End of lease issues

[Billthekiwi]

Tonight I asked my landlord about any cleaning fee at the end of my 12 month lease.

 

She gave me a whole list of fees that are not on the lease that I can see. At least not in English.

 

So these are the charges:

1. There is a cleaning fee. 1000 Bath

 

2. Correction fee Sat. 380. Baht

(Apparently for the water. We have never paid more than 120 baht for a month. The water bill is not in our name.)

 

3. Air cleaning fee. 3. Body. Each 500. Total. 1500. Baht.

I have to pay it seems for the cleaning of the 3 aircon units?

 

Is this the norm or is this lady trying it on? I live in Ban Pet, Khon Kaen in a townhouse owned by Green.

[ThomasThBKK]

Not in the contract, not your fees.

[madmen]

She will take them out of your deposit so not important what you think. Just the way it is 

[Kwasaki]

1 hour ago, Billthekiwi said:

Is this the norm or is this lady trying it on?

No !!  tell her you going local govt office and show them what she gave you.

[Nakmuay887]

pretty similar thing happened to me and as much as I protested the landlord just took it out of the 8000 baht deposit I had on the house I was renting. Seems this is a pretty common thing and many people get pushed around this way. I bit the bullet on the 3k and moved on. 

[CNXexpat]

1 hour ago, Billthekiwi said:

1. There is a cleaning fee. 1000 Bath

Leave a real dirty house that they need more than 1,000 Baht to clean it.

 

1 hour ago, Billthekiwi said:

2. Correction fee Sat. 380. Baht

(Apparently for the water. We have never paid more than 120 baht for a month. The water bill is not in our name.)

They have to show you the bills. It´s not allowed to charge a higher price than the public water company charges them.

[worgeordie]

Would she still charge you 1000 THB, if you left it as clean

as when you moved in ?

Also you are not responsible for the A/c ,they belong to her,

they will try anything on if they can get away with it,

regards worgeordie

 

[Billthekiwi]

Hi.

Thanks guys for the advice.

 

I spoke with an Australian lawyer friend who has lived here for a long time.

 

He suggested I phone or call at the Tourist police counter. He said that they will deal with it for me.

 

I don't officially move out until 1st January 2020. Our house is never dirty as my Chinese wife is very house proud.

 

We have freely let our landlady visit at any time so she has a good idea of the state in the house. It seemed that we were friends.

 

There are issues with termites here and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the aircons is full of termite poo. There are trails in several places that I sprayed to stop.

 

I expect that the timber in the roof is compromised. I did report this months ago but they did nothing.

 

My feeling is that she's upset that we are leaving. It is far too noisy here and no one rents her other property 3 doors down.

 

The place nextdoor has been vacant for over a year too.

 

There is an artist living 2 doors to one side of me and he has about 6 yap yap dogs. It smells of dog pee when you go past his place.

 

2 doors to the otherside of me is his workshop. Disk grinding, drilling etc at anytime it suits him.

 

Every morning between 4.30am and 6.30am depending on the season, he takes his dogs from home to work and then often back again. It wakes me every day with the barking.

 

I don't talk to him anymore as I would have nothing nice to say. He is just a <deleted> and I'll be really glad to leave.

Edited December 20, 2019 by Billthekiwi
Extra detail.

[RideJocky]

10 hours ago, Billthekiwi said:

Hi.

Thanks guys for the advice.

 

I spoke with an Australian lawyer friend who has lived here for a long time.

 

He suggested I phone or call at the Tourist police counter. He said that they will deal with it for me.

 

I don't officially move out until 1st January 2020. Our house is never dirty as my Chinese wife is very house proud.

 

We have freely let our landlady visit at any time so she has a good idea of the state in the house. It seemed that we were friends.

 

There are issues with termites here and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the aircons is full of termite poo. There are trails in several places that I sprayed to stop.

 

I expect that the timber in the roof is compromised. I did report this months ago but they did nothing.

 

My feeling is that she's upset that we are leaving. It is far too noisy here and no one rents her other property 3 doors down.

 

The place nextdoor has been vacant for over a year too.

 

There is an artist living 2 doors to one side of me and he has about 6 yap yap dogs. It smells of dog pee when you go past his place.

 

2 doors to the otherside of me is his workshop. Disk grinding, drilling etc at anytime it suits him.

 

Every morning between 4.30am and 6.30am depending on the season, he takes his dogs from home to work and then often back again. It wakes me every day with the barking.

 

I don't talk to him anymore as I would have nothing nice to say. He is just a <deleted> and I'll be really glad to leave.

I would let her know that you’re unhappy about the fees before I got the tourist police involved. 

[NanLaew]

If the lease contract stipulates an end-of-lease refundable deposit clause, then let the landlord take those charges from that. If there is none, then either arrange do the cleaning jobs yourself or bite the bullet and simply pay it. If you do the cleaning, make sure the landlord inspects and approves after the job is done. The OP should now be aware of getting any end-of-lease termination charges defined ahead of his next rental agreement.

 

Regarding the water bill, my experience was to make a note and take a picture of both electric and water meter readings before turning of the main breaker and main gate valve before locking up the house. I sent these to the landlady who did the math when the bills came in about 10 days after we left.

 

Contesting the previous 11 months water charging as illegal with one month to go on the lease is a waste of effort. The OP should now be aware of it on his next rental agreement.

 

Forget about the Tourist Police.

Edited December 20, 2019 by NanLaew

[alex8912]

On 12/20/2019 at 12:24 PM, Billthekiwi said:

Hi.

Thanks guys for the advice.

 

I spoke with an Australian lawyer friend who has lived here for a long time.

 

He suggested I phone or call at the Tourist police counter. He said that they will deal with it for me.

 

I don't officially move out until 1st January 2020. Our house is never dirty as my Chinese wife is very house proud.

 

We have freely let our landlady visit at any time so she has a good idea of the state in the house. It seemed that we were friends.

 

There are issues with termites here and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the aircons is full of termite poo. There are trails in several places that I sprayed to stop.

 

I expect that the timber in the roof is compromised. I did report this months ago but they did nothing.

 

My feeling is that she's upset that we are leaving. It is far too noisy here and no one rents her other property 3 doors down.

 

The place nextdoor has been vacant for over a year too.

 

There is an artist living 2 doors to one side of me and he has about 6 yap yap dogs. It smells of dog pee when you go past his place.

 

2 doors to the otherside of me is his workshop. Disk grinding, drilling etc at anytime it suits him.

 

Every morning between 4.30am and 6.30am depending on the season, he takes his dogs from home to work and then often back again. It wakes me every day with the barking.

 

I don't talk to him anymore as I would have nothing nice to say. He is just a <deleted> and I'll be really glad to leave.

Sounds like paradise. I would gladly give her 2,880 baht and leave before Christmas and try to enjoy what was a miserable life hopefully somewhere much better. 

[Don Mega]

On 12/20/2019 at 12:24 PM, Billthekiwi said:

Hi.

 

 

I don't officially move out until 1st January 2020. Our house is never dirty as my Chinese wife is very house proud.

 

 

 

There are issues with termites here and I wouldn't be surprised if one of the aircons is full of termite poo.

 

 

 

 

Have you never had the aircons cleaned ?, thats pretty grotty and not what I would call house proud.

Edited December 22, 2019 by Don Mega

[berrec]

Scary, but from my experience a common occurrence in Thailand for renting properties, I have a 50,000 Baht deposit on the Townhouse we rent from a Chinese Thai.

 

Even though she says we keep the place in immaculate condition each year when she comes to sign up the next year's rental agreement.

 

At our own expense we have installed custrains in a number of rooms, replaced the 3 floors of incandescent light bulbs with LED globes and I do all the repairs required myself,

 

I am not expecting to get any or little of my deposit back when we leave.

 

Even though when we leave we will spend the weekend after vacating the premises cleaning the place from top to bottom including AC filters.

 

I have no doubt we will still get screwed............ it's the Thai way!

 

 

 

.  

[SteveK]

9 minutes ago, berrec said:

I have no doubt we will still get screwed............ it's the Thai way!

When I was a student in the UK many years ago, it was almost accepted by everyone that the deposit would never come back. It's not just Thailand, it's landlords taking advantage of people they have over a barrel and charging for non-existent things after you have moved out to give them some pocket money. It's basically theft, which is why I gather the UK has introduced a scheme where the deposit has to be held by a third party which allows or prevents deductions from the deposit depending on whether the landlord provides solid proof that they have actually spent the money.

 

I would speak with her first politely to explain that these charges are not stipulated on the contract. If she is unhelpful maybe the tourist police will be more helpful.

Edited December 22, 2019 by SteveK

[ThaiBunny]

The last two condos I stayed I had no problem getting the bond/deposit back. The first was a building entirely owned by the one (extended) Thai family, the other was a large condo where the condo office managed everything

[Billthekiwi]

Hi. An update...

 

The Tourist Police were very helpful and got the 1500 baht aircon fee deleted. I am happy now in fact.

 

They explained that the air charge was for the LPG cooking gas. 385 baht for a year is very reasonable even to me.

 

They also told me that 1000 baht for cleaning was okay for a 2 story townhouse. That made sense.

 

I'm happy to just walk away and not have to polish the taps. None of these charges were in the contract and the police took note of that.

 

I am happy to pay all my bills promptly and early. Just not the ones taken out of the air.

 

To the man who suggested that my wife is less than house proud because she has not cleaned the aircons in the year that we've been here...

So? How often do you clean yours? Industry standard is an annual service.

 

Not to mention that neither of us can reach them. My ladder would not fit in my suitcase.

 

Thanks again for almost all of your suggestions.

 

The Tourist Police were great in Khon Kaen. Thank you to the lady that made me a nice coffee there too.

 

One does not have to lay back and get screwed in my opinion.

[Billthekiwi]

On 12/20/2019 at 11:04 PM, NanLaew said:

If the lease contract stipulates an end-of-lease refundable deposit clause, then let the landlord take those charges from that. If there is none, then either arrange do the cleaning jobs yourself or bite the bullet and simply pay it. If you do the cleaning, make sure the landlord inspects and approves after the job is done. The OP should now be aware of getting any end-of-lease termination charges defined ahead of his next rental agreement.

 

Regarding the water bill, my experience was to make a note and take a picture of both electric and water meter readings before turning of the main breaker and main gate valve before locking up the house. I sent these to the landlady who did the math when the bills came in about 10 days after we left.

 

Contesting the previous 11 months water charging as illegal with one month to go on the lease is a waste of effort. The OP should now be aware of it on his next rental agreement.

 

Forget about the Tourist Police.

Hi NanLaew.

 

We have always paid the water and power directly so I never had a problem with that.

 

I fully intend to take photos of the meters when we move out.

But I don't expect any more problems as the police quite clearly outlined to her what I was to pay and what I would not.

 

In 11 months this lady was never my enemy and was usually very friendly. I was shocked by her about turn but I hope that we can now go back to how we were.

 

The Tourist Police were excellent.

[NanLaew]

47 minutes ago, Billthekiwi said:

Hi NanLaew.

 

We have always paid the water and power directly so I never had a problem with that.

 

I fully intend to take photos of the meters when we move out.

But I don't expect any more problems as the police quite clearly outlined to her what I was to pay and what I would not.

 

In 11 months this lady was never my enemy and was usually very friendly. I was shocked by her about turn but I hope that we can now go back to how we were.

 

The Tourist Police were excellent.

Great result and good to note the KK TP were proactive and helpful and the landlord agreed. As you know in Thailand, there are no universals and YMMV usually prevails.

 

You may need to consider buying a lottery ticket with those savings though!

Edited December 22, 2019 by NanLaew

[AAArdvark]

1 hour ago, Billthekiwi said:

Hi NanLaew.

 

We have always paid the water and power directly so I never had a problem with that.

 

I fully intend to take photos of the meters when we move out.

But I don't expect any more problems as the police quite clearly outlined to her what I was to pay and what I would not.

 

In 11 months this lady was never my enemy and was usually very friendly. I was shocked by her about turn but I hope that we can now go back to how we were.

 

The Tourist Police were excellent.

My A/Cs are cleaned twice a year by a service whether I like it or not.  It is amazing how much gunk gets flushed out.  It is not simply cleaning the filters. 

[Jaxxper]

When negotiating the final “fees” and deposit return if it looks bad for you tell the landlord you are going to see the revenue people to make sure she has declared the rental income. Works sometimes because nobody wants the revenue people poking around.

[Foghorn]

If not give deposit back the day you leave not give the keys and not go until you had your moneys worth 

[chilly07]

AC cleaning should be paid by the Tenant, deep cleaning should be paid by the Tenant, adjustments on water electricity and gas should be paid by the Tenant. If you arrange for these yourself and present bills to your landlord then they will not deduct from the deposit.

[Don Mega]

1 minute ago, chilly07 said:

AC cleaning should be paid by the Tenant, deep cleaning should be paid by the Tenant, adjustments on water electricity and gas should be paid by the Tenant. If you arrange for these yourself and present bills to your landlord then they will not deduct from the deposit.

if my end of lease is on the 1st of the month and the water and electric bills dont come till the 20th how do I pay the adjustment ?

[Foghorn]

9 minutes ago, chilly07 said:

AC cleaning should be paid by the Tenant, deep cleaning should be paid by the Tenant, adjustments on water electricity and gas should be paid by the Tenant. If you arrange for these yourself and present bills to your landlord then they will not deduct from the deposit.

Yeah right because all that is done when the last tenants move out ,especially if Thai ,