Aircon maintenance fee on condo rental, really a thing?

[banagan]

So, my lease is up on my condo, cleaning fee, laundry fee, fair enough. And, an aircon maintenance fee, 1,200 baht for 2 units.

 

Been here almost 5 years, never heard of this, need to double check the small print on the lease. 

 

Just wondering if this is really a thing here? 

 

Not really the money, more the principle.

 

If it's in the lease, lesson learned.... not exactly sure why the tenant is expected to pay for property maintenance.

[InMyShadow]

Bit late now. You should have questioned it when you signed up.

I never heard of it. It's hardly your responsibility to pay for landlord's maintenance

[nikmar]

The a/c went tits up in our main bedroom last month. Landlord installed a brand new one the next day. No messing or fuss or charge.

His property, his responsibility.

 

Having said that, it is different in different agreements, but I would be a bit upset if I had to pay maintenance.

 

 

[banagan]

15 minutes ago, InMyShadow said:

Bit late now. You should have questioned it when you signed up.

I never heard of it. It's hardly your responsibility to pay for landlord's maintenance

 

Yep, agent says it's in the lease. Will read more carefully in future. As a landlord myself, it wouldn't even occur to me to do try this on.

 

[banagan]

12 minutes ago, nikmar said:

The a/c went tits up in our main bedroom last month. Landlord installed a brand new one the next day. No messing or fuss or charge.

His property, his responsibility.

 

Having said that, it is different in different agreements, but I would be a bit upset if I had to pay maintenance.

 

 

 

Shower went in a place I rent out, couldn't even imagine asking the tenants to pay. 

 

[Lizard2010]

I was renting a condo Very Cheap

Then contact renewal He wanted no responsibility for anything breaking down

Then said i had to pay Condo maintenance fee

Then the following year he was going to update as Termite damage in the furniture

Then the extra 2000 baht plus maintenance fee

It just goes to show what landlords will try to put over you

I said no rented from a Friend  No Problems

[Dante99]

2 hours ago, banagan said:

not exactly sure why the tenant is expected to pay for property maintenance.

Generally it encourages them to take better care of things and clearly charges them when they fail to do so.  Not uncommon in the US particularly longer term leases.  Thai practice is not far behind.

 

 

[NancyL]

Hubby and I signed a long-term lease at a good rate with the understanding we'd pay for routine maintenance and repair/replacement of small items.  So, we pay for annual cleaning of aircon units and we've replaced the shower hot water heater, microwave oven, even the circuit breaker box (that was a spectacular melt-down, brought on because we installed a hot water heater under the kitchen sink and totally overwhelmed the electrical capacity of the breaker box), without even bothering the owner of the condo. 

 

The condo owner pays for a monthly termite "inspection" that consists of two guys walking thru in their bare feet and an insecticide spray can, shooting spray at random places on the floorboards, tapping the handle of a screwdriver on some woodwork and, most importantly, directing the spray down drains and under the refrigerators at my request.  I expect the stuff works on cockroaches, too.  Since Hubby had a license as a Certified Pesticide Applicator in the U.S., he's not too impressed with the technical qualifications or safety practices, but we haven't seen any termites and very few cockroaches, so I guess the owners money is well spent.  I don't know about the "technicians" spraying pesticides in their bare feet, however.  They may have liver damage later in life.

[sfokevin]

We have the termite/bug guy in quarterly and he wears his safety flip flops...

 

As for the AC’s we have all of then cleaned annually... Cost 400 baht each... My guess is a cleaned unit saves that much in electricity... (I hope the OP didn’t live there 5 years and never had them cleaned?...)

 

I also have a long term lease and pay for everything - which I prefer as I get what I want done my way... 

Edited February 27, 2018 by sfokevin

[Nick ZepTepi]

I got stung with something very similar. By the agent "almost perfect homies"

They said anything over 6 months rental a service is due before the next tenants.

I argued it away (the filters were filthy when I moved in & I cleaned them myself) & negotiated down the high priced bedding laundry fees.

The agent called the landlord & they agreed to the negotiated price.

 

 

 

Sent from my Honor 7x using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

[YoungBrit]

Paying for an air con clean ever 6 months is common. Was in my lease. It was explained to me that I simple had to get them cleaned every 6 months (2 units) which was around 600 Baht and then if anything happened at any time I was not responsible. Glad I did get it done as per contract as in month 8 one went wrong and the owner paid to get it all fixed.

 

I paid again at moving out, I was happy to have the costs laid out in the contract, a lot clearer, you know thats what your paying.

[dotpoom]

"If it's in the lease, lesson learned.... not exactly sure why the tenant is expected to pay for property maintenance."

    Just wondering what exactly would be the "lesson learned"?

If you had noticed it ....would 1,200 Bt. have put you off signing the lease?

[InMyShadow]

5 minutes ago, dotpoom said:

"If it's in the lease, lesson learned.... not exactly sure why the tenant is expected to pay for property maintenance."

    Just wondering what exactly would be the "lesson learned"?

If you had noticed it ....would 1,200 Bt. have put you off signing the lease?

Would the landlord knock you back if you did?  The power here lays with the tenant. Plenty of rentals around

Im a landlord and I would strike through that 1200 in a heartbeat if i thought I would lose a years rent over it.

[catman20]

21 hours ago, InMyShadow said:

Bit late now. You should have questioned it when you signed up.

I never heard of it. It's hardly your responsibility to pay for landlord's maintenance

just another cheap Charlie land Lord who can't really afford to live here. scam !

[david555]

Waterheather broke down once in a 1 year lease condo .Owners American Thai couple ....replaced next day...No charges to pay.....

 

I suggest to ask the bill.....just to see the reaction.....they screwed you in combo with the agent ( or maybe the agents bill...as real estate sales are in minus status )

[Scotssing]

Perfectly normal all the time I rented in Singapore but was in the lease

The one time I leased for a year in Thailand no mention

My friend leased out a property  here as an owner and he certainly paid for aircon maintenance

Another friend  leasing out a property has not paid for maintenance in several years so I guess the aircon could be getting pretty ropey

So there you are; practice varies. Really up to what you have agreed with the landlord

[mike324]

As a landlord for over 20 years here, I have never charge tenant a cleaning fee, laundry fee, ac fee. My units are normally mid end units that are renting for 50-80,000 baht. I do know contracts that are under 10,000 often time people do charge for a cleaning fee. Laundry and AC fee is the first time I ever heard of.

[Wake Up]

I have leased two condos in BKK and each year the landlord paid out of his pocket to service the air cons.  75 meter condo costs 2500 total for two big units. 45 meter condo cost 1000 total for two smaller units. 

[Wake Up]

20 hours ago, Dante99 said:

Generally it encourages them to take better care of things and clearly charges them when they fail to do so.  Not uncommon in the US particularly longer term leases.  Thai practice is not far behind.

 

 

I disagree with your assessment as rentals in USA the landlord pays the maintenance costs of air conditioning and heating and plumbing and garage door opener etc..  Same as Thailand. Servicing the ac units is a landlord bill not a tenant bill.  And many tenants don’t know how to “take care” of ac units as they have never owned a condo or house like the landlord does. Tenants  simply turn it on and off so no way for them to damage the unit. 

[Puwa]

If the ac cleaning charge is an end-of-lease cost only, then I wonder who maintained the machines during the previous 5 years. 

 

Whoever pays, it's worthwhile to keep the ac units clean, especially with the bad Chiang Mai air for weeks or months per year. They can get pretty gross.

[Sumarianson]

In Bangkok standard fee is 300฿.

You should clean your aircon every 6 months at least when you are in your condo. It is not the landlords responsibility to clean after you move in without agreement first. 

The aircon should have been checked and assessed as clean when you moved in. If it wasn't then you were perfectly within your rights to expect it to be cleaned before occupation. Normally that would mean that you leave it in the same condition when you leave. It is all a matter of agreement. However 1200is exorbitant and I would refuse to pay it. You can always get it cleaned yourself and pay for it. The Juristic are normally helpful with finding a good company. No more than 300฿ a unit though. Some will do it cheaper. 

[Dante99]

6 minutes ago, Wake Up said:

I disagree with your assessment as rentals in USA the landlord pays the maintenance costs of air conditioning and heating and plumbing and garage door opener etc..  Same as Thailand. Servicing the ac units is a landlord bill not a tenant bill.  

 

Disagree all you want.  I have factual in writing experience so I know. 

 

3 minutes ago, Sumarianson said:

You should clean your aircon every 6 months at least when you are in your condo. It is not the landlords responsibility to clean after you move in without agreement first. 

Sounds like in his case it is the tenant's responsibility.

[rumak]

5 hours ago, Wake Up said:

I disagree with your assessment as rentals in USA the landlord pays the maintenance costs of air conditioning and heating and plumbing and garage door opener etc..  Same as Thailand. Servicing the ac units is a landlord bill not a tenant bill.  And many tenants don’t know how to “take care” of ac units as they have never owned a condo or house like the landlord does. Tenants  simply turn it on and off so no way for them to damage the unit. 

Here we go:   the old in the USA we do it this way argument.  I will be very happy to pay for maintenance

of our rentals here in Chiangmai.  Of course we would expect that the tenant from the USA pay us the

according rental for a house in a city in the States.  Maybe we could use San Fran or Seattle rentals as

an agreeable alternative.

 

[XGM]

In all the properties I rented here the AC maintenance was the completely covered by the landlord. In the last condo I rented in Bangkok, we had 3 A/C units, two of them turned out to be old and in a very bad state - one was eventually replaced, after repeated visits of technicians, the other broke down every few months. There was no way we'd pay for all that when the landlord chooses to keep such old equipment.

 

I asked her: how old are those units?? the answer was - "they were new, when we bought them"!

[YoungBrit]

1 minute ago, XGM said:

In all the properties I rented here the AC maintenance was the completely covered by the landlord. In the last condo I rented in Bangkok, we had 3 A/C units, two of them turned out to be old and in a very bad state - one was eventually replaced, after repeated visits of technicians, the other broke down every few months. There was no way we'd pay for all that when the landlord chooses to keep such old equipment.

 

I asked her: how old are those units?? the answer was - "they were new, when we bought them"!

That's the point though, you would only be liable for cleaning every 6 months, that's what the contract would state so there are no disagreements on who needs to pay for what expenses. You clean every 6 months and thats it. All other costs would before or after your 6 month cleaning would be down to the landlord. 

[XGM]

1 minute ago, YoungBrit said:

That's the point though, you would only be liable for cleaning every 6 months, that's what the contract would state so there are no disagreements on who needs to pay for what expenses. You clean every 6 months and thats it. All other costs would before or after your 6 month cleaning would be down to the landlord. 

In our case cleaning was handled by her as well. By the way I think what technicians normally do here as "cleaning" is redundant. They disassemble everything, check the fluid and what not. The important thing you need to do periodically is to clean the filters, and you don't need a technician to do that. 

[ncc1701d]

I have similar air cons where I live which has similar pollution levels as where I stay in Thailand. For some reason the air cons in Thailand do seem to clog up every 3-6 months, whereas at home I’ve cleaned them once in 3 years.

Edited March 1, 2018 by ncc1701d

[Nurseynutcase]

When moved into our rented house, the a/c ubits were noisy.  I asked when they had last been maintained -answer, not known.  I paid to have them both serviced - nothing in the contract about this.  since then they have both been replaced and I get them serviced every six months - cost 1000 baht.  No problem really as anything that does go wrong gets fixed that day or the day after by the landlord.

[mike324]

On 2/28/2018 at 4:24 PM, Sumarianson said:

In Bangkok standard fee is 300฿.

You should clean your aircon every 6 months at least when you are in your condo. It is not the landlords responsibility to clean after you move in without agreement first. 

The aircon should have been checked and assessed as clean when you moved in. If it wasn't then you were perfectly within your rights to expect it to be cleaned before occupation. Normally that would mean that you leave it in the same condition when you leave. It is all a matter of agreement. However 1200is exorbitant and I would refuse to pay it. You can always get it cleaned yourself and pay for it. The Juristic are normally helpful with finding a good company. No more than 300฿ a unit though. Some will do it cheaper. 

care to share your contact for cleaning AC for 300 baht? The cheapest I've seen is around 500.