kwaiYai

3 hours ago, sandyf said:

Not that expensive when the government pays a large chunk of it. In the UK pensioners were given £510.

For someone living alone, not a bad idea to shut everything down for 3 months and go away.

My wife and I came here for the first time since the pandemic. Staying 3 months, Dec-March. Airfare was about £850 each, used to be £500. But my cousin back in the UK has a Smart meter which tells him he’s used £400 on gas in the last 2 weeks! He’s only heating his house to 20c for 14 hours a day. I’m sure we did the right thing!

cherrybie: "OP: I still haven't heard a word about speaking to the chap in question.

Maybe you missed my post yesterday: "We've just talked about this and he is very thankful for your replies.

He would certainly never snitch on anybody and if nothing can be done legally through the management committee then he will just sell and move out. Although now he is worried about where to move to, as we are surprised by so many similar experiences reported here. If this is the way things are going then I'm even more glad that I sold my condos a few years back when prices were high!"

Again, we are very thankful for your replies but as far as he is concerned the issue is finished.

He has had enough and is moving out.

It is interesting to see though that this debate is going on!

ggt: Beef very fully explained. Please see above.

'Welcome to Thailand'.... 'This is Thailand'.....

That's two people reminding us we are in Thailand.

If my question had been "Where am I?" I'd be grateful for that answer. But I rarely get that hung-over these days.

As my question is about Thai condo law, being reminded TIT (i.e. anything goes) and 'why don't you buy a house?' isn't much help to my friend, or anyone else interested in this topic.

steven100 says "Welcome to Thailand...". He's lived in Thailand for about 25 years!

Things have changed a lot in recent years, as other posters seem to confirm.

We've just talked about this and he is very thankful for your replies.

He would certainly never snitch on anybody and if nothing can be done legally through the management committee then he will just sell and move out. Although now he is worried about where to move to, as we are surprised by so many similar experiences reported here.

If this is the way things are going then I'm even more glad that I sold my condos a few years back when prices were high!

PattayaPhom: Re the second mention of the phrase 'excessive use'. I was just doing a brief recap of the problems an answer to a couple of questions.

For the first 5-6 years my friend lived in this condo the residents were only owners & long term renters who, in the main, all got along quite happily in a relaxing environment. They freely used all the common facilities, to a greater or lesser extent, and nobody had a problem with that. He could always use the gym, sauna, pool shower room etc., without having to wait in a queue of screaming kids.

Sorry to repeat this yet again, but the problem is the short-term, vacationing renters who treat his condominium as an all-inclusive holiday resort and try to get the most out of their money by using all the facilities pretty much all day every day. By 'excessive use' I mean, for one example, they use the sauna (fair enough) but leave it turned on, even when they leave (waste of energy / owners money).

Yes, surely the multiple condo owner is entitled to make reasonable use of the facilities as he pays maintenance. However, the share of use by his 3-4 week vacationing tenants has gone far beyond what the other owners think is fair. They feel they are almost subsidising the facilities for the benefit of this guys rental business.

tttthailand: My friend is a 'live & let live' reasonable guy and would normally 'mind his own business' .... if it hadn't affected his home to such a degree. As I said before, his quality of life has sadly greatly deteriorated and of course he's not happy about it!

He would never cause a problem for anybody by reporting them to anybody for anything.

If there is nothing in the condo law about this I guess he will just have to move.

Thanks for your replies. In answer to some of the questions raised:-

We don't know how he is getting customers, my friend thinks maybe he uses a Russian tour agency for the short stay holiday makers.

I'm sure this multiple condo owner isn't advertising a 'hotel' as such, or even considers it a hotel himself. We're saying that with the short stay rentals, of only a few weeks to vacationers, it has effectively become like a hotel within a condo apartment building. Of course vacationers don't have the same respect for the property as the owners do.

The main problems are noisy drunken behaviour, excessive use of pool, gym and sauna (causing increased electricity bills to be shared by owners) and rubbish and cigarette butts about the pool area.

The only 'security' I've seen at his condo is a skinny guy watching the parking lot!

I'll pass this advice on but I guess the answer is for him to sell up & move on! Its is a shame though, before all this it used to be a great place to live.

Thanks Delight. They have put some signs up which are largely ignored!

I was wondering if there is anything in the condo law to prohibit running a business of this scale using residential condo units?

There are a couple of business units in the building - a shop & a café. I thought you could only use the nominated business units of a condominium building to run a business?

Some owners of course rent their apartments when they are away, but this is usually long term, a few months or more, and those renters aren't generally a problem and he has nothing against that. It's the short stay, noisy, holidaymakers which are the problem.

No, it's just a normal condo apartment block.

My friend has owned a condo in Phuket for over 10 years. It used to be a great place to live but over the last few years a foreign investor has bought up a lot of condos (maybe over 15% of total apartments) and is basically running a hotel within this condominium building.

He doesn’t do daily rentals (yet!) but does rent apartments for a few weeks to holiday makers. There have been quite a few Russian family’s staying, with children running about, jumping in & out of the pool, going into the gym in wet swimming gear etc. They are on holiday and want to get their monies worth, as if it was an all-inclusive resort hotel. Also of course they don’t care for the place as the owners do, and leave rubbish and cigarette butts around everywhere. My mate, and several other long term owners, feel that their home, quality of life, and general peaceful and happy existence has greatly deteriorated.

The owner of this ‘hotel within a condominium’ benefits from the use of staff, and facilities such as the pool, gym etc. without having to meet the full costs as he would if this was a ‘stand - alone’ hotel. The costs of his guest's excessive sauna usage, wearing-out of expensive gym equipment etc. are rather unfairly shared by all co- owners.

To make it clear, he isn’t actually calling his business a ‘hotel’, but with so many condos on holiday rental, that is effectively what it has become.

Does anybody know if there is anything in the Thai Condo laws that can prevent something like this happening? Any legal advice please on what can be done?