Umlungu

They need a tax to 'manage' the tourist stream? Ok, so how will those 300 baht contribute to this 'management'? More immigration counters open at airports? Faster processing at airports in general? Enforcement of public transport regulations, eg buses, taxis, railways and air services? Educating tourism and hospitality staff? In other words: all those issues that were never addressed - ever - , not even post-covid when the tourist numbers were down.

So the evidence of these broad statements of being 'flooded' by foreign tour agents or whatever is a single person who allegedly engages in prohibited business activities. Did you verify any facts? Visa? Work permit? Registered business owner with employees? No - you didn't. Shoddy reporting (I won't grace such nonsense with the term journalism) at best, defamation at worst.

No different to the usual trucks occupying three of four lanes on the Ptya to Bkk motorway, all engaged in a slow motion attempt of overtaking eachother.

What you wrote is uneducated nonsense. Sorry, but you really have no clue.

Sorry, before spouting off please read the relevant laws. Then read your rental contract. Finally, stick to the rules and the law and you will need no police or other protection from landlords like me. I protect my interests from bad renters who abuse, destroy, maltreat and neglect my property. You have every right to protect your interests as well. Please stick to Thai laws and don't import your home country rental agreements etc. Tenants, unfortunately, enjoy very little protection from landlord scammers who abuse the deposit system. - Tenants sometimes leave before a contract expires, leaving utility debts, damage and a mess behind. They might also leave with outstanding due rent. What would you suggest owners do to protect themselves in such cases? And yes, I do have the right once the tenant is in breach of contract to evict them immediately and also gain access to the property. I can prevent you from any further access to the property. I am the owner, you have an obligation to pay rent for the use of such property. If you fail to comply with the terms of this agreement, then you forfeit the right of access as well as any deposit paid. You are the one breaking the law. - If the tenant complies with all aspects of the rental contract as well as relevant Thai law, and the landlord does not by refusing to refund the deposit or part thereof (explaining and reflecting all reasonable deductions) or in any other way, then you must of course seek a legal remedy. Speaking for myself, it is largely a 50:50 on refunding and declining a deposit return. I have never had any legal issues with anyone, with most tenants who incurred a partial or zero refund agreeing that it is warranted when consulting the rental agreement they have read, understood, and signed. I, for one, will not be taken for a mug by argumentative tenants like you.

Thappraya Road is terrible. It seems a mad race from the Thepprasit Rd intersection up the hillto the axis / Pratumnak intersection/lights. Dreadful. It seems mostly those larger farang rental bikes. More police checkpoints required, confiscate the bikes, fine the riders, fix the bike within a week and present it to the police afterwards. No compliance? cancel registration and insurance and sooner or later they will be caught and the bike is history.

My goodness, you really are a friendly guy, aren't you? Not.

The landlord should have evicted you on the spot for not paying the rent for the final month - on time, in advance, as per contract, just like you paid every other month according to contract stipulations. You have no right whatsoever to withhold that payment and deduct it from your deposit and thereby consider it as paid. as I said, go read up on the law and also your contract. The police are not involved at all, they are not lawyers versed in rental contract law, are not entitled to offer legal advice or anything else. They can be involved in a forced eviction. Had I been your landlord I would have kicked you out on the spot by simply locking you out. Your entire deposit would have been forfeited on the spot (missed payment deadline). Btw, did you also refuse to pay the final utility bills and also deduct them from your deposit? If so, then you are one of the tenants giving tenants and landlords a bad name because you simply do not know Thai law in this regard.

It sounds like a badly worded contract. It probable boiled down to "two months' rent as a deposit for rent and damages etc". The is no legally enshrined limit on rent or damage security bonds. The amount is defined by the rent amount times two. that has nothing to do with the defined purpose of the deposit as a whole. also, you are lucky that your contract didn't (or did it, in fact?) state that the rent is due at a certain date, plus maybe an extra 7 days period of grace. That goes for every month, including the last one, as rent is always due in advance. My contracts always stipulate (and this is enshrined in Thai law as well) that failure to pay the rent - at any stage of the contract period - within the deadline (due date + 7 days) - constitutes a default of contract, resulting in the immediate termination of the agreement (i.e. eviction) and forfeiture of the entire deposit (without any further consideration of other potential deductions for damage etc). End of. Contracts vary a lot, it's always good to read and understand them, and not sign them if they do not suit. That avoids conflict and false accusations of landlords being scammers.

The best way is not to threaten anyone and just abide by the contract stipulations. That's how all the satisfactory rental agreements conclude - which, hazarding a guess, are probably the vast majority. But you don't hear about those. I had a Vietnamese lady staying in my condo for two years, the second year on a handshake extension. There was a 28k deposit. she paid every month on time, paid all bills, did no damage, cleaned the place to a degree that you could have eaten off the floor. I returned it in full. I had an American stay for a year, damaged the place and stole items, did no proper, personal handover, had three outstanding months of utility bills, was late with his rent, left an absolute mess. He forfeited 18k baht, his entire deposit. He also tried the police who laughed him out of the station. So it goes. Some great tenants, some really rotten ones.

Why would your landlord have gone to the police to get you evicted if you had paid - as you say - the final month's rent via half of the deposit if you then had to leave on the expiry of your contract anyway? The fact that you argued your case after your final month's rent was deemed by the landlord as not having been paid (let's say within the 7-day payment deadline), and refused to pay it separately, and were still in the condo, you basically ensured that you forfeited your other half of the deposit (for damage etc) - even if there was no damage and no reason to hold it on the part of the landlord. The onus was / would then have been on you to retrieve it - and good luck with that. It would not have been worth the expense for a lawyer etc. You lost.

That is correct. Different rules for owners with 5 or more properties. Those regulations were initially more tenant-friendly, but have been tightened up to now protect the owner. Rental contract vary a lot and the devil is in the detail. Owners need to be precise in their demands and responsibilities covering both parties, and tenants need to read contracts and understand them. Agents need to be more professional in their contracts, the industry is not very well regulated and some agents have no clue how to set out a contract and also subsequently manage their client (be it the tenant or the owner). Most will just pop up a month before end of contract and enquire about an extension, with the sole intent of pocketing another / second monthly rent amount as commission - which is illegal, btw.

What you say is wrong. The local police agreeing with you is irrelevant - they are not the ones to adjudicate rental law and potential legal issues. It is the law - and you should spell this out in a rental contract - that 2 months rent as a deposit is a security deposit. It does not include any amount for rent (last month) or utility bills. It covers damage only, which, btw, can exceed the secure original deposit amount and can be recovered from the tenant as well. I had a tenant who stopped paying his utility bills two months out fromthe end of contract. This was deliberate as he might have known that the MEA onloy disconnects power supply after two unpaid bills. Unbeknown to the tenant, I was able to see his conduct on the MEA app. So, two months not paid, plus pro rate for last days not paid, breach of contract, entire deposit forfeited. He did pay the final month's rent , but it was late. Breach of contract. The place was a mess, and items were missing also. He demanded his full deposit back. He did not front up for a final handover, neither did his agent. Keys were not returned and kept back on his part as 'security'. He then went to the police who took a statement that he was now, 6 weeks after having left, willing to pay for 2 month's electricity. By that stage the place had been cleaned by me / contractor, new locks installed, new and happy tenants in the property (just going into their third consecutive year, a lovely young Thai couple, professionals). The original dirty, thieving and deceiving tenant was a US American. He forfeited his entire deposit.

Where are the sandy beaches in Bangkok?

Who cares? Is this even news? A brother of some actress probably unknown to most readers here, is pursuing legal action and refusing an out of court settlement. Happens hundreds of times each month. Who's interested?