"US teacher" and his Thai family left my condo in a filthy mess, says landlady

[bodga]

23 minutes ago, Trujillo said:

It's called a "security deposit." You get it back if the place is as it was when you moved in. If not, you lose it. 

Case closed. 

Thai should read the contract. 

They bleat like children instead as is  often the case.

[time2093]

Not sure what she expects the police to do as last I checked its not a crime if you dont pay your electric bill as worst case your electric will be cut off. That's why most landlords want 2 month deposit from a tenant before moving in. If she was smarter she would have 16,000bht deposit which is I'm sure enough for cleaning and to pay the electric bills.

[Matzzon]

2 minutes ago, bodga said:

Half of the tenants were Thais and the kid half  Thai I guess,in general Ive found  many Thais not up to par, good  tenants are maybe 2-10.

Good calculation. Did you use a calculator?

[bodga]

36 minutes ago, holy cow cm said:

My guess is the Thai lady was giving them a hard time on being continually late on the rent and so this was planned.

Oh yea  they do  like their vindictiveness, had aircon pipes  cut ,fridge pipes  cut, every cupboard  door  broken etc

[bodga]

Just now, Matzzon said:

Good calculation. Did you use a calculator?

I used four  fingers, does that help?

[Oldie]

31 minutes ago, Trujillo said:

It's called a "security deposit." You get it back if the place is as it was when you moved in. If not, you lose it. 

Case closed. 

Thai should read the contract. 

The deposit by law can be 1 rent. In this case 8000 Baht. Farang should read about law ????

[talahtnut]

My wife had similar problem recently after

tenants absconded without paying, stealing

stuff. altering plumbing and leccy wiring, and

leaving heaps of trash. They were Thai.

In my experience Thais are super messy.

[bodga]

7 minutes ago, Oldie said:

The deposit by law can be 1 rent. In this case 8000 Baht. Farang should read about law ????

Only in certain cases, read a bit  more  about HOW  MANY condos you own before certain rules  kick in.........of  which many are still ignored

[bodga]

1 minute ago, talahtnut said:

My wife had similar problem recently after

tenants absconded without paying, stealing

stuff. altering plumbing and leccy wiring, and

leaving heaps of trash. They were Thai.

In my experience Thais are super messy.

Ive found most foreign renters fairly  good, Thais by far the worst also Chinese/Korean (smoking) but all countries can be bad at times,  had some great very clean Thai tenants but theres a lot of lazy dirty people out there move in  move out never  clean, worst ever Nigerian.

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

She said she bought the 60 square meter unit in the downtown Patan area in 2016 and in November of that year after renovations she rented to the couple at 8,000 baht a month with just an 8,000 baht deposit. The rent was later raised to 8,500 baht. 

 

They never paid on time but she put up with it. 

I learned a long time ago as both a property investor and someone who worked as a senior property manager with a portfolio of 400 properties to lease and maintain, that it is better to reject tenants if you cannot get background checks on them, thus leaving the properties empty as opposed to leasing the property to tenants like this and ending up in this situation.

 

She is lucky they paid the last rent, as for electricity, well if it's in her name, she should know better, bonds don't usually cover enough, but this come as a valuable lesson to her, when you buy a place as an investment and spend money on renovations, best leave it empty until you find a tenant who checks out, even if you have to drop the rent.

 

Teachers (no offence) are the dirtiest people I have come across, e.g. when I used to value properties for a teachers credit union, the applicants borrowing money against their asset where teachers, and all I can say is it was seldom that I found a clean place, why, I have no idea, maybe buried in work, marking papers after school, having second jobs teaching at colleges at night etc, etc, but just stating what I would see.

[time2093]

Regardless what the law is of owing condos, many owners make their own law up and demand 2 months deposit before you move in to cover such incidents like this one.

[Oldie]

3 minutes ago, bodga said:

Only in certain cases, read a bit  more  about HOW  MANY condos you own before certain rules  kick in.........of  which many are still ignored

This is correct. But in this case the damage is so big that the deposit must have been very big. I checked the photos on Facebook. The condo is not only dirty. Many things are damaged. 

[Mavideol]

that's one of the main reasons I stopped renting my place, not enough money to put up with so much trouble

[madmen]

Looks OK to me 

[holy cow cm]

39 minutes ago, bodga said:

Oh yea  they do  like their vindictiveness, had aircon pipes  cut ,fridge pipes  cut, every cupboard  door  broken etc

For me I don't have that personality to do things like that, but I can also see both sides and the landlord needs to be within a happy reasonable range themselves. Always late on the rent is another story as nowadays are hard times for many. If the foreigner has a tough time with such little money now, then he will not last here and will be tossed out soon. Unfortunately then the children suffer Anyway, leaving the condo like that is beyond excusable and not a good way to show children for what to do.

[PingRoundTheWorld]

It is unfortunate, but would hardly be news if it didn't involve a foreigner or if she charged a proper deposit or if she did routine inspections even once a year. Sure it looks filthy, and there is damage, but cleanup and fixing would cost what? 10k? 20k? a 16k deposit would've covered most if not all of the damage. Also if they were tenants for 4 years it means she got paid around 400k total, so 20k damages aren't going to break anything but her pride. Mark it up to own stupidity/naivety and do better next time, or better yet leave the landlord business to those who can stomach the headaches that come with it. Dealing with bad tenants is part of the business despite some amateur expectations that all they have to do is collect the money every month. Doesn't work that way.

[ChaiyaTH]

Confusing part to me is that they did pay a last month rent. Means she basically has the 8000 deposit + 8500 extra to get this condo clean in less than half a day again? Not talking this good but I dislike the farang bashing news stories. 

Edit: just noticed the FB post itself, that is pretty bad, but still doable to fix with the deposit and last month rent. After all she earned for 4 years on them.
New door 2k baht, fridge like that 4k baht, some proper cleaning and paint 5k baht, few new things like microwave 2k baht, done.

[thaipod]

I’ve been through this with my condo in Sukhumvit where a Canadian left a dirty disaster. The damage was more than the bond. He partied with bar girls most nights, had to buy a new fridge, curtains, mattress, lounge and bathroom and all over up grade. 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

It is unfortunate, but would hardly be news if it didn't involve a foreigner or if she charged a proper deposit or if she did routine inspections even once a year. Sure it looks filthy, and there is damage, but cleanup and fixing would cost what? 10k? 20k? a 16k deposit would've covered most if not all of the damage. Also if they were tenants for 4 years it means she got paid around 400k total, so 20k damages aren't going to break anything but her pride. Mark it up to own stupidity/naivety and do better next time, or better yet leave the landlord business to those who can stomach the headaches that come with it. Dealing with bad tenants is part of the business despite some amateur expectations that all they have to do is collect the money every month. Doesn't work that way.

8k deposit was enough to cover any eventuality in that rat-hole condo.

As another poster mentioned they paid the rent on time this month so landlord has 16,500bht to play with.

Cleaning a place costs almost nothing.

Odd about the electricity bills piling up, if I don't pay by the second month they pull my meter off the lamp-post.

 

I'm not convinced this isn't purely 'dirty farang' government sponsored propaganda.

[Trujillo]

"The deposit by law can be 1 rent. In this case 8000 Baht. Farang should read about law "

 

Eight thousand baht will more than cover the damage. This is Thailand, not Switzerland. 

[phantomfiddler]

4 hours ago, keith101 said:

I dont know anyone can live in a disgusting mess like that .

American teachers ?

[phantomfiddler]

Every landlord must have had a similar experience at some time, a good tenant is worth their weight in gold ????

[pineapple01]

My Choise but i cant stand those border run drop outs that call themself a Teacher and Thailands flooded with em..

[balo]

They must have mental health problems or are drug addicts, normal people would never live like that. 
The owner should ask for 2 months deposit and allowed to access the unit at least twice per year to check for damages. 

[JonnyF]

2 hours ago, Mavideol said:

that's one of the main reasons I stopped renting my place, not enough money to put up with so much trouble

I disagree. I get about 10,000 pounds a year on the property I mentioned. I've rented it for 14 years and in that time I had 2 bad tenants, one costing me 7,000 pounds and the other costing me about 4,000 pounds.

 

So I've taken about 140,000 in rent and paid out 11,000 in damages. So I'm 129,000 up and I'll probably rent it for another 20 years before selling it. 

 

If I leave it empty I risk squatters, damp, frozen pipes etc. and I rarely visit the UK these days so I'd rather have someone in it. I've learnt that the trick is to find a good tenant and then do everything you can to keep them there as long as possible (number 1 rule is don't raise the rent on them while they're there). 

[NightSky]

The condo is a disgusting filthy mess. However, has anyone else noticed that the 'US foreigner' is highlighted here in the headline as the main culprit. Filthy scum tenants can be found every day of the week in every country of the world.

 

Not all people are as they seem - Caveat venditor!

 

[pineapple01]

12 minutes ago, NightSky said:

The condo is a disgusting filthy mess. However, has anyone else noticed that the 'US foreigner' is highlighted here in the headline as the main culprit. Filthy scum tenants can be found every day of the week in every country of the world.

 

Not all people are as they seem - Caveat venditor!

 

Yes, and that his Wife was Thai,so what.

[Myran]

Authorities really need to track these pigs down and take their children from down.

[mickylongtime]

They should get a TV company to find the renters to do name and shame with an interview as to why they live like this, see if the  they can explain.. Like we're all lazy <deleted> and this is the new normal.

[khunjeff]

5 hours ago, khwaibah said:

 

She can do this with the US Consulate in Chiang Mai. No need to go to Bangkok. They are both still closed and I expect when they open she would get a polite "no can help." She needs to file a compliant with local authorities.

Correct, this has nothing to do with the US Embassy or the US Government. No country assumes responsibility for the private debts of its citizens abroad (or at home, for that matter).