can do about it. If he tries to obstruct the work being carried out then get your Thai management company to contact the police and have them come round to talk to him.  Most of the management company’s have a contact in the police who gets tea money each month so they’re be happy to assist. It might take just one visit to make this co-owner think twice about his actions however if he continues to obstruct the work he can be arrested for obstruction. Believe me there’s always at least one of these unsavory characters in every condo. We are currently dealing with one ourselves who is actually on his death bed but he is still trying to sue the committee for making improvements to our restaurant. He’s taken out the legal action in his company’s name so even if he dies the legal action will continue. Yes there are a some crazy people around and this fella sounds like one so good luck. 

On 1/20/2024 at 1:08 PM, alyx said:

Good morning  Thank you for taking the time to read my question: The painting of a 22 story building  has been  voted by the General Assembly and will start soon. One ( malicious) co-owner is trying to stop the Juristic  from doing  it and… forbids the  workers  to paint the eternal walls I surrounding his flat

Result: the outside wall of 191 flats will be painted and  one flat will not be ….leaving a dirty stain on the face of the building

 Can this person stop us fro m painting ( from the outside ) ?

If he  can, is it possible ro sue him for damaging the image of the building ?

 

thanks 

( kindly comment on the legal approach of this matter and refrain from commenting the behaviour of the parties involved) 

 

have a great day 

4 hours ago, Simon1287 said:

Excellent! I lived in South Pattaya for many years and had two purifiers going 24/7 year round as well as 3M Filtrete on the AC units. 

On really bad air pollution days I could open an outside door and actually smell the pollution in the air. A kind of dirty, oily, industrial smell. 5 minutes outside and I could no longer smell it, as could pretty much no one else ever as they had no purifiers to give them respite from the 24/7 body killing pollution. Even on days as bad as that my apartment had really fresh, clean smelling air thanks to the two purifiers.

I finally gave up on living anywhere north of Surat Thani this time of year and in fact now only visit Thailand at all between about May and September. It's a shame it has to be those months as they are the best weather here in the UK but after so many years in Pattaya breathing in crap and rapidly approaching the age of 70 I am UK based for now and will visit Thailand anytime as and when the mood takes me outside of the polluted "killing season". After much research into the effects of air pollution before I finally gave up on Thailand full time I stand by my description of it.

If I want to get on a plane tomorrow and go live in Thailand again I can but really, you are welcome to it for a while yet.

I will say that if you live in Pattaya etc etc and you don't have at least one air purifier going full blast at the moment then you are, without any doubt whatever, one sandwich short of a picnic.

Hatari do a cheap and really good purifier. Only 3000-4000 Baht I think. The filters are cheap enough and very easy to get both the purifier and replacement filters in Pattaya or online. I had two for years they seem to go on and on.

Pretty sure thats the model I had. Certainly looks like it. 3 speed fan and has a remote control or mine both did anyway. https://www.lazada.co.th/products/32-49-w-hatari-ap12r1-filter-pm25-i4391005779-s18073631294.html

I got mine in Pattaya Power Buy or Home Depot.

 

Does anyone have any idea as to why the air pollution is so bad in Pattaya right now. It’s been like this for 5 days and the burning season hasn’t even began. It’s affecting Bangkok too but most of the north is fine so where could this be coming from. 

These levels of pm 2.5 are dangerously high and will cause long term lung damage but to my amazement the vast majority of people are oblivious to it. 
 

I’m a current serving committee member in a large condominium in Pattaya and I can tell you this definitely wouldn’t be allowed without AGM approval as it’s a change of use of the common area. 
 

the management company including the juristic don’t own the building, the CO-owners do and this change of use wouldn’t be allowed unless CO-owners voted for it at a AGM.

The management company work for the CO-owners so they wouldn’t be allowed to make such decisions on their own. 
also I doubt very much if a committee would agree to this as it’s breaking condominium laws.

if the current committee Im serving on made such a decision there would not only be uproar from the CO-owners but I would guarantee we as a committee would be taken to court for breaking condominium by laws and we’d lose.

if they get away with this once you can bet they’ll do it again as someone is making money from this so the committee needs to be informed. Also ask other residents especially co-owners if they object and find out who the committee are.

This just wouldn’t be allowed to happen in our building, not a chance in hell! 

19 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

@Skeety65 That's a really good point made by thaitero. Has your condo building done that?

Yes we’ve tried everything. Unfortunately this is a very slow process where the management company try to contact the owners then if that fails they ask the police to take the bikes away. It’s been done in the past and we are in the process of doing it again but unfortunately the police don’t really w at ti get involved. Plus we are looking at getting everyone to register their bikes at the next AGM so if there’s people parking illegally we will hopefully find out. 
 

By the way we have enough car parking spaces so losing 3 won’t present a problem.

This post was really for people who have had committee experience as what I’m trying to do is find out if we are breaking condominiums act rules. Even though I appreciate peoples comments they’re only personal opinions which don’t really help. I need advice on the condominium act in terms of my enquiry. 

Our AGM is months away and high season is approaching so we really need this parking space soon and even more so come high season when we will be saturated with bikes.

19 hours ago, blackcab said:

 

@Skeety65 That's a really good point made by thaitero. Has your condo building done that?

Thanks for taking the time to reply 

Hi everyone 

I’m looking for some clarification or advice regarding the use of condominium common ground for parking.

Currently we have a situation at our condominium where we don’t have enough space for the amount of motorcycles we have.
The problem is getting worse each year with more motorcycles being purchased and not enough space to park them.

The current committee which I’m part of want to convert 3 car parking slots into a new motorcycle area however we are not sure if we need AGM approval for this project.

when the condominium was built there was only one area for motorcycles to park but since then more areas have been allocated without AGM approval but last year one of the co-owners tried to sue the previous committee regarding an issue concerning the common area. Despite him not really having any legal grounds for doing so it’s made our management company tread very carefully concerning future projects.

I’ve asked them to consult with their legal department but they seem very reluctant to commit one way or another.

The way this committee see the situation is that the common area being used for this project is already for parking so we are not really changing the use of the area.

it’s not like we want to build something completely different which would constitute a change of use and would need AGM approval.

Any advice would be appreciated 

‘Thanks 

Thanks for both replies 

yes the restaurant was rented by a third party but unfortunately they were losing money so called it a day and no one in their right mind is going to take on another contract in the current climate.

absolutely agree, half of the committee are very nervous from a legal aspect and are using this as excuse not to proceed with this project when in fact we don’t believe we are breaking any condo rules by trying to improve the building. 

‘’those of us who want to make these changes are looking at the bigger picture and can see that by adding a fitness center it would not only save our co owners money and improve their quality of life it would also make our condo more desirable. Also what an asset it would be to our building.

with so many new condominiums already built and new ones being constructed all the time we feel it’s essential we modernize to protect all our investments.

all new condos have very nice communal areas and fitness centers so to stay relevant in very challenging times we have to move forward and update our facilities. 

‘’cheers 

As a committee we are currently looking into installing a fitness center where our pool restaurant used to be as its not been in use since the onset of Covid and there’s very little chance of third parties wanting to rent it out for the foreseeable future due to the current climate. 

So, we have a massive area with so much potential just sitting there wasted so a few members of the committee suggested developing the area into a modern fitness center.

‘Doing this would only involve taking away a few mental railings, bricking this area up and adding some windows and a door so we would have an inside concealed unit which would help prevent any possible outside noise. 
So there won’t be any real major structural change to the building so it will still look more or less the same except for some extras windows and a door and of course some fitness equipment inside.

Some of us believe this would be a massive asset to our building and make it a much more desirable place to live in however the other half are worried about the legal situation. They believe we would be breaking condominium rules but as we aren’t actually making any large structural changes or building any new buildings we don’t believe we’d be doing anything wrong.

‘’we do have a legal team however I rather throw this question out to our expat community first to get some feedback before going down that road. 

So, My question is really directed to anyone who’s had any experience with condominiums committees or someone who knows about these matters.

Any replies would be much apprenticed 
 

cheers 

I had the same problem in my condo too except it wasn’t the manager complaining about me feeding them, it was two residents who hated cats. 
They would often write letters to the office complaining plus I believe they also poisoned some of the cats so I decided to do something about it.

Firstly I spoke to as many residents as possible asking what they thought about me feeding the cats and the overwhelming opinion was they loved them and was happy I was taking care of them.

So, then i decided to get most of our cats spaded and I paid for this out of my own money. 
 

My next step was to join the condo committee so that i had a voice about what happens in our building which lead me to find out legally where I stood.

‘’yes it’s true the condo act states you are not allowed have pets or feed them on your property or around the common area however these cats I’m feeding are not pets they’re feral and there’s nothing in the condominium act that bans you feeding feral cats.

so, this is how I managed to get around this problem and despite their complaints which still continue today I am still allowed to feed our furry friends :)

I would like to add that if the cats are spaded they’re not a nuisance at all, in fact they help keep rats, mice and small snakes away. 
Also many residents find that interacting with the cats is therapeutic so it’s a win win situation.

Cheers 

To be honest I don't know exactly as I have an accountant take care of it for me and yes airlines do have some sort of arrangement with the HMRC.

I think We've got side tracked though as my original post isn't about being non resident it's to do with paying tax based on extension of stay if you qualify based on an overseas income

Once again thanks for all your comments

Just to make it clear i don't pay tax in the UK as I'm non resident there. I have to submit a tax return every year which I do but I don't ever have to pay anything because I spend less than 90 days per annual in the UK. There's a lot of crew who are in the same position as me however some do pay tax in their chosen country of residence if they qualify to do so.

I guess I'm sort of a nomad where I don't qualify to pay tax in either country as even though I live in Thailand on my 2 weeks off I'm not there more than over 180 days per year. Some of you have mentioned the UK residency laws which the HMRC have recently changed but this doesn't affect me as I don't have family ties or have a home in the UK. If I lived in my own home there whilst on my working block or had kids in a UK school for example those 90 days I mentioned would decrease to around 45 which in would make it very difficult to keep my non resident status. I hope that makes my situation clear.

Anyway I'm 50 this year so I was thinking about applying for a extension of stay based on my UK salary which I have already been advised I can do? The reason I was thinking of doing this was because I will need to renew my crew ID at some stage as I need airside clearance to do my job and didn't know whether the Thai authorities would do this for me when I only have visa waiver stamps in my passport. I can't do this in the Uk anymore because of my non resident status.

Being on a 2 weeks on 2 weeks off rotation I realise I don't need a extension of stay however I may have to down this path to obtain a criminal record clearance. Prefer not to do this however I may not have a choice.

Once again thanks for all your replies as they've been very informative

Cheers

I spend less than 90 days per year in the UK therefore I qualify for non residency. My job is cabin crew so even when I'm working my 2 weeks rotation I'm hardly ever there so have made my home in Thailand.

I understand that I don't need an extension of stay due to the nature of my working rotation however I was thinking some sort of visa would be necessary when Im applying for my next criminal record check, I need this to obtain my airside crew pass. . I can't do this in the UK anymore as I'm not resident so would need to get this done In Bangkok. Does anybody know if this would is possible on a visa waiver stamp.

Cheers

Thanks for all your advice it's appreciated.

Would be grateful for any advice ref paying tax in Thailand.

Here's my situation. I'm 50 this year and I'm thinking of applying for an extension of stay based on my UK salary as I've been told that I can qualify either with 800K in a Thai bank, a pension or an income.

I work for an airline (2 weeks on 2 off) so spend 2 weeks per month in Thailand and I'm currently a non UK resident.

My question is will I have to pay tax in Thailand on my UK income if I obtain this visa? I've heard this could be the case but want to make sure before I start the process.

Any advice would be appreciated

Thanks

Does anyone have medical insurance in Thailand. I know most western countries offer worldwide insurance which will cover you here but it's very expensive. Is there any Thai companies offering decent insurance.

Any info would be appreciate

Thanks

Tony

Cheers Wenne I'll check it out

Thanks for the replies it's much appreciated

I'll definitely check out your suggestions

Cheers

I've recently bought a road bike and have been riding back and forth from Pattaya to Sattihip which is a decent ride but not challenging enough in terms of climbs. Does anyone know if there are any hill climbs anywhere along that route or do you know of any other more challenging routes where the traffic isn't too busy.