Court decides: AirBnB illegal in Thailand for daily and weekly rental

[Felt 35]

On ‎2‎/‎15‎/‎2019 at 5:42 AM, dbrenn said:

last lot were some young kids on holiday, 4 of them in the one condo, absolutely no thought for anybody else, coming home drunk at 3 am, slamming doors, shouting in the corridors and so on.

Not need AirBnB for that experience. Its more the norm here and a recap will follow the coming years due to a different demography of short stayers and more money in the hands to the local younger generations.

[Mavideol]

4 hours ago, Seeall said:

I  have looked into this, its called the 20/5 rule  or so.. but some lawyers say 

1/ Need to register  with the hotel registrar (dont ask me who/where)

 

2/ Only for Thai owners (sounds like BS)

if it sounds like BS it must be BS...nothing about Thai owners only, the law says property owner and not mention nationalities.... however if you are on a retirement visa/extension of stay than, depending on the IMO,  maybe  can not rent

Edited March 7, 2019 by Mavideol

[bootly66]

What is wrong with these people??? !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mommysboy]

It's yet another inexplicable ban: you just have to accept it though, and go along with the law, defy it, or move to another country.

 

Whatever book they've been reading, it's not 'How to win friends and influence people'.

[pomchop]

Lot of people love airbnb...UNTIL the owners of condos in the building where you live start renting daily to various groups that pack 10 people in one room, make all kinds of noise, flood the pool area  and elevators with screaming kids etc etc.....then maybe not quite so much love of airbnb and the renters who are violating the law as well as most condo rules against short term rentals.

[mokwit]

With visa restrictions reducing the number of long term renters there will be pressure to legalise ST letting - too many Thai-Chinese have rental properties as their pension.

[ThomasThBKK]

1 hour ago, mokwit said:

With visa restrictions reducing the number of long term renters there will be pressure to legalise ST letting - too many Thai-Chinese have rental properties as their pension.

 

Well the hotel lobby might have an issue with that. it coasts them good money ...

[ChipButty]

As I have said before there is nothing wrong with Airbnb the problems stem from the Host just letting it to anyone and not checking who is arriving and how many, many host do self check in

[lapamita]

they buid mearly 100.000 boxes. boxes , i not call them apartment, bcs sie small like horse box

nobody normal would stay there for long term rental ( would go crazy after a year)

they build jut for shortterm rental , like the base,unixx and others

thjs boxes are always nossiy (no insulation), they only good when nobody stay inside.

To say no , to shorttermletting, is removing private property rights,  this is wrong. There must be a legal way to rent like in spain and other countrys. To say illegal, and not offer the proper licence is wrong

After 30yr in thailand can say ,live in a box in central pattaya ,or any simmilar place ,you will never find the quiet and peace you looking or, its loud ,dirt and dust

The short term tendands inside pattaya, are well opposite the short term tendands outside the city area , wongamat,najomtien and so on.... outside have always quiet and nice people , not any issue ( but condos as well no boxes per floor only 10-12 unis of min 70qm) , but in central..you get what your looking for,and tendants looking for the same.. and than .. until 4h am drunk peole comming back ( long and shortterm renters) and at 7 the kids jumping in a pool, a noise pool are all this new resortsyle condos,likecentrara ,grand avenue and others.

 

THis overpriced boxes , will recomand you, do not buy them, they overpriced and worthless in case oof return, and y will not find the peace you looking for. and if you looking for return, you will never get what you expect,not worth the hassle.

 

Pattaya , long ago, was a paradies ,for fun,making money and party, for clever people, this time is clearly OVER, today its a money sucking  city, with no chance of good investments, in a bad enviroment, high propertyprices ,and an goverment where you can expect nothinng good from

Ask you the question..are the pussys woth all this??? bcs only for that people comming ( to look or do and enjoy)... bcs thats the only pattaya has to offer, and this the goverment want to fieght too................... no s.....e.....x..no money more, belive me

 

 

[newnative]

1 hour ago, ChipButty said:

As I have said before there is nothing wrong with Airbnb the problems stem from the Host just letting it to anyone and not checking who is arriving and how many, many host do self check in

The problems stem from the host breaking the law in the first place, and Airbnb condoning the breaking of the law.  Rentals of less than a month are illegal in Thailand.

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, lapamita said:

Ask you the question..are the pussys woth all this???

Well that's the million dollar question innit? If Thai women weren't so accomodating, Thailand would be just some backwater few would visit. Never underestimate Pussy Power. 

[Mavideol]

15 hours ago, mommysboy said:

It's yet another inexplicable ban: you just have to accept it though, and go along with the law, defy it, or move to another country.

 

Whatever book they've been reading, it's not 'How to win friends and influence people'.

It's yet another inexplicable ban... you are correct and nobody can provide any evidence of any law supporting the ban, the law contradicts itself and the IMO contradict themselves as well, depending on where the IMO is located and who is in charge there, he/she may allow daily rentals, still need the red/brown envelope anyway... my advise, since we are at their mercy better shut up and go along until something change

[Mavideol]

13 hours ago, pomchop said:

Lot of people love airbnb...UNTIL the owners of condos in the building where you live start renting daily to various groups that pack 10 people in one room, make all kinds of noise, flood the pool area  and elevators with screaming kids etc etc.....then maybe not quite so much love of airbnb and the renters who are violating the law as well as most condo rules against short term rentals.

the noise, kids screaming, flooding the pool and so forth are not only related to the condo building, seen it many times at 5 star hotels, all has to do with people's education and respect of privacy

[Mavideol]

3 hours ago, newnative said:

The problems stem from the host breaking the law in the first place, and Airbnb condoning the breaking of the law.  Rentals of less than a month are illegal in Thailand.

do you have docs to back up your statement, because property/ownership law allows any person to profit from his/her property investment, hotel law says legal (no license required) to rent room on daily/weekly basis if no more than five rooms... if AirBnB is illegal why Thai government is not shutting it down? oh, I know, because the money is too good for the Thai government to shut their own foot

[DrTuner]

39 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

the noise, kids screaming, flooding the pool and so forth are not only related to the condo building, seen it many times at 5 star hotels, all has to do with people's education and respect of privacy

AirBnB is seen as a low cost alternative to hotels. Low cost, lower salary earners gravitate there, lower salary -> lower education .. result is half of mainland Chinese farmers on their first ever trip flooding the illegal hotels and using them like they were garden sheds.

[dcnx]

32 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

AirBnB is seen as a low cost alternative to hotels. Low cost, lower salary earners gravitate there, lower salary -> lower education .. result is half of mainland Chinese farmers on their first ever trip flooding the illegal hotels and using them like they were garden sheds.

Sure, if you have dumps for rent. 

[mokwit]

19 minutes ago, dcnx said:

Sure, if you have dumps for rent. 

Not really someone who cannot afford a CBD hotel can afford a CBD AirBnB for a few nights even if they could not afford to live there year 'round. You end up with lower socio economic groupings that you had been paying to avoid.

[ThomasThBKK]

1 hour ago, Mavideol said:

do you have docs to back up your statement, because property/ownership law allows any person to profit from his/her property investment, hotel law says legal (no license required) to rent room on daily/weekly basis if no more than five rooms... if AirBnB is illegal why Thai government is not shutting it down? oh, I know, because the money is too good for the Thai government to shut their own foot

It's not airbnb or renting per se, it's how its used in that hua hin case.

 

Like u say under 5 rooms in the building  and with less than 20 sleeps u dont need a hotel license (but u should register that business anyway with the local orbor tor - so called hotel 0 license, basically a small business registration). 

condos have more rooms, that makes it impossible to do this as the whole building is counted as 1 unit and would need a proper hotel license which they don't have.

 

This is only for Condos that are below 1 month of rent, everything else is fine.

 

You CAN use airbnb for houses that fit the rules (4/20).

You CAN use airbnb for condos/houses that are rented out longer than 4 weeks.

Edited March 8, 2019 by ThomasThBKK

[KittenKong]

16 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

You CAN use airbnb for condos/houses that are rented out longer than 4 weeks.

Some good condo buildings have by-laws prohibiting rentals of less than 6 months or a year. All co-owners should respect all the by-laws and may be penalised if they don't. This is entirely legal as the by-laws are an internal decision made by a large majority of all co-owners.

[newnative]

7 minutes ago, lapamita said:

they buid mearly 100.000 boxes. boxes , i not call them apartment, bcs sie small like horse box

nobody normal would stay there for long term rental ( would go crazy after a year)

they build jut for shortterm rental , like the base,unixx and others

thjs boxes are always nossiy (no insulation), they only good when nobody stay inside.

To say no , to shorttermletting, is removing private property rights,  this is wrong. There must be a legal way to rent like in spain and other countrys. To say illegal, and not offer the proper licence is wrong

After 30yr in thailand can say ,live in a box in central pattaya ,or any simmilar place ,you will never find the quiet and peace you looking or, its loud ,dirt and dust

The short term tendands inside pattaya, are well opposite the short term tendands outside the city area , wongamat,najomtien and so on.... outside have always quiet and nice people , not any issue ( but condos as well no boxes per floor only 10-12 unis of min 70qm) , but in central..you get what your looking for,and tendants looking for the same.. and than .. until 4h am drunk peole comming back ( long and shortterm renters) and at 7 the kids jumping in a pool, a noise pool are all this new resortsyle condos,likecentrara ,grand avenue and others.

 

THis overpriced boxes , will recomand you, do not buy them, they overpriced and worthless in case oof return, and y will not find the peace you looking for. and if you looking for return, you will never get what you expect,not worth the hassle.

 

Pattaya , long ago, was a paradies ,for fun,making money and party, for clever people, this time is clearly OVER, today its a money sucking  city, with no chance of good investments, in a bad enviroment, high propertyprices ,and an goverment where you can expect nothinng good from

Ask you the question..are the pussys woth all this??? bcs only for that people comming ( to look or do and enjoy)... bcs thats the only pattaya has to offer, and this the goverment want to fieght too................... no s.....e.....x..no money more, belive me

 

 

     Sorry, no.  None of your arguments fly.  To wit:

     Owning a condo does not give you the automatic right to do anything you want with it, including running it as an illegal hotel business.  When you buy a condo, you agree to abide by the condo rules and regulations and also the laws of the land.  If you don't agree with this, don't buy a condo.  And, definitely don't buy a condo and then decide that none of the rules apply to you and your condo.  It's important to remember that nobody is stopping a condo owner from renting out his or her condo.  The rentals just have to be, in most cases, for a month or more, although some condo projects have rules requiring longer rentals.  

      Size of a condo does not factor into anything.  It's just as illegal renting a short-term small condo as a large condo.  (Well, I'm just stealing a small diamond ring from the jewelry store, not a large one. Surely, that should be ok.)   Not that it matters, but you do not get to be the decider as to what size condo is suitable for monthly or longer use and what size is only suitable for daily use.  Some people are perfectly happy living year-round in 30 sqm.  Besides, all the condos you mentioned, and most others, have a variety of sizes, both large and small.  Even The Base has 2 bedroom/2 bath 70 sqm condos.

       Sadly, central Pattaya has not cornered the market on loud, obnoxious, illegal short-term renters.  They are found in Jomtien, Wong Amat, Pratamnak, Cosy Beach, and other points, as well.  And, again, short-term renters are illegal, regardless of location and regardless if some are slightly better behaved than others.  Nor has central Pattaya cornered the market on noise.  But, again, irrelevant.  A condo resident in Pattaya has the same right to stable, non-tourist, at least monthly neighbors as a condo resident anywhere else, regardless of how noisy the neighborhood might be.

 

[kekalot]

I haven't read all 36 pages but the issue that I find with services similar to AirBNB is that it raises the prices of renting for locals through the roof.

 

in Cha-am we have sois are perpendicular to the beach roads which are filled with little houses with 1-2-3 rooms, very simple houses.

walk around during the week and 90% of them will be gate locked and empty. I once inquired about how much they wanted to rent such little houses monthly and after calling about 10 of them, my friend was constantly told that they were not interested in renting monthly OR that the rent was something like 25,000 baht per month.

 

I live in a simple bachelor style with bathroom and it is much closer to the beach and I don't even pay 20% of that price, so I had a laugh and gave up.

if I really wanted I could just rent 2 extra rooms where I already live and have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathroom for 10,000 but I'm a single guy.

 

the reason why the above situation exists is because almost every single weekend and holidays, the owners rent those little houses for 2500-5000 baht per night to the mostly Thai tourists coming from Bangkok. so they make 5000-10000 baht per weekend (per house - some of them own a few).

 

why would they rent monthly for its worth (more like 10,000 baht) when they can make 25,000 to 50,000 per month already?

 

 

[bkk6060]

3 hours ago, DrTuner said:

AirBnB is seen as a low cost alternative to hotels. Low cost, lower salary earners gravitate there, lower salary -> lower education .. result is half of mainland Chinese farmers on their first ever trip flooding the illegal hotels and using them like they were garden sheds.

Well, it is just the opposite.

The mainland farmers will take the tours because they feel safer and the tours are very cheap.

It may be there first trip anywhere they are no going without guides.

 

The younger people with decent jobs and money are the Airbnb types.

When I lived at The Base 100's everyday mostly in their 20's with their dress and demeanor, they had money.

They are actually pretty smart do not need to stay in a 3,000 b hotel when they can rent a condo for 1,000.

Edited March 8, 2019 by bkk6060

[newnative]

3 hours ago, Mavideol said:

do you have docs to back up your statement, because property/ownership law allows any person to profit from his/her property investment, hotel law says legal (no license required) to rent room on daily/weekly basis if no more than five rooms... if AirBnB is illegal why Thai government is not shutting it down? oh, I know, because the money is too good for the Thai government to shut their own foot

     Thailand Hotel Act.  No rentals allowed of less than a month.  Only exception, places with 5 rooms or less and accommodation for no more than 20 guests. Most condo projects are 'places' with far more than 5 rooms but if you live in a condo project with just 5 rooms, go to it--as long as the condo association hasn't barred short-term rentals in its by-laws.  And, remember, you still have to report your rentals to the relevant authorities, pay your taxes, etc. 

     As I said in an earlier post, nobody is preventing you from renting your condo as long as you follow the condo by-laws and the laws of the land.  As others have mentioned, Airbnb can be used legally to advertise legal 1 month rentals.

[ChipButty]

Whatever the answer is, it doesn't seem like they will be stopping it any time soon as long term rentals have nosedived in Phuket 

[mrblonde]

Just stumlbed across this thread guys, we always stay in a large hotle in the centre of Pattaya for 2 weeks every year, but have seen a nice condo next to it that looks ideal on AirB&B.  Is it a big 'no no'?  Or would any of you book it? 

 

Spoke to a lot of guys last November and half of them were booked through airB&B?

[moontang]

4 minutes ago, mrblonde said:

Just stumlbed across this thread guys, we always stay in a large hotle in the centre of Pattaya for 2 weeks every year, but have seen a nice condo next to it that looks ideal on AirB&B.  Is it a big 'no no'?  Or would any of you book it? 

 

Spoke to a lot of guys last November and half of them were booked through airB&B?

A friend gave me his 4 br house at Hua Hin for a week last November.  Private pool.  Sure was nice, but way to big for me, and I really missed the daily maid service of a hotel.  Must have spent thirty minutes per day cleaning my own footprints off the tile.  Washing sheets and towels...a real pain in the arse at the beach...and of course sand everywhere. And a few of the least popular neighbors were doing airbnb...kids screaming their heads off in the yards, etc..

[Inn Between]

This sets a dangerous precedent when gov'ts start DICTATING what people can and can't do with the property they have paid for and maintained through their own efforts and expense, assuming it's not involving dangerous or illegal activities. I can't help but think that the lobbyists for the hotel industry are behind this, with the industry concerned about loss of revenue through private rentals.  

[Destiny1990]

4 hours ago, moontang said:

A friend gave me his 4 br house at Hua Hin for a week last November.  Private pool.  Sure was nice, but way to big for me, and I really missed the daily maid service of a hotel.  Must have spent thirty minutes per day cleaning my own footprints off the tile.  Washing sheets and towels...a real pain in the arse at the beach...and of course sand everywhere. And a few of the least popular neighbors were doing airbnb...kids screaming their heads off in the yards, etc..

What’s ur point?

[mokwit]

6 hours ago, Inn Between said:

This sets a dangerous precedent when gov'ts start DICTATING what people can and can't do with the property they have paid for and maintained through their own efforts and expense, assuming it's not involving dangerous or illegal activities. I can't help but think that the lobbyists for the hotel industry are behind this, with the industry concerned about loss of revenue through private rentals.  

Owners have no right to turn a condo building that is people's home into something between a youth hostel and a refugee camp.

[Orton Rd]

Stayed at a Sukhumvit hotel last week 1k baht a night inc breakfast, better deal than any airbnb. Having had two horrible airbnb experiences last year i will be sticking to hotels. You have no idea who the hosts are as they are not vetted, they could have a history of mental illness or violence and last minute cancellations are always a risk. Too much of a gamble for my liking.