Trouble with landlord - unable to fix issues in his condo and more than poor communication

[John21321kdas]

Hi,

 

I would really appreciate any advice or solution to my problem. I did several mistakes at the beginning of my process renting out a condo in Thailand. I never met the owner because I wasn't aware he isn't in Thailand. Instead, we communicate via email and Facebook. The condo was rented by another tenant which had delays of moving out of the condo and I had to stay 3 days in the hotel. I pick the key from the owner friends and gave them money directly - Russian couple. I received recipe of the deposit and 1 monthly rent in advance.

 

The contract was sent to my email - electronic signature.

 

In the beginning, there were several issues like clothes from other people in closets etc. It was over a month on my balcony because I didn't receive any answer from the landlord what should I do with it. During my rental period 6 months I had several issues - not working internet, the owner didn't pay for the electrical bill and they shut me off until I paid it for him and send him less for monthly rent. Now, all my electricity shut down because of the ceiling fan - I smell the fire when it happened but the management of the building turns on electricity back. The box in under their lock and they charge me 1000 baht for it. Most of the time I pay for these issues myself and pay less to landlord because the office is open only limited period time and I don't want to end up without air cons or light overnight.

Now it's 1 month and 2 weeks since ceiling fan isn't fixed and he isn't able to provide any solution. After 2 weeks since this problem with electricity happened, it came to my condo Russian electrician who wasn't able to fix it. Now, it's over a month and yesterday I had an issue with the internet. The internet is from provided by condo management company but I refuse to pay extra 500 baht to find a solution and told the landlord that I'm gonna move out if this isn't fixed today. He didn't call or contact the office so nobody comes to fix my internet. It becoming very frustrating messaging him and he read my messages and responds after 2-5 days. The important thing here is that I'm working online so internet is very serious for me. Currently, I'm using dtac unlimited.

 

The fact about this landlord:

- he is Russian and doesn't have a blue/yellow book of ownership
- currently in France
- electronic signature
- termination of the agreement of the contract is that if I want to move out I need pay until my contract ends

 

I want to find some solution without any problem but I got ideas:
- I'm not sure if he pays taxes for renting out his condo - I could try to find past renters and report him
- he didn't register me TM30 within 24 hours and after 2 months of fighting with him I had to do it myself even when the landlord is responsible for this and finned

- foreigner can't own condo or house more than 49% but I didn't make any study on this if I could find something helpful

 

Really the communication is more than frustrating and he really doesn't care so I would like to know what kind of options I have. I would like to move out from this condo without any issues...

 

Thank you very much for reading this post ????

 

I'm including some pictures of mattress cover which is dirty and smelly because of human urine and blood. This was my issue the first month of renting out his condo and stuff packed on the balcony for over a month. Very disgusting and lesson learned...

 

 

 

[FritsSikkink]

Why didn't you have a look before you rent something for a year?

"foreigner can't own condo or house more than 49%" Yes, they can.

 

If he doesn't behave like a good landlord and you have proof of that you can finish the contract without paying.

 

[Just Weird]

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

"foreigner can't own condo or house more than 49%" Yes, they can.

The foreign ownership of a condo cannot exceed 49% of the total ownership.

[BestB]

Am  i reading this correctly, you have rented a condo, but expecting landlord to pay for your electric? and when its cut off, you pay the electric but deduct money from the rent and then you wondering why landlord is not fixing anything?

[Just Weird]

4 hours ago, John21321kdas said:

I want to find some solution without any problem but I got ideas:
- I'm not sure if he pays taxes for renting out his condo - I could try to find past renters and report him
- he didn't register me TM30 within 24 hours and after 2 months of fighting with him I had to do it myself even when the landlord is responsible for this and finned

- foreigner can't own condo or house more than 49% but I didn't make any study on this if I could find something helpful

None of those ideas to cause problems for him are any of your business with the possible exception of the TM30 which, even so, is not a problem as you sorted that one out. 

 

Whether he pays tax (even if he is liable to) or exceeds the 49% ownership rule is up to him, not you, but if you did report him how do you think that is going to help?

[Just Weird]

3 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

If he doesn't behave like a good landlord and you have proof of that you can finish the contract without paying.

Really?  Have you ever seen "behaving like a good landlord" written in to any lease/rental contract?

[Jingthing]

There are hints there that the owner probably owns it through a dodgy company scheme which is quite common when people own the non-foreigner share of condos. That shouldn't really concern you. A lot of the condo renting by foreigners is quasi legal but that really shouldn't concern you either. It sounds like you're in a real dump with a real crappy landlord. Resolve it? LEAVE! OK, I see your problem. You signed a lease. So I guess you need to see a lawyer and see if you have ground to break it. If not, do you really think this Russian in France is going to go after you? Do you think he's mafia? 

 

Not really relevant of course but I had a similar big drama with the very first apartment lease that I signed in the U.S. It was in a cold northern city. When I moved in the summer there was a big gap in the window (it was a crappy building). They promised to fix it. Winter was approaching and I demanded they fix it numerous times in writing. No action. So one day I just moved out (i had rented another place). The super and apartment manager were both yelling at me, you can't do that, we're going to go after you, you'll never rent another apartment in your life, blah blah blah. They did nothing. 

Edited November 15, 2019 by Jingthing

[BestB]

4 hours ago, John21321kdas said:

yesterday I had an issue with the internet. The internet is from provided by condo management company but I refuse to pay extra 500 baht to find a solution and told the landlord that I'm gonna move out if this isn't fixed today. He didn't call or contact the office so nobody comes to fix my internet. It becoming very frustrating messaging him and he read my messages and responds after 2-5 days. The important thing here is that I'm working online so internet is very serious for me. Currently, I'm using dtac unlimited.

Let me get this right, internet is free of charge provided by the condo, but you expecting landlord to provide you with better internet at his cost? and that is after you also deducting utility bills from the rent and to put a cherry on top, you are working, clearly illegally but you want to report landlord for not paying tax?

 

You are lucky, you have him as a landlord, if it was me, i would pay any money to police just to have you arrested and deported.

[FritsSikkink]

56 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

Really?  Have you ever seen "behaving like a good landlord" written in to any lease/rental contract?

Have you ever heard that the law goes above a lease/rental agreement?

[John21321kdas]

40 minutes ago, BestB said:

Am  i reading this correctly, you have rented a condo, but expecting landlord to pay for your electric? and when its cut off, you pay the electric but deduct money from the rent and then you wondering why landlord is not fixing anything?

As I said  "the owner didn't pay for the electrical bill" so this was before I moved in which I wasn't aware and condo management turned off electricity in this condo when I was living in it. I pay electricity and water every month directly in condo management office and keeping all recipes.

 

39 minutes ago, BestB said:

Let me get this right, internet is free of charge provided by the condo, but you expecting landlord to provide you with better internet at his cost?

Free and fast internet was part of our contract and one of the reasons why I moved in so I don't have to look for some another provider. Now I can't connect to router because there is some jumping window with login and password which she doesn't know. The condo management office don't know anything and they're charging for every small thing so if I want technician to look at it it would cost 500 baht... If you provide a value I'm more than happy to provide you more information if you ask ????

 

 

3 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Why didn't you have a look before you rent something for a year?

"foreigner can't own condo or house more than 49%" Yes, they can.

 

If he doesn't behave like a good landlord and you have proof of that you can finish the contract without paying.

 

There was a couple renting out this condo when I come to view it for the first time so I didn't check closets and what is under sheets... I wish it would be so simple and finish the contract without paying.

 

57 minutes ago, Just Weird said:

None of those ideas to cause problems for him are any of your business with the possible exception of the TM30 which, even so, is not a problem as you sorted that one out. 

 

Whether he pays tax (even if he is liable to) or exceeds the 49% ownership rule is up to him, not you, but if you did report him how do you think that is going to help?

100% agree and it would get only messy and this is the last thing which I wanna do... 

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Just Weird said:

The foreign ownership of a condo cannot exceed 49% of the total ownership.

That is something different

[John21321kdas]

1 minute ago, FritsSikkink said:

Have you ever heard that the law goes above a lease/rental agreement?

Something like this:

2. Lessees can terminate their Lease by simply providing a 30 Day Notice

Prior to this new law, a Lessee unable to complete their rental term (I.e. 12 Months) would automatically need to find a replacement tenant (Acceptance of replacement Lessee is at the discretion of the Landlord) or forfeit their security deposit.

However the new regulations stipulate that Lessees have the right to provide 30 days’ notice, without risking their security deposit.

 

https://freshbangkok.com/new-thai-rental-laws-expect/

 

[Just Weird]

53 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Have you ever heard that the law goes above a lease/rental agreement?

Have you ever heard that "being a good landlord" doesn't?

[Just Weird]

53 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

That is something different

No, it's not!

[AlexRich]

I suspect you could simply issue him with notice that you are terminating the arrangement due to his breach of the agreement. Move somewhere else. You’ll lose the deposit but you can write that off as a “tuition” fee.

 

Seriously, what’s he going to do? Engage private detectives and lawyers? I doubt it.

[FritsSikkink]

3 hours ago, Just Weird said:

No, it's not!

 The rule you are referring to is that from all the condo's in in a block, foreigners can't own more than 49% of them. The individual condo, can be owned 100%.  

[Chazar]

7 hours ago, BestB said:

You are lucky, you have him as a landlord, if it was me, i would pay any money to police just to have you arrested and deported.

not strung up by both  balls  and  given 100 lashes  then?

[spidermike007]

10 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Why didn't you have a look before you rent something for a year?

"foreigner can't own condo or house more than 49%" Yes, they can.

 

If he doesn't behave like a good landlord and you have proof of that you can finish the contract without paying.

 

Yes, that is a total misunderstanding. It means only 49% of the units in a building, can be 100% owned by a foreigner. 

[Just Weird]

11 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

 The rule you are referring to is that from all the condo's in in a block, foreigners can't own more than 49% of them. The individual condo, can be owned 100%.  

I know, that's what I said!