Thai PM acts on illegal and unlicensed hotels and accommodation

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Thai PM acts on illegal and unlicensed hotels and accommodation

By The Thaiger

 

 

Owners of shop-houses, rented properties, even entire floors of condos – running them as defacto hotels – are about to get the Article 44 treatment.

 

The PM, acting in his capacity as the head of the NCPO (in the days before it is dissolved), says he will bring an estimated 20,000 illegal hotels and accommodations around the country under control so they run under the same rules as licensed hotels and to boost safety for paying guests.

 

The order cited a number of safety rules, like properly installed and operating fire extinguishers, required under the Hotel Act but usually missing in unlicensed premises, posing safety concerns for people that stay at unlicensed hotels.

 

He said they’ve been flaunting loopholes and dodging proper town planning guidelines for the past decade, taking advantage of Thailand’s tourist boom but operating ‘under the radar’ and not paying the proper taxes or licensing their properties.

 

“Many people lease their buildings, houses or apartments in the same manner as hotels without permission or proper management.”

 

He’s gone further and asked hotel owners or citizens that know of illegally operated establishments to tell local officials so they can be closed down or given a chance to properly license the properties. Unlicensed or illegal premises will be given 90 days from last Wednesday when the order was announced in the Royal Gazette.

 

The order covered issues relating to land management and town planning restricting locations that hotels can be constructed or operated.

 

Thailand is flooded with illegal accommodation offerings such as rented shophouses being converted into rooms or sets of rooms or entire floors in new condos being sub-let to operate as defacto hotels – some even with full receptions to welcome guests. The hotel industry, suffering under increased competition from illegal operators, has been forced to lower room rates to unsustainable levels in recent years. Hotel associations have been lobbying the government for urgent action.

 

Source: https://thethaiger.com/hot-news/tourism/thai-pm-acts-on-illegal-and-unlicensed-hotels-and-accommodation

 

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2019-06-14

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[simon43]

I'd love to know where one can anonymously report an unlicenced hotel.  My ex runs a fully-licenced small hotel in Phuket, paying all correct taxes as well.

 

100 metres up the road, a Chinese guy has been running an unlicenced hotel out of 3 adjoining houses.  He will stand in the street as tourists walk down to her hotel and tell them that it's closed ????  

 

Love to see him kicked (in the <deleted>) and then kicked out of the country. He's been operating illegally for years.

[stanleycoin]

Just now, simon43 said:

I'd love to know where one can anonymously report an unlicenced hotel.  My ex runs a fully-licenced small hotel in Phuket, paying all correct taxes as well.

 

100 metres up the road, a Chinese guy has been running an unlicenced hotel out of 3 adjoining houses.  He will stand in the street as tourists walk down to her hotel and tell them that it's closed ????  

 

Love to see him kicked (in the <deleted>) and then kicked out of the country. He's been operating illegally for years.

He most likely pays the cops to look the other way for many years.

But yes i agree with you. 

[Denim]

I thought article 44 was a junta thing .

 

So post election it is still being used.

 

Does that mean that if the pro democracy coalition were in power they could use it too ?

[canopus1969]

7 minutes ago, simon43 said:

I'd love to know where one can anonymously report an unlicenced hotel.  My ex runs a fully-licenced small hotel in Phuket, paying all correct taxes as well.

 

100 metres up the road, a Chinese guy has been running an unlicenced hotel out of 3 adjoining houses.  He will stand in the street as tourists walk down to her hotel and tell them that it's closed ????  

 

Love to see him kicked (in the <deleted>) and then kicked out of the country. He's been operating illegally for years.

If your ex is Thai then all she needs to do is file a complaint (anonymous if she prefers) and they will have to follow up

[nickstav]

I would like to see this extended to "party houses". The house next to mine is rented out short time. One weekend about 15 Thais rented the house for a weekend party. They arrived in 3 SUVs and 1 car. Needless to say it was not very quiet that weekend. The house next to that one is also rented out short time as is one across the road. These are rented out mainly by groups of Thais, but once was rented to a group of Chinese for a few days. I understand the viewpoint that people should be able to do what they want with their properties, but it just doesn't seem fair to permanent residents.

[madmitch]

9 minutes ago, Denim said:

I thought article 44 was a junta thing .

 

So post election it is still being used.

 

Does that mean that if the pro democracy coalition were in power they could use it too ?

Prayut's making the most of using it while he can; probably only a couple of weeks left.

 

Article 44 was originally set up to deal woth matters of national security but now it's just a tool for Prayut to do what he wants when he wants. Probably had complaints from hotel owning cronies that their income is down.

[AhFarangJa]

14 minutes ago, nickstav said:

I would like to see this extended to "party houses". The house next to mine is rented out short time. One weekend about 15 Thais rented the house for a weekend party. They arrived in 3 SUVs and 1 car. Needless to say it was not very quiet that weekend. The house next to that one is also rented out short time as is one across the road. These are rented out mainly by groups of Thais, but once was rented to a group of Chinese for a few days. I understand the viewpoint that people should be able to do what they want with their properties, but it just doesn't seem fair to permanent residents.

I agree that on one hand an owner is free to do what he wants, but you also have to consider the neighbourhood around you, as you say it is not fair on the permanent residents. We had a villa a few doors down from us in a gated community that was rented out at weekends. One Friday night three minibuses turned up, along with a karaoke set up. At 1 in the morning we had enough and told security to call the police. They arrived and shut the party down. Next night just the same again,.......police shut them down but said it was not illegal for the owner to have "Guests" in their house.....

[holy cow cm]

He needs to do it on his own without using any magical article 44 or 88 or or anything like I am Prayuth, I will do what I want no matter what.  

[GeorgeCross]

i got the feeling everyone hoping this is gonna shut the partyhouse or condo next door down is in for a shock.

 

this sounds like he is green lighting the accomodations not shutting them down. 

 

Quote

The PM, acting in his capacity as the head of the NCPO (in the days before it is dissolved), says he will bring an estimated 20,000 illegal hotels and accommodations around the country under control so they run under the same rules as licensed hotels and to boost safety for paying guests.

 

couple of fire extinguishers and a safety check and they are good to go.

 

 

 

 

[BobBKK]

Not a bad thing for H&S reasons, tax reasons and general disturbance reasons. However, enforcing it is another thing entirely.

PS They should license real estate agents too!

[robblok]

1 minute ago, BobBKK said:

Not a bad thing for H&S reasons, tax reasons and general disturbance reasons. However, enforcing it is another thing entirely.

PS They should license real estate agents too!

The enforcement is always a problem in this country, they got some good laws but they are enforced selectively. As long as you got a lot of corruption laws will never be applied correctly.

 

But i really understand that this should be regulated, i would hate to have a condo next to someone who rents it out on a day to day base. Far more disturbance then normal. 

[KhunKenAP]

So if we register our house on the TM30 website so we can file TM30 when I return home from outside the country or province, will we be caught up in this?

 

[fforest1]

58 minutes ago, simon43 said:

I'd love to know where one can anonymously report an unlicenced hotel.  My ex runs a fully-licenced small hotel in Phuket, paying all correct taxes as well.

 

100 metres up the road, a Chinese guy has been running an unlicenced hotel out of 3 adjoining houses.  He will stand in the street as tourists walk down to her hotel and tell them that it's closed ????  

 

Love to see him kicked (in the <deleted>) and then kicked out of the country. He's been operating illegally for years.

I will bet strongly your ex does not have a hotel license...Hotel licenses are only given out to 5 star and a few 4 star hotels....So if your ex does not have a FULL hotel license she should be closed down RIGHT?

[fforest1]

The Hotel license is used as a Corrupt tool to shut down small operators....That is unless the right arrangements can be made... cough cough... 

[newnative]

Get to work on all the condos being illegally rented as daily  hotel rooms.

[cmsally]

50 minutes ago, fforest1 said:

I will bet strongly your ex does not have a hotel license...Hotel licenses are only given out to 5 star and a few 4 star hotels....So if your ex does not have a FULL hotel license she should be closed down RIGHT?

That is actually not true. We have a small guest house and have had a hotel license for almost 30 years. However it created massive amusement when we applied for one and a lot of persistence on our part. We got responses ranging from laughter, to wave of a hand dismissing us as "not a hotel".

They managed to trip themselves up when having to admit there was no such thing as a guesthouse license.

[ThomasThBKK]

7 minutes ago, cmsally said:

That is actually not true. We have a small guest house and have had a hotel license for almost 30 years. However it created massive amusement when we applied for one and a lot of persistence on our part. We got responses ranging from laughter, to wave of a hand dismissing us as "not a hotel".

They managed to trip themselves up when having to admit there was no such thing as a guesthouse license.

 

So they issued you a license earlier that  was not exactly real just some local made up stuff?

[cmsally]

3 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

 

So they issued you a license earlier that  was not exactly real just some local made up stuff?

No, we got an actual hotel license (same as the 5 star places) and have had one for the past 30 years.

[ThomasThBKK]

1 minute ago, cmsally said:

No, we got an actual hotel license (same as the 5 star places) and have had one for the past 30 years.

Oh ok that makes sense,

apparently there are such things as villa and pool licenses in Samui but i don't think anything except an exemption certificate and a real hotel license like you have exists.

Highly confusing topic as every local office says whatever they come up with.

[ChipButty]

If they made them easily available then they might not have a problem Im sure most people would get one

[cmsally]

I would imagine there was/is a lot of pressure from the big hotels to not hand them out too easily. I would imagine that the reason for this quick Article 44 is because local Tesabahn income has plummeted. It was only 2 years ago that they made the hotel/building license a prerequisite for paying the local tax. If people don't have the license they will not be paying the tax. Something had to be done in haste to refill the local coffers. Presumably the situation is pretty dire.

[madmitch]

Licensing should be straightforward, provided you qualify, but it isn't.

We have a licence from the tessabaan and we have applied for a licence with the OrBorJor, to whom we pay room taxes, but they've never even bothered to turn up to inspect us for a proper hotel licence.

 

Apparently we should also have a licence from the Amphur and last year we were told to apply at the tessabaan for a fire safety licence. When my partner went to do this she was told they'd finished giving out the licences; we were too late!

 

So, we are at least partially licenced but who knows whether that's good enough. The whole system is ridiculous and should be stanardised but as we know from other Government offices, each office in each town or province sets its own rules.

[fforest1]

The current requirements for a hotel license are very very long and almost impossible for ANY guesthouse or hotel in Thailand to meet the volumes and exacting requirements unless the hotel is 4 or 5 stars... 

 

If the hotel license was strictly applied about 95-98% of hotels and guesthouses would go out of business....

 

Sure there maybe a lucky few who somehow got the license years ago but not many...

 

There is nothing fair what so ever about this licence.....But it sure comes in handy for extorting small businesses by little Napoleons...

[monkfish]

OK so if they are already Illegal just enforce the current law why need rule 44?
Not sure how he will manage without 44 I expect he will use it to extend it to the next government
 

[Orton Rd]

Should start by listing everything on that dreadful stingy persons site known as airbnb letting for less than one month, then taking the owners to court.

[simon43]

2 hours ago, fforest1 said:

I will bet strongly your ex does not have a hotel license...Hotel licenses are only given out to 5 star and a few 4 star hotels....So if your ex does not have a FULL hotel license she should be closed down RIGHT?

She does!  She is a fully-registered hotel, (not a guesthouse).  Pays taxes on rooms and occupancy, has all correct fire equipment, hotel inspected annually blah blah blah, (I know because I built it in 2012 and helped her to get all legal documents and licences.

 

If your ex is Thai then all she needs to do is file a complaint (anonymous if she prefers) and they will have to follow up

 

Ah, the sweetness of naivity ????  She has of course, tried that several times.  But this is Phuket, home of corruption....

[Orton Rd]

She could have him dealt with in another way, how much is that in Phuket?

[sandyf]

Unfortunately that is part of Thai life. I have lived in a rural village for around 10 years and about 6 years ago they built a village hall not too far away. That gets used quite regularly for functions with the speakers so loud the surrounding villages can hear, not just ours. Sometimes the functions last all weekend with the speakers going from first thing in the morning until midnight.

As far as I understand the noise must stop by midnight and after that you are quite entitled to call the police. With the village functions there is normally a police presence as a matter of course.

When it comes to noise the Thais can take it to a whole new level.

[from the home of CC]

6 hours ago, simon43 said:

I'd love to know where one can anonymously report an unlicenced hotel.  My ex runs a fully-licenced small hotel in Phuket, paying all correct taxes as well.

 

100 metres up the road, a Chinese guy has been running an unlicenced hotel out of 3 adjoining houses.  He will stand in the street as tourists walk down to her hotel and tell them that it's closed ????  

 

Love to see him kicked (in the <deleted>) and then kicked out of the country. He's been operating illegally for years.

call 1111 - press 9 for English. They were very happy for my info on illegal rentals of condos in the building I live. They called back 2 hours later and requested additional information so I believe they were interested. Soon as I mentioned they advertised online for the bnb they really got pumped, something to do with using a computer to commit crimes or to that effect. He also mentioned the lack of tax payments which he said violates more laws and that multiple agencies will need to get involved as well as immigration.