Tips for Shutting Down a Condo for 9 Months

[beautifulthailand99]

8 minutes ago, KittenKong said:

And have them rent out my unit - or turn it into a gambling/drugs den - whilst I'm away? No thanks.

 

No one in Thailand will ever have the key to my condo.

I would tend to agree if after careful shutdown prep they needed access for any reason then they could smash the door down and charge us for shutting it up again. The only problem I could foresee that would require that would be some sort of water leak within the room. But shutting down the water and draining the taps should hopefully preclude that as a problem. 

[KittenKong]

2 hours ago, beautifulthailand99 said:

The only problem I could foresee that would require that would be some sort of water leak within the room.

In most condo buildings I've seen the main stopcock is situated in a common area outside the condo unit for just this reason.

[gavlar]

On 3/8/2019 at 11:58 AM, scorecard said:

Good idea and my limited understanding that they are quite inexpensive nowadays and easy enough to set it all up for remote access. 

Yes about 2k Baht....fab things...notify you if anything/anybody in the room...you can even talk to them

[Pattaya46]

On 3/8/2019 at 3:01 PM, Ulic said:

//  someone you trust walk through the place once a week or so to make sure there are no problems like mold growing because of the humidity.

On 3/9/2019 at 12:01 PM, Jen65 said:

Buy a dehumidifier to keep the moisture levels down and put on auto with a drain to the shower or waste //

 

I don't understand this problem of humidity/moisture for a condo ??

When left unoccupied many months, doors and windows are closed;  so where would the humidity come from ? 

 

BTW when I first visited the condo I bought, it had been left unoccupied/unopened during 2 years and there was nothing wrong, no humidity anywhere.

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

 

I don't understand this problem of humidity/moisture for a condo ??

When left unoccupied many months, doors and windows are closed;  so where would the humidity come from ? 

 

BTW when I first visited the condo I bought, it had been left unoccupied/unopened during 2 years and there was nothing wrong, no humidity anywhere.

 

One more suggestion, years ago when we had to leave our house unattended in Sth. Pattaya, for some 3 years, we paid the maid to continue to sweep and wash the floors once a week, she also turned on all the showers and flushed the toilets etc and ran all the air cons for an hour every week. And we arranged for the maid to tell a farang friend, who lived in the same village, quickly about any problems (she also did his house care work laundry ironing etc., 2 hours a day 6 days a week).

 

Plus we bought some very cheap fabric in large quantity and covered all the furniture, the beds etc. Did the whole house like this plus cloth over all the crockery in the cupboards and over towels les etc., in the linen cupboard.

 

When we returned home, we were worried it could take quite some time to get the house in order, but we walked in to a nice pleasant fresh smell from the floor wash liquid and 20 minutes to remove all the fabric.  Wonderful.

 

[mauroest]

and what about the motorbike covered and parked in the condo parking area? Should I give the key to condo owner or Juristic?
Some kind of document as receipt?

[direction BANGKOK]

21 hours ago, Pattaya46 said:

 

I don't understand this problem of humidity/moisture for a condo ??

When left unoccupied many months, doors and windows are closed;  so where would the humidity come from ? 

 

BTW when I first visited the condo I bought, it had been left unoccupied/unopened during 2 years and there was nothing wrong, no humidity anywhere.

I agree with you. There must be much more humid units the way people are talking. There is one cabinet we have under the sink that tend to get humid and destroy things you leave in there, for whatever reason. We leave that cabinet open when we leave now. Problem sloved. 

[direction BANGKOK]

19 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

One more suggestion, years ago when we had to leave our house unattended in Sth. Pattaya, for some 3 years, we paid the maid to continue to sweep and wash the floors once a week, she also turned on all the showers and flushed the toilets etc and ran all the air cons for an hour every week. And we arranged for the maid to tell a farang friend, who lived in the same village, quickly about any problems (she also did his house care work laundry ironing etc., 2 hours a day 6 days a week).

 

Plus we bought some very cheap fabric in large quantity and covered all the furniture, the beds etc. Did the whole house like this plus cloth over all the crockery in the cupboards and over towels les etc., in the linen cupboard.

 

When we returned home, we were worried it could take quite some time to get the house in order, but we walked in to a nice pleasant fresh smell from the floor wash liquid and 20 minutes to remove all the fabric.  Wonderful.

 

That is cool and all, but i have figured it would cost say 1-2 thousand baht to fix our ac. We took two huge trips, years long, and the ac was fine after the first, bit you are right did not make it for the second.

 

My question is, wouldnt it just be cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to fix the problem instead of all that? Not stating i am right just honestly curious. We refilled our ac for example and i believe it was  under 2000 baht. Then you have to also think of all the times you may get away leaving everything and coming back unscathed, as we have in the past. 

 

I saw you were talking about a house though, so yeah i would approach that different, i assumed you were talking about a condo originally. 

[scorecard]

12 minutes ago, direction BANGKOK said:

That is cool and all, but i have figured it would cost say 1-2 thousand baht to fix our ac. We took two huge trips, years long, and the ac was fine after the first, bit you are right did not make it for the second.

 

My question is, wouldnt it just be cheaper and a hell of a lot easier to fix the problem instead of all that? Not stating i am right just honestly curious. We refilled our ac for example and i believe it was  under 2000 baht. Then you have to also think of all the times you may get away leaving everything and coming back unscathed, as we have in the past. 

 

I saw you were talking about a house though, so yeah i would approach that different, i assumed you were talking about a condo originally. 

Sorry I'm confused, there was no problem with the air-conditioners either before we went away, when we were away or when we came home. 

 

We asked the maid to turn on all the air-cons for an hour every week because several friends (one an engineer) recommended to do this, saying it's better for all the internal working parts to not be left dormant for a very long time. 

 

I'm not an air-con person, I don't know if the above is totally correct but we followed the advice and when we came home all the air-cons were in good working order.

 

 

 

 

[direction BANGKOK]

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Sorry I'm confused, there was no problem with the air-conditioners either before we went away, when we were away or when we came home. 

 

 

I was just asking why on earth would you go through all that trouble, when worst case scenario you could just repair the ac for 2000 baht when you got home. You have a house though so i am sure that is different. This thread is about condos. Condos are built for this exact purpose... to be able to leave on a moment's notice without worrying... homes not so much. 

[beautifulthailand99]

Back in a couple of weeks so it will be interesting to see what a thorough approach to the shutown has left the condo / soft furnishings and clothes in. Our nieces let themselves in 4 months back and reported back it was fine , if somewhat hot and didn't smell. Everything had been wiped down with bleach and dried , all perishables were out of the place and cupboards and drawers left open with water off and cooking oil in all the sink traps and toilet to prevent sewer gases coming in. The mattress had been sun dried and turned for a couple of days on the balcony and is propped up to let air circulate both sides. 

[sunnyboy2018]

Turn off the water and turn off the electricity by tripping the main switch. Leave the fridge open. Leave the curtains open to allow sunlight to prevent damp/ mold. Hire someone to look around the place once a week to check for problems such as flooda caused by neighbours. Tell the JP / condo manger so they can keep an eye on it.

[Pravda]

On 3/8/2019 at 1:22 AM, madmen said:

stick it on Air BNB and have it working to generate $$$ while your away. Thats what I do

 

Actually this is the most sensible solution. 

 

I have a condo in Canada which I was willing to leave empty despite high maintenance fees and taxes. However, I was told you can't insure empty condo as there are so many things that can go wrong. So, now I have a tenant and extra income. 

[beautifulthailand99]

1 hour ago, Pravda said:

 

Actually this is the most sensible solution. 

 

I have a condo in Canada which I was willing to leave empty despite high maintenance fees and taxes. However, I was told you can't insure empty condo as there are so many things that can go wrong. So, now I have a tenant and extra income. 

Considering that particularly so that my wife's friend is the no 1 agent in the block and can do all the hassle of managing bookings  , cleaning , repairs + TM30 and the like for an not unreasonable fee. One small problem to note though is that there have been thefts where previous tenants must have cut keys and then a couple of months later robbed some condos in our block. So some re-programmable door lock would be a way to mitigate that potential problem.

[HampiK]

6 hours ago, Pravda said:

 

Actually this is the most sensible solution. 

 

I have a condo in Canada which I was willing to leave empty despite high maintenance fees and taxes. However, I was told you can't insure empty condo as there are so many things that can go wrong. So, now I have a tenant and extra income. 

It's always depends on the person. For myself I never want that someone else stay in "my" condo.
But in your example it seems you look at it in view of an investment or emergency money back home. So to rent it out would be OK.
But for my main home (even I went away for 9 Months) I not want to have other tenants for that time.