We just moved into a house in Udon Thani. We paid 2 months deposit (technically illegal) and advance rent. We then moved in. Then they came around with a list of liabilities for household items adding up to 178,000 baht. 40 year old couch supposedly worth 15,000 baht, 12,000 baht TV listed as 35,000 baht, old tacky curtains 20,000 baht, old wardrobes falling apart 5000 baht each. Is it normal to scam tenants like this or do they only do it to farang? We already paid the deposit, things like this should be mentioned before the signing of the lease, otherwise this is a pretty shocking scam. 

and lucky there isn't a fully stocked bar fridge in there too!  

 - that one bottle of water $$$$ 

No not all.. you just have to take photos before you move in,

and why did you move into a <deleted>h&le when there is plenty

of choice about,  and it does work both ways, we had a tenant,

steal A/c 's, curtains and even teak doors, we were lucky it

was unfurnished ,  PS ,if you have 4 property or less,its no illegal to take 2 months security

regards worgeordie

No not all.. 

 ask them to take away all those unwanted things...  

Take many photos and create a list with damaged things and send it to him by email and ask him to confirm this. 

 

Seems to me thats not actual value thats "replacement" value.

 

And YES most Landlords I have experienced having been mostly abused by tenants are that way. Cause and effect.

12 minutes ago, alex88 said:

We already paid the deposit, things like this should be mentioned before the signing of the lease, otherwise this is a pretty shocking scam.

 

Another way of doing it would be to sign the lease and pay the deposit at same time.

 

Charging 2 months rent as a deposit (or any amount at all as a deposit) is not illegal if the owners rent less than 5 properties/houses/condos/apartments in total.

1 minute ago, blackcab said:

 

Another way of doing it would be to sign the lease and pay the deposit at same time.

 

Charging 2 months rent as a deposit (or any amount at all as a deposit) is not illegal if the owners rent less than 5 properties/houses/condos/apartments in total.

This is two weeks after lease signed and deposits and rent paid. 

5 minutes ago, worgeordie said:

No not all.. you just have to take photos before you move in,

and why did you move into a <deleted>h&le when there is plenty

of choice about,  and it does work both ways, we had a tenant,

steal A/c 's, curtains and even teak doors, we were lucky it

was unfurnished ,  PS ,if you have 4 property or less,its no illegal to take 2 months security

regards worgeordie

Who said anything about a <deleted>hole? I rented a nice place with good terms. And then the terms were changed weeks after the lease was signed and deposit had been paid. 

1 minute ago, alex88 said:

This is two weeks after lease signed and deposits and rent paid. 

 

As others have said, take lots of photos and also walk-round videos.

 

Email them to the owner.

 

It won't stop them keeping your deposit is they want to though.

"We just moved into a house in Udon Thani.".

 

why are they putting up prices for included item ?

3 minutes ago, alex88 said:

This is two weeks after lease signed and deposits and rent paid. 

 

and they want you to pay that for replacement ?

Just now, Ralf001 said:

"We just moved into a house in Udon Thani.".

 

why are they putting up prices for included item ?

We just moved in and this was the inspection list they wanted us to sign. 

Just now, alex88 said:

We just moved in and this was the inspection list they wanted us to sign. 

 

 

sorry I not understand.

 

they expect you to replace all at you  expense moving in or is that a montery value should you move out and all is trashed ?

Not really scammers, but they seem to like to keep your deposits in a lot of cases to ensure they have money for the two months in finding someone to rent it to after you leave and making up reasons why all the faults in the building are your fault, even though they were there when you moved in !

4 minutes ago, alex88 said:

Who said anything about a <deleted>hole? I rented a nice place with good terms. And then the terms were changed weeks after the lease was signed and deposit had been paid. 

You said 40 year old couch, so i just took it as been a dump...

regards worgeordie

5 minutes ago, alex88 said:

Who said anything about a <deleted>hole? I rented a nice place with good terms. And then the terms were changed weeks after the lease was signed and deposit had been paid. 

well, you did not KNOW  the law regarding deposits....... as many here do....... so i guess there are also other things you do not know.

next time try to find a falang landlord.  We are often more understanding,  usually give deposits back as promised.......

but darn if some tenants don't live up to their end of the deal.

another edit :   just reread your description of the place, then your objection to someone calling it a ***hole .  Hmm.

I now feel sorry for the landlord    haha

 

 

 

Quote

Are all landlords scam artists here?

 

No. Only the Thai ones.

15 minutes ago, Mickeymaus said:

Take many photos and create a list with damaged things and send it to him by email and ask him to confirm this. 

 

showing 'items damaged' after already living there, might end up with an instant Bill? 

3 minutes ago, rumak said:

well, you did not KNOW  the law regarding deposits....... as many here do....... so i guess there are also other things you do not know.

 

Actually a new law was made recently that specifically says they can't charge more than a month if they have more than 5 properties. We have sought extensive legal advice already this year due to the frequency of scammers here. 

 

Legal or not it's incredible to expect 2 months deposiut and then demand someone sign a liability of 178,000 baht for old cheap <deleted>, without prior warning. Obviously we ripped up the list. 

10 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

Not really scammers, but they seem to like to keep your deposits in a lot of cases to ensure they have money for the two months in finding someone to rent it to after you leave and making up reasons why all the faults in the building are your fault, even though they were there when you moved in !

Yeah I've seen a lot of that. But the list was 178,000 baht extra in addition to deposit. 

19 minutes ago, tifino said:

 ask them to take away all those unwanted things...  

Exactly ! They will either do it or cut him a deal !

 

1 minute ago, riclag said:

Exactly ! They will either do it or cut him a deal !

 

Yeah we are trying to get them to remove the stuff. The furniture is all cheap stuff that they claim is worth a fortune. We don't want it. We want to put our own furniture in. 

2 minutes ago, alex88 said:

Yeah we are trying to get them to remove the stuff. The furniture is all cheap stuff that they claim is worth a fortune. We don't want it. We want to put our own furniture in. 

If this was your intention all along why did you sign the lease without all that being removed and the place Bare ?

Then fotos, videos, whatever. You keep a copy, landlord keeps a copy. You sign, he signs

No call back on that.

 

One has to consider replacement cost when dealing with a landlords property ! I'm not sayin their property was actually worth what they said but tell them to take it out or cut you a deal and like someone mentioned take pictures !

One other thing worth mentioning if their property upon leaving  is satisfactory ask for your security deposit back asap. !Make sure you have that in writing ! I had a owner stiff me for 10 k! She kept on putting me off ! Found out later she got divorced and was going through a financial break down

Pretty obvious not getting your deposit back lol

Just now, kynikoi said:

Pretty obvious not getting your deposit back lol

 

judging by one of his "red flag" remarks it seems that he has lots of experience:

 

"We have sought extensive legal advice already this year due to the frequency of scammers here. "

40 minutes ago, alex88 said:

they came around with a list of liabilities for household items adding up to 178,000 baht. 40 year old couch supposedly worth 15,000 baht, 12,000 baht TV listed as 35,000 baht, old tacky curtains 20,000 baht, old wardrobes falling apart 5000 baht each. Is it normal to scam tenants like this

What are the "scam" and the "liabilities", they're not asking you to pay anything now are they?   

 

It doesn't matter if you dispute their valuation as long as the couch, television, curtains and wardrobes are still there, undamaged, when you leave (which is perfectly reasonable to expect).    You won't be paying anything unless you're planning on damaging all those things.

 

Why did you sign the contract accepting the "old, falling apart wardrobes" and what makes you think that the couch is "40-years old"?  It's not unlikely that the television did cost B35k if it's an older model.

1 minute ago, rumak said:

 

judging by one of his "red flag" remarks it seems that he has lots of experience:

 

"We have sought extensive legal advice already this year due to the frequency of scammers here. "

Personally I haven't had many problems over the years. But my friend who just moved here is renting more expensive places than I usually would, and seems to get gouged as a result.