Condominium Laws Question

[paperwerks]

Does anyone know about the laws concerning the condominium juristic person. I bought a "Ni Run" condo on Udom Suk for 230000 and fixed it up for another 30000 and have rented it out for 2500 per month net which is an 11.5% cash yield. I am very happy with the return and renting out is easy. The problem is the condo management is controlled by the mafia.

They never give accountings or hold meetings. Owners all hate the manager (Ni Run Company) but can't do anything about it having tried many times. They have all given up hope of change. I knew this going into the purchase, but would just like to understand the legal requirements for the juristic person.

The reason I ask is if they would only paint the building and clean it up a little then the units could command a higher rent in the future because they will be within walking distance of the new skytrain stop at Udom Suk.

Is there a law that condominiums must hold an annual meeting to elect directors and review the budget etc? If there is such a law what happens if the juristic person fails to do this? As I understand it there are no directors at this condo. The Ni Run company simply takes in the money every month and pays a few bills (very few) and pockets the balance as profit. They never fix anything. They are accountable to absolutely no one. Do condo owners have any rights at all in Thailand?

[quiksilva]

They sure do, the Condominium Act 1979 is the overriding legislation.

However, the Juristic Person (presumably Ni Run in this case) should also have created a set of building of regulations that will outline how often management meetings should be held etc. Under the act in its current form these may or may not exist, however, there was a move recently (last month) to ammend this out of date act to improve co-owners rights, including amongst may other things standardised rules and regulations, qualifications of a Juristic Manager, and a process for appointing and removing them. These regs are currently being reviewed, but I think should be warmly welcomed should they go through.

Source Johnson Stokes & Master Legal Updates: http://www.jsm-law.com/live/Portal?xml=leg...content_id=2865 (well worth subscribing too by the way!)

In the meantime you should try to ascertain whether Ni Run still owns the majority of the units in the property. If they do, then its fairly bad news Im afraid, there's not alot that can be done, as they will always have the majority vote.

However, if what they are doing is truly egregious and you can't wait you could always try to get the consumer protection hotline 1166 to lean on them. Its the same number people use to help get their security deposit back.

[trajan]

The Condo Act requires a condo owner meeting at least once a year.

In addition, the Condo Act requires the "rules and regulations" of the condo juristic person (like the "articles of association" or "by-laws" of a regular company) to be registered at the time of initial transfers of condo title deeds in a new project....so it is likely that there exists registered "rules and regulations" in your case....

in one of my own condos, the applicable registered "rules and regulations" state that any of the "Manager", the "Co-Owner Board" (an elected Board of up to 9 condo owners) or "any Group of Co-Owners holding at least 25% of votes" can call a general meeting of co-owners.

Therefore, if the Manager starts acting like the "mafia" (as you say), then a sufficient number of Co-Owners can revolt and call a meeting and fire and replace the Manager.....BUT this assumes that at least a majority of votes of Co-Owners agree to take such action at the summoned meeting.

You have a practical problem if the Manager controls (or is allied with) a majority of votes of the condo co-owners..

(I am lucky because the hired Manager company is very diligent and keeps very good care of the building, personnel and common areas and manages the budget very well...so much so that I often give them a proxy to vote my votes at any meeting I cant attend)...

Edited March 22, 2007 by trajan

[paperwerks]

Thanks for telling me about these laws. I didn't know what the law was. The Ni Run management only owns a few now. Another problem here is that about 40% are owned by banks from forclosures and the banks do not pay their fees and can not be located according to the manager so they say they can not have a meeting.

I am happy with the investment but it it is frustrating that these condos are not taken care of and that owners feel helpless. Also, there is a unit that operates an illegal 24/7 card game. A policeman lives above the unit. The manager's office is 20 feet away from this unit. I'm hoping this can change in future years as everyone can make more money when the skytrain is finished. Somebody has to take the lead but as a falang I have to be careful. Thais are so fearful of challenging authority even when the authority is totally corrupt and stealing from them.

The condo that I personally live in is in a well run complex with meetings and certified accountings. However, in the cheap 200,000 type condos it seems that the mafia has siexed control of many of the managements.