Bumped into an acquaintance in Pattaya tonight who has just moved out of the condo that I live in.

 

He said he had to move out because when he went to renew his visa for working as a teacher the officer hassled him about renting a room from a foreigner.

The officer said he needs to come back with a copy of the landlord's work permit.  Obviously no foreigner renting out their rooms has a work permit for such a thing.

 

My friend explained to the officer that its not really any of my friend's business to be requesting such info from the landlord, but the officer insisted that the problem is being forced upon my friend and he needs to provide such documents or visa will not be renewed.

 

Subsequently, my friend has moved out and rented from a Thai and now has his visa.

 

So, are there any others been put into this situation of being denied visa due to renting from a foreigner?

 

There was no evidence that the officer had any intention of chasing after the landlord though.

 

This may have been just a one off situation.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 20187 yr by stud858

Sorry chaps, can someone move this to the correct location. Maybe Pattaya or visas

Moved to the Visa Forum.

The landlord must provide a TM30 form for the foreigner renting, and pay taxes on rental income, this applies to Thai and foreigners. 

The WP obligation can be bypassed by an agency renting out, you can not do it on your own. 

"Obviously no foreigner renting out their rooms has a work permit for such a thing".

 

Perhaps not, but a farang renting out rooms is operating a business and therefore should have a Work Permit. The fact that this is not enforced is due to lax enforcement, it does not alter the principle. The case cited here shows that while most people renting out rooms can get away with doing so without a Work Permit, in Thailand you never know when the sleeping dog may wake up and bite you.

I remember seeing this topic come up on thaivisa before.

As far as i rememember renting out itself is not considered work, but managing the place, like finding renters, signing contracts, maintenance and so on is considered work. So a foreigner either needs a workpermit or has to hire a company which does the managing part for him. This law just does not seem to be really enforced. In case of OP the IO probably hoped the guy applying for the visa would choose to apply through a visa agent instead to circumvent the limitation and thus the IO would get money.

35 minutes ago, Goethe said:

"Obviously no foreigner renting out their rooms has a work permit for such a thing".

 

Perhaps not, but a farang renting out rooms is operating a business and therefore should have a Work Permit. The fact that this is not enforced is due to lax enforcement, it does not alter the principle. The case cited here shows that while most people renting out rooms can get away with doing so without a Work Permit, in Thailand you never know when the sleeping dog may wake up and bite you.

Having one room to rent would not be working and would not require a work permit. How would the owner have a work permit if they were not in the country which often is the case.

This is just a case of a immigration officer overstepping his authority and creating a new requirement.

The following notice has been on the Pattaya City Expats Club Immigration update page for past 2 plus years:

Quote

ALERT FOR EXPATS RENTING TO/FROM ANOTHER EXPAT
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It appears that Chonburi (Pattaya) Immigration Office may not approve applications for retirement extensions if you are renting a property from another retired expat unless they have a Work Permit for leasing their property – this also seems to be sporadic (latest report was in February 2017). Another report is that there is no problem if the owning Expat uses a regular management agent to do the rental and rental documents to be used for the extension come from the management agent.

 

 

Quote

 

"Having one room to rent would not be working and would not require a work permit."

 

Who says? The Ministry of Labour? Whether you rent out one room or three rooms or fifty, the principle is the same: it is work. This is Thailand  -- and just as in so many other cases there is no consistency in the interpretation or application of the law. 

Happened to me a couple of years ago.....Farang signed on to rent my apartment (Thru Alan Bolton RE) then Immigration told him they wanted to see documents from me proving l pay tax......whilst l was trying to figure out what to do he just went and rented off a Thai.    Now have a new tenant who was not given the same problem at Immigration.

2 hours ago, Goethe said:

"Obviously no foreigner renting out their rooms has a work permit for such a thing".

 

Perhaps not, but a farang renting out rooms is operating a business and therefore should have a Work Permit. The fact that this is not enforced is due to lax enforcement, it does not alter the principle. The case cited here shows that while most people renting out rooms can get away with doing so without a Work Permit, in Thailand you never know when the sleeping dog may wake up and bite you.

Can you cite any evidence of that. 

 

It has long been stated that passive investments do not require a work permit, you can own a business, even direct Thai staff to do work on your behalf, own stocks, bonds, and other investments with returns, all without needing a work permit per law. 

Simply having business interests does not necessitate a work permit. Performing work, paid or unpaid, in any capacity does. 

7 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

The landlord must provide a TM30 form for the foreigner renting, and pay taxes on rental income, this applies to Thai and foreigners. 

The WP obligation can be bypassed by an agency renting out, you can not do it on your own. 

Unless they start asking to see the chanot title deed and not allow renting from foreigners period. 

I rent from a foreigner and he provided me with tabian bahn and passport so I could do non o extension. The issue I had was that the tabian bahn doesn't have his name on it but his company name. So they requested the paperwork from him buying the condo. I decided that would be an invasion of privacy and gave up

When obtaining, and renewing, my WP, I have always had to provide a copy of the lease agreement for my residence.