Landlady refusing to give 130,000 baht deposit back after moving out-what can I do?

[moontang]

Grand Perfect Apartment in Udon had the money in my BBL account within five minutes of me giving her the keys.  Those Rajabaht girls are as cute as they come. 

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2021 at 1:29 PM, pixelaoffy said:

Never rent from private owned owners. rent from serviced apartments who deal with many tenants on a regular basis When you are screwed this way you have to hire a lawyer and then you get screwed again. No rights for tenants in Thailand

Nonsense

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎3‎/‎12‎/‎2021 at 8:32 PM, Thainess said:

Short answer: NOTHING. You should consider any money you put down as a deposit on a rental in Thailand to be part of the rent price and budget it accordingly.

You do that, most of us get their money back.

[Yellowtail]

On 1/31/2021 at 1:11 PM, moontang said:

I have even refused to pay hotel deposits, on rooms booked through Agoda.  Yesterday, in fact.  Well known hotel on Sukhumvit.. told me 1000...i told them nothing in the confirmation stated that, nothing on the voucher.  Offered my visa card that I paid for the room with.. nope (they know it is much harder to scam a US Visa cardholder).  Then I said, I would simply take a refund, and not check in.  Of course not... and it is that exact refusal to give a refund that makes me refuse to give them a deposit. I was 10 seconds from calling 1155 for the first time in 23 years a few weeks ago at a hotel in HH.  Can be difficult to tell when they are playing dumb, because they act dumb so frequently, but I did get my 500 back, and will never return to their thriving hotel running at 5% occupancy. But yesterday, was even  more annoying, and the koont made some snide remark about me not having money.  I told her I had plenty, and one reason was because I didn't give it to liars and thieves. 

What "Well known hotel on Sukhumvit.." does not accept visa?

 

[moontang]

5 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

What "Well known hotel on Sukhumvit.." does not accept visa?

 

As stated.. This was for a deposit, after paying for the room with VISA... try not to make an <deleted> of yourself. 

[Yellowtail]

10 hours ago, moontang said:

As stated.. This was for a deposit, after paying for the room with VISA... try not to make an <deleted> of yourself. 

It wasn't me that did that.

In any event, I have stayed at any number of "well known" hotels on Sukhumvit and they have all taken my visa as a deposit and as payment.

Friday, in fact, I checked into Novotel Siam Square (my boy has some tests close by)  and they accepted my visa card as a deposit. It has never been refused, and I have never heard of one being refused until now. 

Perhaps you have a "stored value" visa card and not an "actual" visa card?

[moontang]

 

3 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

It wasn't me that did that.

In any event, I have stayed at any number of "well known" hotels on Sukhumvit and they have all taken my visa as a deposit and as payment.

Friday, in fact, I checked into Novotel Siam Square (my boy has some tests close by)  and they accepted my visa card as a deposit. It has never been refused, and I have never heard of one being refused until now. 

Perhaps you have a "stored value" visa card and not an "actual" visa card?

The room was paid for on Agoda with the Visa card.  The hotel would not accept it tor deposit.  I refused to pay it. 

[Yellowtail]

12 minutes ago, moontang said:

The room was paid for on Agoda with the Visa card.  The hotel would not accept it tor deposit.  I refused to pay it. 

Yes I understand that. I was commenting that the hotels always seem to accept my visa card for the deposit, that's why I suggested yours might be a "stored value" and not an actual visa card. Agoda accepts stored value visa cards.

 

  

[DerbyDan]

On 3/13/2021 at 8:24 PM, FritsSikkink said:

You do that, most of us get their money back.

I never had a problem, but my landlord was a lawyer.

 

You need to vet these people and meet them as part of the property viewing. Learn to see who is shifty and who is not. You can usually tell right after meeting someone if there's going to be a problem.

 

Don't just view a place with the maid and move in.

[Yellowtail]

3 minutes ago, DerbyDan said:

I never had a problem, but my landlord was a lawyer.

 

You need to vet these people and meet them as part of the property viewing. Learn to see who is shifty and who is not. You can usually tell right after meeting someone if there's going to be a problem.

 

Don't just view a place with the maid and move in.

 

You mean like if they have dark skin or some similar identifier of shiftiness? 

[DerbyDan]

17 minutes ago, Yellowtail said:

 

You mean like if they have dark skin or some similar identifier of shiftiness? 

Has nothing to do with skin color or class.

 

Learn to meet people and see if there will be a problem. Learn from your mistakes.

 

Talk to the person holding the money, not the maid or an employee. It's not brain science and it can't be taught from a textbook.

[Yellowtail]

25 minutes ago, DerbyDan said:

Has nothing to do with skin color or class.

 

Learn to meet people and see if there will be a problem. Learn from your mistakes.

 

Talk to the person holding the money, not the maid or an employee. It's not brain science and it can't be taught from a textbook.

 

So what should we be looking for to identify these shifty characters?

[madmen]

It was spent 5 minutes after hitting her account. 

[moontang]

1 hour ago, madmen said:

It was spent 5 minutes after hitting her account. 

Or it went to pay for something previously owed, but for certain it was never "put aside." 

[rott]

On 3/8/2021 at 3:43 PM, ChipButty said:

Did the guy get his money back?

He does not seem to have posted since the 13th January when he opened the thread. 

[Surelynot]

2 minutes ago, rott said:

He does not seem to have posted since the 13th January when he opened the thread. 

Mafia?

[rott]

1 minute ago, Surelynot said:

Mafia?

Me.? Certainly not, I am Church of England. 

[Surelynot]

1 minute ago, rott said:

Me.? Certainly not, I am Church of England. 

Maybe the mafia have got to him......sleeping with the fishes......555 

[Yellowtail]

Apparently the company he worked for rented the apartment. 

 

If  had to bet, I'd bet he's trying to the the deposit that is due the company....

[DerbyDan]

On 3/24/2021 at 10:57 PM, Yellowtail said:

 

So what should we be looking for to identify these shifty characters?

 

Look for a high school or higher education. If you can't find it, get one.

[ctxa]

If you are gonna rent in Thailand follow the golden rule: 

 

* Landlord is old Thai lady/gentlemen who speaks pretty nice English (meaning they probably worked for the government, been overseas) and thus have absolutely no reason to walk away with your deposit. 

 

* Landlord is old Thai lady/gentlemen who doesn't speak English at all, but they own the fancy expensive apartment which you are about to rent, and thus must also have enough money not to have any reasons to walk away with your deposit.

 

 

If it's young people, and not owned by them (as in daddy, bf/gf, whoever paid for it...) AVOID at all costs. 

 

Even 135,000 THB is barely over 3,000 USD, nobody with enough money to purchase that sort of apartment will "steal" that money, even if no legal consequences arise, the loss of face and looking like they are penilessly starving, is enough for anyone with enough money not to do that...

 

[Polar Bear]

Not much use to the OP, but because of this thread, I just had it added into my new rental contract that the deposit can be used for the last month's rent. I wouldn't have even thought to ask otherwise. The landlord was fine with it, and the agent added it in. One less drama to deal with further down the line. Thanks for the suggestion.

[eppic]

On 3/28/2021 at 4:26 PM, Polar Bear said:

Not much use to the OP, but because of this thread, I just had it added into my new rental contract that the deposit can be used for the last month's rent. I wouldn't have even thought to ask otherwise. The landlord was fine with it, and the agent added it in. One less drama to deal with further down the line. Thanks for the suggestion.

Well done, but the vast majority of Bangkok landlords for premium properties would reject such a change. I have been successful in the past getting one of two months deposit converted to last month rent in contract, but the request has mostly been rejected.  In fact, we moved three months ago and I requested this (only one of two months converted to last month rent) and was flatly rejected by three different owners -- absolute dealbreaker for them (as advised by agents), even in the current environment.  Definitely worth asking, but odds of success not high, so you have a compliant / flexible landlord and should be pleased with that.

 

And oh, for all of those claiming that 130k is some enormous deposit, give me a break. Standard is two months, and any reasonable luxury condo of say 100+ sq meters goes for 700-1000 bt per square meter.  Most everyone I know (Ratchaprasong area) pays somewhere in that range. Again, I have recent experience of numerous offers rejected below those rates, so a deposit in the 160-200K plus range is actually extremely common.  The new law for landlords returning deposits is 100% ignored. Ask an agent and they will pretend they don't know about it (again, I have firsthand experience), so good luck getting anyone to adhere to that.  This is Thailand, land of countless laws but zero enforcement, and it is the same in the RE industry.

 

Even if you have a clause in your contract, there is no guarantee the owner will comply.  In our recent move, I had heavily negotiated the deposit clause (most important in the entire lease, in my opinion), with the stipulation that the deposit be returned at check-out less a holdback of 30k for potential outstanding utilities, etc.  Of course, this was ignored, and I only received my deposit a couple of weeks later after increasingly threatening emails to the owner.  Still, in my experience the deposit has always been eventually returned (my current lease is  corporate, and non-negotiable clause that deposit can be held as long as 60 days after handover!  I would never have agreed to this with an individual owner, but with a corporate landlord I am more comfortable, although not pleased).

[Yellowtail]

Yeah, if you don't ask, the answers always no.....

[Senechal]

Deposits are the oldest scam in the apartment rental business.

 

Write a clause into your contracts that say unpaid deposits will accrue interest of 20% per month within 2 months of the lease termination.

 

If they balk, walk.

 

[DerbyDan]

On 4/23/2021 at 3:07 AM, Senechal said:

Deposits are the oldest scam in the apartment rental business.

 

Write a clause into your contracts that say unpaid deposits will accrue interest of 20% per month within 2 months of the lease termination.

 

If they balk, walk.

 

or, just don't pay the last month and make an excuse. if you get booted you would probably only lose 2 weeks.