NancyL

NancyL,

How long is your (or what is considered) a long term lease?

Occasionally I have had people ask about condos.

Let's see, we've done 2, 3 and 5 year leases, with a fixed monthly rental price. Each time with the upfront understanding that we would pay for some remodeling that would remain with the condo if we left. The longer the lease, the more money we're willing to invest.

So far, we haven't had any major maintenance problems, aside from replacing a couple of electrical boxes or hot water heaters, which at 2000-3000 baht I suppose some people would expect the condo owner to do. We haven't. Just isn't worth the hassle of asking.

Now for something major, like replacing an aircon unit, then I think it's time to talk with the condo owner. Those units weren't new when we arrived and they'll still have many years of life left when we leave. I don't think it's fair to expect a tenant to replace a really major item like that.

Or to do structural repair work -- the condo owner has worked with the building people on window leaks. No way that can be blamed on the tenants. Heck,it's a good thing the unit is occupied and we're cleaning up the leaks before there's any water damage to the walls. We just go and report the leaks to the building management and they work it out with the condo owner.

It would be a good idea to do the research and get an ITIN for your new Thai wife now. I spent 10 minutes with Google and have a pretty good understanding of how to do it. Something about completing a W-7 form and reading the instructions about where to send it and with what substantiating documents. If you were able to figure out the documents needed to get a Thai visa or get married in Thailand, then you should be able to figure out how to get an ITIN for your wife.

Aside from the obvious benefit of having the ITIN for her now in filing your joint income tax return, it will be helpful for her after your passing if she able to claim widow's benefits from a U.S. gov't agency. They'll want to know her ITIN number and it will just delay her getting the benefits if she has to secure an ITIN after your passing.

If your American brother-in-law served in the U.S. military, even briefly, his family may be eligible for little-know benefits. He didn't need to have served overseas, just during a wartime period, http://www.benefits.va.gov/pension/spousepen.asp

Indeed, there are laws to this effect and it's just a good idea when one parent is traveling internationally with a child to have documentation that the other parent is in agreement, especially a man traveling with alone with small children. My brother always did this when traveling with his daughters, and they are not mixed race. But, the youngest was sometimes given to temper tantrums where she would create public scenes yelling things like "you're not really my father/mother" when she wasn't getting her way. (Fortunately she outgrew that phase about 15 years ago and now is well-adjusted.)

1. Hospital will not release your body until bills have been paid. So that is problem #1. You can reduce the size of the bill by going only to government hospitals. Private ones can be very, very expensive. But don't underestimate how high a bill can be racked up in a govt hospital especially for prolonged ICU stays and the like. I will address that whole set of problems (life support and so forth) at the end of this.

2. Hospitals are not allowed to release body of a foreigner without notification of, and consent from, the relevant Embassy. The Embassy in turn will not approve release of the body until it has established who the next of kin are and received instructions from them. Now this, you can facilitate greatly by making sure you are registered with your Embassy with contact details for your wife. (Should you die outside a hospital, police must be called and you'll be brought to one until Embassy is notified, so essentially same story).

3. Once the hospital has notified your Embassy and Embassy has notified your wife, the Embassy will authorize release of your body to her or to anyone else she designates. There is no requirement that your remains be repatriated. They can be cremated or buried in Thailand, as long as that is what the next of kin instructs. Cremation will be by far the less expensive.

4. An excellent resource is the following organization (I believe actually based in Oz, but with a Thailand branch): http://www.funeralrepatriation.com/whattodo

They specialize in making arrangements for foreigners who die in Thailand, know all the relevant regulations and will arrange everything at reasonable price. No problem to skip funeral services and the like, if told that all that is wanted is a straight cremation or burial. I'm sure you can also contact them now ahead of time and discuss prices, and they might even have an arrangement by which you can pre-pay - that I have never explored but easy enough to ask them; Khun Pim there is very helpful and being that this is her profession will not find the question odd.I have dealt with them in situations where a foreigner died and family was unable to come to Thailand and also had little money, and it went very smoothly. Not only will they take care of disposing of your remains but they will also help obtain the needed Embassy documents for your wife to serve as death certificate for legal purposes back in Oz -- she will need that in order to settle the estate, collect any entitlements etc.

Be sure of course to explain all this to your wife and make sure she has the contact info as well as understands what you want.

Now to the other big problem, aside from paying whatever hospital bill has accrued (but not unrelated to it): avoiding a prolonged death with life support etc. NancyL already mentioned this. Thailand only very recently introduced the concept of living wills and most doctors are still quite unfamiliar with them. Most hospitals require that you fill out a hospital specific form, if they have any provision for this at all, which is a real problem especially for someone travelling around a lot since who knows where you'll be, what hospital you'd be taken to etc. Doctors will definitely be inclined to prolong your death through artificial means unless they are clearly told by a relative not to and also have assurrance they will not be held liable (and even then they may be stubborn on this point...it can be hard to get them to pull the plug here). Best advise I can give, given that you are travelling around, is to consult a lawyer here and make out a Living Will with copies kept both in your wallet, with your wife and with any other resource people you may have. Your wife will then have to show the document to the doctors and be prepared to argue the point, and be warned it may not be easy though she will prevail if she stands firm. As it sounds like she will likely be back in OZ, you need to think who else would be here and able to act as your advocate to avoid your wife having to travel here for that purpose...though it may prove inavoidable. Don't expect your Embassy to be of any help on this score, they won't be. When you see a lawyer to draw up a Living Will, should also consider drawing up a Power of Attorney for someone in country that takes effect if you are incapacitated and authorizes them to make medical decisions on your behalf. But be warned that even with that, unless it is someone who can pass him/herself off as a blood relations, the doctor may be unwilling. They usually want to hear it face to face from a relative.

In short, disposal of your body per se is not hard, with a little preparation (registering with the Embassy, making sure your wife knows who to contact). Your big problems are paying for the medical care that may precede your death and avoiding having your death artificially prolonged, at both financial expense and increased suffering. This last will be especially hard ti manage without a relative with you. I suggest having a long talk with your wife on this. She might need to be prepared to come to Thailand and take a stand with the hospital.

Far as I'm concerned, if the Drs want to prolong my life they can pay the bill.

The gifting my body to medical research/ whatever sounds good.

Anyway, I don't want to be "prolonged" at all, and I will be telling my wife to refuse to pay any bills after they have been told not to "prolong" me.

It's just not that simple here. Your wife will be told what the laws in Thailand are concerning "pulling the plug" on someone on a ventilator. She will have to make some agonizing choices. You know she simply won't be able to walk away and say "he's your problem now" when you're still alive.

If you love her and don't want to see her suffer during your final days, please follow the advice to about getting a Living Will or Advance Directive put together while there's time. And put your funeral wishes in writing, too. Depending on how someone dies, bodies aren't always accepted for medical research purposes. There should be a back-up plan.

Condo owners expect renters to do (and pay) for routine maintenance

fair dinkum, are u for real???

no way i would except any leasing agreement under those conditions,no matter what condominium/house, new or old

I.M.O. very poor advice,

I rented for years, once I moved in I had to do my own maintenance.

This is the Thai way, rent from a foreigner at twice the price and they will do the maintenance.

When you can't stand the state of the place any more, you move somewhere else, the Thai landlord renovates and increases the rent to the next tenant.

For once I actually agree with AOA on something. I know people who have rented condos (and houses) from Thai owners and are paying amazingly low monthly rentals, often the same rate they agreed to years ago because they've maintained and improved the place, in general treated like their own, probably better than a member of the owner's family would have. The owners see this and respond appropriately.

I know other people who rent a place and then increase their blood pressure dramatically trying to get the owner to take care of some stupid 1000 baht problem wondering why he won't respond to their calls and emails. They just don't understand when I advise them to "replace the light fixture yourself" or whatever.

Better check if a copy is acceptable. Probably not, if Bangkok is holding the original. The files will be held in two different offices, after all.

Best to check ahead.

A senior immigration official in Chiang Mai told me on Monday that a copy of an Income Letter is still accepted for the second step of a conversion, but I don't think she's thought thru all the ramifications of having the files for the first step being held in Bangkok now. The change for CM not being able to do the first step of a conversion has just been in effect since December 1st and I think they're still figuring out how that's going to work in the future.

Conversions out of Patts have been sent to Bangkok for much longer for the first step.

Easy enough to check out if you have your old passport. Good idea to take that with you when you go to Immigration. Even if you don't have the old passport -- take a look at the current passport. If you transferred a visa extension, they would have noted the old passport number on the stamp for the transfer.

You will have to get a new income letter from the embassy. You cannot do the extension in Bangkok. Even if you lived in Bangkok and could do the extension there you would need 2 letters.

I have been suggesting that people get 2 income letters at the same time if they are doing the conversion because of this problem.

Thanks,I will try and get the embassy to furnish a duplicate

The Embassy won't "furnish a duplicate" -- you can obtain a second Income Letter and pay the fee twice.

Hmm................ I'm trying to come up with a suitable welcome for Patsycat and frankly all I can say is .... welcome to the race. I guess I just don't understand what all this is about.

Sorry, I had to take care of business on the other forums. You know, serious discussion about leaking water faucets in Chiang Mai condos. (can't find a yawning emoticon)

Then had to handle some phone calls. Maybe not a good idea to have left Chiang Mai.

Now how do I find that Thai Visa Forum bar?

Since most turkeys are sold as imported frozen birds here, you have to get your order in 3 or 4 days in advance. It takes a couple days just to thaw out a turkey properly.

That being said, Rim Ping will probably cook a New Years turkey for you. They've done that for us in previous years.

Actually, we've replaced all the taps in our condo in an older building along Huey Kaew. There are some fine 20+year old buildings along there -- excellent location with very well done units at reasonable rental prices. You can walk everywhere you need to go. But don't expect the plumbing fixtures to last 20 years. Condo owners expect renters to do (and pay) for routine maintenance and these older buildings all have a handyman who can take care of this stuff for a good price. Hubby and I picked out some quality fixtures and had them installed into our rental condo. Why not, we signed a long-term lease. So what if we have to leave them behind. It's better than dealing with a cheap, leaky faucet that doesn't get the job done.

Yeah, next time the OP goes snooping in someone's private stuff, taking photos he should try to photograph the label. That would have been helpful. I doubt the bag has been "repurposed" from it's original use. Those hospital pharmacy bags are just too difficult to open and use multiple times. What's inside does look strange. Is the GF a nurse? Maybe she lifted some surgical sutures for another purpose, like maybe a craft project. Or maybe a relative who's a nurse gave her the sutures for a craft project.

I don't believe that was actually her cat getting gift wrapped. At least David was pimping posting photos of his own kids.

I seem to remember having heard the words "pimping" alongside "kids" a few nights ago.

And him being a perv for doing so.

Is this another attempted attack on David48?? A good family man.

No this is a compliment to David48. At least he's keeping it all in the family. It's a challenge to PC to prove that was her own cat being gift wrapped. And that she's doing the wrapping. What's with the subtitles anyway. Can't the cat talk for himself?

I don't believe that was actually her cat getting gift wrapped. At least David was pimping posting photos of his own kids.

Is Patsy even in Thailand at the moment?

No bashing intended here and I am a Brit, but I have to say that of all the western expats I've met over the past twenty years of being here (permanently and as a visitor) the dodgy ones have always been Brits and I'm not sure why that is. Just an observation.

Yeah, I'm not sure why Nancy's taking so much heat over this. Even what's legal for some British "financial professionals" to do is against the law in some other countries. "Commissions for financial "products"? C'mon! Sure there are dodgy Americans, Australians and Europeans in that trade as well but the vast majority are British and the vast majority of those they cheat are British as well. Same applies to Hong Kong and Singapore. Drummond rings them up regularly:

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2014/11/exclusive-hsbc-now-laundering-cash-for.html

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2014/12/the-lm-fund-ding-dong-merrily-on-high.html

Thanks for standing up for me, Lannarebirth. I have several theories about why I'm "taking the heat" here. The most obvious is that the Thai Visa Poster of the Year Contest is also in play, in case you haven't noticed. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/785491-thaivisa-poster-of-the-year-2014-vote-now/ Jingthing put forward my name. Thank you. Something about wanting this award to go to a poster of substance this year, even though he would also be nominated. A true gentleman.

And rather than stepping down, like I suspect some people thought I would, I'm hanging around and putting up with the abuse. Trying to get into the spirit. I invest a lot of time in Thai Visa and have seen it save lives. Literally. It can be a force for good.

But, apparently my mere existence irritates some people and they latch onto every post I make, dissecting and misquoting it. Some guys just think that western women (esp. those of a certain age) shouldn't be allowed to live in Thailand.

Some of the most vocal critics are obviously Chiang Mai locals. They take potshots at what I've done in assuming leadership of the CM Expats Club, yet they refuse to step forward to contribute any effort themselves.

They search the internet for evidence of problems with Rotary, one of Hubby's activities. An organization of 1.2 million members with nearly 110 years of history is going to have had an issue or two. Oh -- that one post alleging a problem with a CM Rotary world was way-out-of-line and I hope everyone goes back and reads the response from the person who made the allegation once I challenged him to provide more details.

In short, there are people who simply can't believe that Hubby and I simply want to contribute to our community. They think we have another agenda when one doesn't exists.

Well, Hubby and I have flown to Bangkok where we are now in our command bunker in lower Sukhimvit. We came intending to campaign and spread Christmas cheer in Bangkok, but see that the wheels have fallen off my campaign. Mr. Bitey obviously has been distracted by the pigeons outside the condo windows and failed to keep up the posts using my logon. The lack of opposable thumbs may have something to do with that,too.

Where exactly is the TVF bar? Hubby and I will be in Bangkok soon. I recall someone asking for photos from Soi 4. Thought I'd go there to do a little campaigning.

Nancy with her anti British rankings in another thread will certainly not be getting my vote

Indeed. I urge all Brits who have voted for her to delete and re-vote.

I urge all Brits to actually read the thread, esp the part where Brits agreed with me.

I wasn't slamming all Brits, just certain ones.

Geesh, this is getting ugly.

Thanks for the PMs folks, urging me to hold the course!

Oh well, if someone changes their vote based on second hand information, then they get the leader they deserve.

....... what exactly are the duties of the TV POTY anyway?

No bashing intended here and I am a Brit, but I have to say that of all the western expats I've met over the past twenty years of being here (permanently and as a visitor) the dodgy ones have always been Brits and I'm not sure why that is. Just an observation.

Thank you for coming forward with this observtion, Chiang Mai. And for disclosing that you're a Brit.

I knew I'd get bashed for making the observation I did in the previous page (and I probably lost votes for it) but I've heard others make the same observation, too.

I'm not anti-Brit. I'm just at a loss to understand why both the con-men and the victims seem to be disproportionately British. Trying to make sense of it. And I don't think it's totally fair to blame good social service organizations. If the OP and others are trying to come up with an explanation for the phenomenon, can't another slant be offered? One that doesn't just blame the social service organizations entirely?

And imply that everyone who assumes a leadership role in those organizations also has the same motivation? That, I suspect, is really what some posters are on about.

Hotel,

Book for 1 night, they are all half empty, and often easier to get a better rate when already there.

The hotels, especially the serviced apartments and nicer, newer budget guesthouses are NOT all half empty this time of year. I suggest booking a place to stay for a week while you look around for a condo to rent. As mentioned, you don't want to feel pressured to take the first place you see and you'll need time to be sure all the details are right -- TV, internet, having the place cleaned, maybe buying a few necessary items like toilet paper, water, food, etc ahead of the big move.