Landlord criticized after tenant leaves room clean and tidy and faces 17,000 baht "fine"

[baansgr]

What pet did they have?  Cats scratch,  may well have been clean but what damage was done

[DJ54]

As long as the tenants have abided by the contract if the landlord won’t 

return money take them to court. Had same problem once in California 

the landlord quickly bellied up and gave the money back.

[Kieran00001]

1 hour ago, Mac98 said:

So no penalty to the landlord; keep them all and reap all the deposits from renters who moved out of state, or can't afford an attorney, or are ignorant of the law, or are terrified of bureaucracy, or fear a bad referral as revenge. I moved from Ohio to California and the landlord kept the deposit. We even had friends in to help scrub and shine everything. I used my first vacation to return and win my claim. But there was no legal way to force repayment. I could only give him a bad rating at the consumer agency.

 

Its always like that in civil cases, if I lent you money and you wouldn't pay it back I could take you to court to make you pay it, you would not also be fined for having neglected to repay me.  And why was there no legal way to force repayment after winning your claim, doesn't Ohio have bailiffs?

[Boombum]

I rented rooms in my house for over Ten years,,, My agreement with the renter was that they pay a months rent upfront plus one months rent as deposit....upon notice to leave the deposit became the last months rent .

so on the last day there was nothing for me to repay and nothing for them to claim back. NEVER ever had an issue ... nobody was stressed about losing a deposit ... I had a young French girl pay me 1 month plus a month ...after one night her Boss told her she needed to be closer to work... I charged her 1night and repaid all the rest !! These horror stories make me feel sick that people act like this. 

[angy]

8 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

In at least one state in Australia, the landlord is not allowed to hold $1- of the deposit money, it must be passed (by law) immediately to a government agency which holds rental deposits, plus the landlord must also, at date of starting tenancy provide a number of photographs of the property. The tenant gets a fully detailed receipt and copies of the photos quickly from the government agency and is expected to speak up quickly is there are any errors and omissions in the recept / start of tenancy documents. 

 

When tenant wishes to leave the government agency inspects the property and landlord and tenant is present, then the gov't. agency quickly returns the deposit direct to the tenant.

 

Why did this process happen - simple answer, major regular rip-offs by landlords. 

 

 

now I understand why a well known australian real estate agent is working in Pattaya, here is easy and safe stole deposits from tenant, in his country looks to be impossible

[Damrongsak]

10 hours ago, sanemax said:

Everyones waiting to post a *I had a Thai/Chinese/Indian/Pakistani/British/Muslim Landlord once and he blah blah blah *

I had a Thai/Chinese/Indian/Pakistani/British/Muslim Landlord once and he had a Mexican wife.

[Boombum]

These Anti Defame rules are a joke... why not spin it around ? 

Like ... Oh My Landlotd Mr Ripofski is such a great business man... he was so grateful I’d left the room immaculate that he insisted on looking after my deposit free of charge..if you are thinking of renting from him why not leave a really large deposit so you won’t need to worry about Looking after it when you leave .. how thoughtful he is, it’s his way of showing real gratitude . Actually, I think he would make this free service available no matter how the room was left ...lovely chap!!! 

[Mac98]

13 hours ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

Its always like that in civil cases, if I lent you money and you wouldn't pay it back I could take you to court to make you pay it, you would not also be fined for having neglected to repay me.  And why was there no legal way to force repayment after winning your claim, doesn't Ohio have bailiffs?

The bailiff said "Good luck". He cited something about remaining in the state to follow it up but that was impossible.

[Kieran00001]

1 hour ago, Mac98 said:

The bailiff said "Good luck". He cited something about remaining in the state to follow it up but that was impossible.

 

Wow, that's rubbish, its not like that in my country, you leave it with them, its their duty.

[anon789561]

20 hours ago, worrab said:

That is basically the same in the UK. Only difference is that the deposit is held by a legal letting agent/solicitor.

that's not true. letting agents can't hold deposits, haven't been able to for years. it has to go into one of the government backed tenancy deposit protection schemes. we use my deposits but I think there are 3/4 you can choose from in england and wales. scotland and NI have their own

[worrab]

4 hours ago, Happy enough said:

that's not true. letting agents can't hold deposits, haven't been able to for years. it has to go into one of the government backed tenancy deposit protection schemes. we use my deposits but I think there are 3/4 you can choose from in england and wales. scotland and NI have their own

I forgot to add that bit as I gave the money to the agent who then put it into the scheme. Apologies.

[anon789561]

7 minutes ago, worrab said:

I forgot to add that bit as I gave the money to the agent who then put it into the scheme. Apologies.

never apologize mate, just a discussion board ????

btw, you should deposit the money yourself i think, not through the agent. i'm not sure about that but we did

[JimmyJ]

"Is the new law on rentals being observed? In my experience, 100% NO."

Edited September 29, 2018 by JimmyJ

[RichardColeman]

Thus I guess show the benefits of asking your landlord around quite often to view the property.

[blackhorse]

"Is the new law on rentals being observed? In my experience, 100% NO."

Since when did thais pay attention to laws?

[JimmyJ]

3 minutes ago, blackhorse said:

16 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

"Is the new law on rentals being observed? In my experience, 100% NO."

Since when did thais pay attention to laws?

 

Then its up to tenants to stand up for their rights and report abuses.

 

But I agree with an earlier post - it's a free roll for the dishonest landlord - at worst they have to refund the money they were obligated to return to begin with.

 

The insane libel laws here are the biggest problem - if there was something here like Yelp and cheated tenants could post specifics, landlords would lose business and to increase their bottom line they would have to stop scamming.

 

It's crazy to have an article about this case and not name the property and landlord.

[JimmyJ]

On 9/25/2018 at 5:04 PM, PMZ said:

I have known two positive results from the Consumer Protection Office, one for a Thai and one for a foreigner. I am just at the very beginning of my case with the Consumer Protection Office, my claim is substantial, so will be interesting to see the result in a few months.

Seems they assess each case (internal Lawyers) and if a case is deemed to be real, they directly require the Landlord to attend meetings there (at Chaeng Watana) and they are not allowed to send staff, they must attend themselves. The case is discussed and the Office Lawyer decision is final.

In both the cases I am aware of, both were paid in full. 

 

Can you give some more info about the process?

What was it like dealing with them?

What is the process and timetable?

 

Is it possible for a tenant or prospective tenant to make an anonymous complaint or at least have the complaintant's name not revealed for certain complaints?

 

E.g., if a tenant is being overcharged on electric or had to post 2 or 3 months rent when moving in, will the CPO be willing to notify the landlord that this is now illegal, without naming a specific complaintant, to see if the landlord will then remedy the situation?

 

Or see the article I linked to.

Every rental I looked at is breaking the new law.

Can I report all of these as a general complaint without my name being revealed to the landlords?

 

I wouldn't be trying to tecoup money as I haven't rented yet. Just would like to have the abuses corrected and help the Office get things changed.

 

Some properties even advertise the electric rate they are (over)charging.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 29, 2018 by JimmyJ