Polar Bear

Speak for yourself. I left home at 16, worked, supported myself, etc. etc. It was the best decision I ever made. I was already more mature then a lot of supposed adults I meet now, many of whom are still dumb and full off it despite being decades older.

According to posts on FB, he's already been found and has a flight back to the UK today.

Yes, it's in the process now, but it's not law yet. As usual, the gov are being very coy about the details, but from what little they've said, it looks like a Section 8 for something classed as mandatory grounds will be the same process or possibly easier than a Section 21. The proposed list of mandatory and discretionary grounds is here. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/tenancy-reform-renters-reform-bill Residential letting regulations are not intended to cover this situation. These would be short lets, holiday lets or could even come under rent-a-room rules. If people have been using loopholes to make that work, then I guess the loophole is about to close. Until we know what the actual court process is, which will probably be about 6 months after it happens ???? it's impossible to say, but for the most part, I don't think this makes much difference. Decent landlords will be doing it already, and good riddance to the others. Having said that, the one part I do disagree with is furnished and unfurnished lets being treated the same. Ours our unfurnished anyway, but if you have furnished properties, I do think you should be able to have blanket bans on kids and pets. Although the new rules are pretty meaningless anyway because they only require you to 'reasonably consider' it, it doesn't say you have to have allow them, so maybe it doesn't really matter. And, while not exactly a disagreement, I'd like to see them actually enforce the Decent Homes standards against social (council/housing association, etc.) landlords and not only private. The standards are already supposed to apply to them, but too many of their tenants are still left living with mould, damp, exposed wiring, etc., and no one does anything about it. It's wrong on so many levels. It doesn't matter how much legislation they bring in if it's never enforced.

Wanting to sell is still grounds to end a tenancy. As is wanting to move back in yourself, or have a relative move in. The notice period is still 2 months. I don't see how these changes will negatively affect you at all. Also, I'm sure you realise you can sell a tenanted property to another landlord. (That's our preferred option these days.) The selling price is usually slightly lower than market value, but not much. And that's offset by continuing to get rent up until you complete and saving on the costs of a refurb to get it ready to sell But these are people's homes we are talking about. Tenants should not have to live with the constant threat of unexpected eviction at the whim of a landlord. If someone wants the convenience of being able to liquidate assets whenever they feel like it, there are other more appropriate investments that don't screw other people over in the process.

I do, and I have no issue with these changes. We've been landlords of multiple properties for decades, and we've never evicted someone without cause. And 'without cause' is usually a euphemism for 'requesting maintenance' anyway. If you can't afford to maintain your property, you've got no business renting it out. This won't actually change anything though. Decent landlords will continue as they always have, and the slum landlords will still find tenants who are desperate and will take whatever they can get no matter what the law says. If we are forced to sell up, it'll be because of the potential EPC changes, not because tenants are being given basic rights.

This is what I read in an article, but I can't find it now. The shares are part of his father's estate and he currently manages the trust while the estate is settled. Also, the law isn't a blanket ban. It says you can't own more than 5% stake of a media company and the shares account for less than 1%. The implication was that they are really scraping the barrel if this is all they could find on him. I wish I could find the original article again. If anyone comes across this from a reliable source, please let us know.

I haven't. I got my dog tested before we came here. As far as I know, the only lab in Thailand that does rabies titer testing (or at least the only one with international accreditation) is the National Institute of Animal Health in Bangkok. They charge 3,000 THB for the test and certificate. They will draw the blood as well for another couple of hundred Baht. Or you can have it taken at any vet clinic and just send them the serum for testing. If I didn't need to keep his papers valid, I wouldn't bother getting him repeatedly titer tested, I'd just get a booster every 3 years instead of yearly

I am very much pro-vax, but yearly boosters for rabies are ridiculously excessive. Many countries have switched to a 3 year booster schedule instead of yearly (for the same vaccine). It's common for dogs that have had multiple yearly boosters to test at 30+ IU/ml. The required level is >0.5. But I still have to get my dog vaccinated yearly to keep his international papers valid.

I don't remember what I paid most recently at a pet shop. But I still have the receipt for the previous one from a vet, and I paid 700 THB for it (10-20kg). I stopped buying meds off Lazada after getting multiple fake Seresto collars and a box of fake Nexgard Spectra, and they were just the ones I could tell were fake. If I couldn't afford to buy Bravecto from a vet, I'd switch to ivermectin.

I buy the Bravecto tablets from a couple of different vets and a local pet store (in Bangkok), depending on where is most convenient when I need it. I've not had any trouble finding it, and I last bought one about 2 weeks ago.

I lived in Hino, Japan for a while. The recycling system there was insane. Everything was colour-coded, and there was a corresponding calendar showing what was to be put out each day, but the calendar was black and white and the print was tiny, so it was near impossible to know what everything was. There were collections 4 or 5 days a week. Garbage was once a week. All the others were recycling. One day would be one type of paper. the following week a different type of paper, light cardboard, heavy cardboard, different types of plastic, different types of glass, different types of metal, different types of lightbulbs. They all got collected on different days, and they had to go out on the right day in the right coloured bag (which had to be bought specifically, and they were priced according to size.) The block manager would go through everything that was put out, garbage, recycling, everything. If you got something wrong, he would dump everything back on your doorstep. If he couldn't tell whose it was, he emptied it into a box, and left it out with a note. If you didn't claim it in 24 hours he checked the CCTV and tracked you down that way instead. After a few months of getting it wrong most of the time, it got so that I would only leave out garbage and plastic bottles. Everything else I took out with me and left in the bins outside 7-11 or Watson.

In my soi in Bangkok, we have blue bins for garbage and yellow for recycling. No one puts recycling in the yellow bins. They are filled with garbage like the others. Some people do separate out stuff that's potentially recyclable (including me), and leave it in bags next to the bins. It's usually gone before the truck comes, but if it's still there, the workers tie the recycling bag to the side of the truck.

Yes, that's what I was told. As it turns out, you can use a Thai license in the UK without an IDP, so I didn't need one.

About this time last year, I was told at Bang Chak that I could request changing from 2 to 5 after 1 year if I could show that I needed an international driving permit, but that it would only be a request and they would decide whether to allow it. I didn't bother in the end, so I don't know what the chances are of them agreeing.

I would not apply until the current industrial action is over. HMPO is disorganised at the best of times. When they have a backlog of documents, stuff just gets lost, and they are completely indifferent about it. Better to wait until things are working smoothly, albeit slowly. Alternatively, go back and renew in person. That's what I ended up doing. I paid extra for the priority service and picked up my new passport on the same day. It was expensive and inconvenient to go back to the UK to deal with it, but it would have been a much bigger problem for me if it had got lost in their system for months.

Thursday 6th was also a holiday. Very little gets done on a Friday anyway, and even less when it's squashed between a holiday and a weekend. These two weeks are largely a write-off for getting any kind of official admin done quickly.

The e-visa part you print out and can just keep loose in your passport or staple it in. On arrival, you get a small entry permission sticker and then the entry/exit stamps. They take up about half a page in my passport in total.

Unless it's flipped back again recently, they aren't sending import permits in advance any more, you get it on arrival, but they should still be replying to you. Are you emailing the Bangkok office ( [email protected] )? Phuket is notoriously difficult to work with. This is the info from their email signature Office : Suvarnabhumi Airport Animal Quarantine ,Free Zone Area, Customs Export Building, 1 st Flr,Suvarnabhumi Airport, Samutprakan Province. Tel : 02-134-0731 / Fax. 02-134-3640 Web : www.aqs-suvarn-dld.go.th/wp Email : [email protected] Open Monday-Friday 08:30-12:00 am and 13:00-15:30 pm Edit: if you need an import permit in advance because the export country requires one, you'll have to explicitly tell them that and send them some evidence that you need it.

They do, except you get given the ticket by a person sat at a desk, not a machine.

Was this an official taxi allocated through their system? I.e., you went through the waiting area, got a ticket, and got assigned a driver by the desk? I've used the airport taxis at Don Mueang many times, and they've always used the meter. I'd have gone back to the desk and asked for another taxi in this case. (When they assign you a taxi, they are always very clear that the fare will be the meter + 50 THB airport fee + any tolls. They have a card with it printed out in multiple languages.)

I am not claiming to be an expert on Thai visa regulations, but all I can say is that in practice they appear to take a very broad view of what qualifies. Perhaps it is based on the institution rather than the individual qualification, I don't know. But people are teaching at Chula on Smart T visas with PhDs in subjects that would not appear to fall under T criteria.

It covers teaching in higher ed if you have a PhD, which is what chickennoodlesoup is asking about. The visa can be extended yearly for up to 4 years.

It would seem that you are confused. Smart visas, at least Smart-T, are initially issued overseas, and you have to have health insurance when it is issued. As you aren't living/working in Thailand at the point, you have to make other arrangements. Once the visa has been issued, you come to Thailand and start working. The original visa then gets extended on a yearly basis, but there is no further requirement for health insurance.

Not on Smart visas. You have to have foreign/external cover for the first year but not for the annual renewals.

I use https://www.tommytaxibangkok.com/airporttransfer Definitely not the cheapest, but they are very reliable. I've had them collect visitors from the airport for me multiple times without a problem.