20 hours ago, robblok said:

An sort of escrow company would be nice. An unbias company that would keep the money and would be fair to both sides. Now both sides are afraid to get shafted as there are bad landlords and bad tenants. 

Shafting foreigners is easier than taking candy from a baby, and there's absolutely no recourse. Foreigners typically are heading out of the country (in normal times) when their leases expire and don't have the luxury to wait around. What are they to do? Pay for a hotel for a week until the bond is released? Landlords have the right to hold onto the bond for a period of time after the tenant has vacated. My contract has 5 days for its release.

 

I must always pay 2 months bond through real estate agents, but I know I'm going to get it back as I only deal with reputable agencies. In fact, I only want to rent through agencies as I prefer to keep the landlord away and deal with a rental manager with whom I have a good relationship and bats for me when I need maintenance done. Stuff gets done a lot faster.

 

2 months is fair when going through an agent, because the agent's fee is 1 month, but to me, it's worth it because I know when my lease expires I will get the bond back quickly. If you had to break the lease, the landlord only gets to keep 1 month.

 

Edit: I should have mentioned, I won't lease a property from a Thai landlord.

19 hours ago, Henryford said:

Does it matter, you won't get the deposit back anyway.

In my own experience , I would say that is 66% correct. Though I dare say that this is considerably higher without having a thai wife

Tenants coming to the end of their term tend to not have paid utilities for many months and not cleaned or maintained as they should so replacement mattresses clogged air-conditioning dirty bathrooms and kitchens all means that 1 month is not enough

22 hours ago, Henryford said:

Does it matter, you won't get the deposit back anyway.

I have known buddies who have let out condos in Thailand for decades.

i can remember two occasions when deductions had to be made from deposits. Once due to damages to property and second instance when they had utility bills pending.

 

There may have been instances where Deposit was Forfeited. But that appears to be a rarity 

 

 

On 6/26/2020 at 5:00 PM, Henryford said:

Does it matter, you won't get the deposit back anyway.

I rented 4 places before my wife and I bought. Only one landlord deducted anything from our deposit before repaying us, which was as i recall about 10%, but he was a <deleted>ty landlord that even implied my wife was running a brothel when her cousins and nephews came to visit (and I was not home). We had 3 of her nieces living there already (big house, yes).

Get your minds out of the gutter...

Anyway, we always thoroughly cleaned the places (even the ovens and stove burners) before handing the keys back. I almost always found them to be very fair. 

On 6/26/2020 at 3:14 PM, pixelaoffy said:

and thats where the manipulation starts

Use an agent. They are no cost to you and are better able to negotiate this.

works for me.

Best option stay single

On 6/27/2020 at 12:09 PM, JensenZ said:

Shafting foreigners is easier than taking candy from a baby, and there's absolutely no recourse. Foreigners typically are heading out of the country (in normal times) when their leases expire and don't have the luxury to wait around. What are they to do? Pay for a hotel for a week until the bond is released? Landlords have the right to hold onto the bond for a period of time after the tenant has vacated. My contract has 5 days for its release.

 

I must always pay 2 months bond through real estate agents, but I know I'm going to get it back as I only deal with reputable agencies. In fact, I only want to rent through agencies as I prefer to keep the landlord away and deal with a rental manager with whom I have a good relationship and bats for me when I need maintenance done. Stuff gets done a lot faster.

 

2 months is fair when going through an agent, because the agent's fee is 1 month, but to me, it's worth it because I know when my lease expires I will get the bond back quickly. If you had to break the lease, the landlord only gets to keep 1 month.

 

Edit: I should have mentioned, I won't lease a property from a Thai landlord.

Yes I'm sick of the country that has no oversight. Screwing foreigners on rentals. I have lost 15000 and my only recourse was to hire a lawyer. There are are some contacts that state return deposit up to 1 month after contract.  The whole place is a S***t show

2 minutes ago, pixelaoffy said:

Yes I'm sick of the country that has no oversight. Screwing foreigners on rentals. I have lost 15000 and my only recourse was to hire a lawyer. There are are some contacts that state return deposit up to 1 month after contract.  The whole place is a S***t show

I can't see the point of hiring a lawyer as it would cost quite a bit and you'd have to wait. Then of course there's always the excuse that they don't have the money to pay you back. It's total waste of time and money.

 

I wouldn't sign a contract that had a clause to wait 1 month for my deposit. If they do that, then they are planning to steal it.

 

Don't feel singled out. Thais stealing deposit from Thais is quite commonplace too.

6 minutes ago, JensenZ said:

I can't see the point of hiring a lawyer as it would cost quite a bit and you'd have to wait. Then of course there's always the excuse that they don't have the money to pay you back. It's total waste of time and money.

 

I wouldn't sign a contract that had a clause to wait 1 month for my deposit. If they do that, then they are planning to steal it.

 

Don't feel singled out. Thais stealing deposit from Thais is quite commonplace too.

Im desperately searching for a place that only has 1 month insurance deposit 

I am regurlaly in Thonglor, for 2-5 months. 

The easiest and mostly only solution for short rental is Airbnb.

I pay monthly, knowing exactly how much to pay as I only rent electricity, water, internet included. 

 

On 6/27/2020 at 5:25 PM, chilly07 said:

Tenants coming to the end of their term tend to not have paid utilities for many months and not cleaned or maintained as they should so replacement mattresses clogged air-conditioning dirty bathrooms and kitchens all means that 1 month is not enough

I stayed in 5 different condos (2 apartments, 3 condos to be precise) in my time in Thailand. 4 Thai owned and 1 foreigner owned. Never a problem getting my deposit back in full. The one owner who was a bit of a pain (though not when it came to the deposit) was the foreigner. Don't believe all of the stories about Thai landlords being all bad. Yes, there are some horror stories but I am not sure they are the norm as some will try and have you believe.

I must say I've had an issue only with a foreigner too even if it's a thai landlord on the lease, the foreigner is "taking care" of things and he has found every excuse possible to keep my deposit. Never again will I rent anything with 2 months deposit. NEVER.

On 7/2/2020 at 10:07 PM, pixelaoffy said:

Yes I'm sick of the country that has no oversight. Screwing foreigners on rentals. I have lost 15000 and my only recourse was to hire a lawyer. There are are some contacts that state return deposit up to 1 month after contract.  The whole place is a S***t show

I think it's a bit of hit & miss ... I rented same place for 10+ yrs and when i left,  no questions asked, full deposit back straight away. I did keep the place reasonable tidy and broke nothing .... hence the owners knew who were good tenants and they knew the one's who don't care about other peoples property.

It's just about being a sensible person and good communication with the owner.

On 6/30/2020 at 4:58 PM, mrfaroukh said:

Best option stay single

So you don't have to sleep/live  anywhere when you are single.......................well that's a bonus I didn't know about...........