SamuiRes

I also have no sympathy for the Samui taxi drivers. Always used Navigo until that stopped. Would charge and acceptable Baht 200 from where we live to the centre of Bangrak. The alternative became Grab but they wanted Baht 400 for the same journey. Needless to say we don't use them. There are still as few private taxi drivers around who charge sensible prices, but few and far between so if you find one, you tend to keep quiet about him/her!

My 90 day report was due on 19th September. I did it on-line on the  Saturday 12th September which is within the allowed tolerance. Came back approved on Monday 14th with a reporting date in December which shows they do not pay much attention  to the detail as my visa requires extension on 22nd October. The reporting date is therefore irrelevant as I must extend the visa first.

Came back to Samui by Seatran last week after ten days away. Cursory temperature check as we drove onto the ferry and nothing more. 

1 hour ago, Neeranam said:

If you are married , pay 1900 baht and get 1 year. 

Except in Samui where they charge 20-25,000 Baht.. Pay it or not get your visa.

Report due on 15th April so downloaded the Immigration App and all seemed well until it asked for GPS location at which point it kept going back to the beginning and I had to start all over again, and again, and again!. Gave up on that and tried the web application which was in fact surprisingly easy. Apart from asking me for my flight number on arrival in 2014! Took a reasonable guess and it accepted it. Now showing as Pending - will wait and see!

This taken looking out to the south above Tong Krut.

Yes he has just emailed me as he has just twigged it is a hoax.

I have a seller due to come to Thailand this week to attend the Land Office re the sale of his property.

Today he informs me  that as of 1st April, French Nationals need a visa to enter Thailand and he does not have enough time to get one before he us due to fly on Wednesday.

He is of French-Arabic decent  - he thinks maybe that is the issue. Has anyone else come across or heard of this?

 

FOI_0588-17_-_Letter.pdf

Bangrak Planned Power Outage Thursday 15th June

We are told the power will be out 0900 - 1200.

We have received written notice of this - so it must be true!!!!

We are between the Ghost Road and Replay

koh phangan celebrates songkran for a day only if you are not in haadrin.

Same goes for Koh Samui, except perhaps Chawang.... usually only half a day in most areas.... in the afternoon (Saturday if I remember) .... really easy to avoid..... on most of the island!

I have been here on Koh Samui for 15 years and it is a one day event which is great. Done Bangkok and the villages and more than happy to stay down here and stay at home for that one day then continue with life as usual after that. Agree with Samuijimmy - Chaweng can get a bit silly but the rest of the island is relatively tame.

Same here in Samui at both the office and home.

Represents a 5% reduction in the gross rate since last November.

Presumably the lower oil prices are working their way through.

 

TV please sort out your links via line as when I click on the headline I want to read I have to troll through sometimes a hundred post before I get what link YOU send to my phone......

 

Agreed - followed three different links which all took me to the same place.

Thanks for the answers guys.

Now i know where to look,if i get to chaweng in one of the next days.

I believe they are in the process of setting up for one at Bophut Temple by Fisherman's Village. Nnot sure when it is due to open though.

The PEA slipped in a new charge as from last month. There are two rates, 8.22 up to 150 kWh and Baht 38.22 above 150kWh They told my wife that this represented the cost of reading the meters and administrating the invoices and collecting the money. They also said that these costs had always been included before but never stated as a separate item. There has been a huge outcry on the Thai social media sites about this but nothing said on the English language sites. I presume this is what the OP was referring to.

MEA has been including those as separate items for a long time. It was only recently that I noticed and asked about it when it showed on my last PEA bill. So they unfolded it from the base price as a separate item now.

It only appeared on my bills (home and office) for the first time last month. Both PEA.

The PEA slipped in a new charge as from last month. There are two rates, 8.22 up to 150 kWh and Baht 38.22 above 150kWh They told my wife that this represented the cost of reading the meters and administrating the invoices and collecting the money. They also said that these costs had always been included before but never stated as a separate item. There has been a huge outcry on the Thai social media sites about this but nothing said on the English language sites. I presume this is what the OP was referring to.

The other point to have in mind is that there is a difference in the tariff between Residential and Small Business. If you own your house/land through a company, or if your landlord does, then you or he will be paying the small business rate, not the standard residential rate so the starting point may be from a higher base.

If you look at your meter, if it is from the PEA it will say so and a bill will be produced by them on a monthly basis at standard rates. If this is the case there is no good reason for the landlord charging a premium. If however the meter is not from the PEA it may be because the Landlord has installed his own transformer to control the supply within his estate and all the properties in his ownership run off it. We see this quite a lot and the extra charge per unit is added to cover distribution costs and maintenance. It does tend to be an arbitrary sum but 6 Baht/unit is not unusual. With a rented property I am not sure the PEA would install a meter for you without the permission of the landlord.

For a five year lease it would have to be registered at the Land Office or it is unenforceable or if it did go to Court for any reason, the Court would reduce the term to 3 years.

Many leases are for three years or less as they do not need to be registered.

Many Thai owners do not want to register as this is a declaration of income for the Revenue Dept.

Not where I live (next door to the Chinese temple), all traffic moving normally both ways.

Must have cleared but the Samui Rescue were diverting everything in both directions about an hour ago when I went through. Took me a good 20 minutes to get through down roads I did not know existed and did not show on my GPS! Came out by the timber merchants just north of Hua Thanon.

Ring road closed. Traffic being diverted round back roads

Thai government officials have denied media reports that Bangkok has signed an agreement with Beijing to construct a shipping canal through the Kra Isthmus that could allow ships to bypass the Straits of Malacca.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/thailand-denies-kra-canal/1856758.html

I believe (here in Samui anyway) they have been buying local produce for years and feel obliged to do so. The downside is the locals sell all the poor quality to Tesco and the better quality goes to the local fresh markets. Tomatoes are the best example where you frequently find rotten and damaged goods on the shelves. Consequently I always try and buy fruit and veg at the fresh markets at a lower price and better quality.

If you lease land make sure that the lease states quite clearly what happens to the buildings on the land, which you have paid for, at the end of the lease whether that ends by the passage of time or death.

Civil and Commercial Code Part 3

Section 1310. If a person has, in good faith, constructed a building upon another person's land, the owner of the land becomes the owner of the building, but he must pay the constructor for any increase of value accruing to the land by reason of the building.

Basically this means that the buildings revert to the land owner at the end of the lease but he must pay for them.

Many leases I have seen are silent on this point but I have also seen some which actually state that value must be paid. The issue of course will be determining the value at that time so the procedure for doing that must also be clear.