Hi, I made a huge mistake and paid for a condo that turned out to be filthy. I wanted a monthly retreat in another city and found one on fb. Looked good, so I paid 14k baht for 1 month and then later I signed a contract with an agent. I also paid 14k in deposit.

 

Contract was never signed by the owner as apparently she is abroad on a business trip.

 

Condo turned out to be dirty and infested with ants. I had them clean it but it didn't help so I moved out after 3 nights. Owner has returned me the deposit but is refusing to return the rent and she is also saying we never signed any contract.

 

Can I get the money back, is there any chance? Will I waste the money and time on lawyer and police? I understand I will probably loose it, even if on lawyer fees, but I want the landlord to bear the consequences of being a scammer if possible.

You haven't been "scammed" .

You paid for something and then changed your mind , you cannot get a refund . You should be grateful that you got your deposit back 

 

I paid for clean and nice room, not bugs infested

 

Contract never signed

 

Why would I be grateful about deposit? It's normal to return it in case nothing got damaged

You have already your money back - kind off.

It's call experience.

Most of us paid a lot of money for experience over the years.

Accept it, move on.

2 minutes ago, Kalorymetr said:

I paid for clean and nice room, not bugs infested

 

Contract never signed

 

Why would I be grateful about deposit? It's normal to return it in case nothing got damaged

You paid for the room as it was , you should have inspected the room before you agreed to rent it .

   If you left before the agreed date  that could be a reason to forfeit the deposit 

It's a waste of time pursuing it, move on.

Lesson learned, I won't even take a hotel room for one night unless I have seen it first.

You have two chances of getting your 14k back... Buckley's and none.

you could have stayed 1 month just to use your months rent, then leave.

39 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

You haven't been "scammed" .

You paid for something and then changed your mind , you cannot get a refund . You should be grateful that you got your deposit back 

 

There's another angle... 

 

He paid for a something he didn’t receive... i.e. a Clean liveable space.... clearly this was not provided. 

 

Its not a scam of course, but if the place is filthy, the owner has not kept up to their side of the contract (and then she says there is no contract).

 

He should of course have looked before committing.... lesson learned. 

 

 

35 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

You paid for the room as it was , you should have inspected the room before you agreed to rent it .

   If you left before the agreed date  that could be a reason to forfeit the deposit 

When someone books a room ‘paying as is’ is fine if the place is not filthy and infested with ants. 

Clearly the place was not what was promised.

 

You’re being extremely harsh on the Op... its not his fault the place is filthy, its the onwers fault for not providing the place as advertised - I very much doubt the photos of the place showed ants and unclean rooms... 

 

 

44 minutes ago, Kalorymetr said:

I paid for clean and nice room, not bugs infested

 

Contract never signed

 

Why would I be grateful about deposit? It's normal to return it in case nothing got damaged

You didn't inspect the apartment first?

Price of "education" = value of lesson learned.

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

You paid for something and then changed your mind , you cannot get a refund . You should be grateful that you got your deposit back 

He wanted to rent an ant infested room? The agent informed him before renting that the room is ant infested? I don't think so, so he didn't get what he paid for.

 

 

If you have enough free time you can file a police report. If there will ever be any outcome ..... who know....

But while you do the police report (and you have printouts of the chat etc. on the table with the police offer), you might want to take some pictures of it, and send this together with the police report to the land lord to inform him that you reported him to police, maybe he gets scared and decides to refund the money.

22 minutes ago, FriendlyFarang said:

He wanted to rent an ant infested room? The agent informed him before renting that the room is ant infested? I don't think so, so he didn't get what he paid for.

 

He agreed to rent the room , rent the room as it stood .

If he didn't like something about the condo, he shouldn't have rented it in the first place .

   Ants are quite common in condos and to get rid of them you just have to remove the food source and they will go elsewhere 

29 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

   Ants are quite common in condos and to get rid of them you just have to remove the food source and they will go elsewhere 

Ant poison is also very cheap and very effective, killing the queen ants in each hive.

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

There's another angle... 

 

He paid for a something he didn’t receive... i.e. a Clean liveable space.... clearly this was not provided. 

 

Its not a scam of course, but if the place is filthy, the owner has not kept up to their side of the contract (and then she says there is no contract).

 

He should of course have looked before committing.... lesson learned. 

 

 

When someone books a room ‘paying as is’ is fine if the place is not filthy and infested with ants. 

Clearly the place was not what was promised.

 

You’re being extremely harsh on the Op... its not his fault the place is filthy, its the onwers fault for not providing the place as advertised - I very much doubt the photos of the place showed ants and unclean rooms... 

 

 

Where does it say that the owner agreed to a certain level of cleanliness ?

  As the Condo was cleansed as requested by the OP and he wasn't happy, that suggests the condo was old .

  He really should have had a look before agreeing to live in the condo

Baygon 89 baht.

 

Regards,

 

Rooster

3 hours ago, Kalorymetr said:

Can I get the money back, is there any chance? Will I waste the money and time on lawyer and police?

What has she done wrong?   You agreed to pay for a condo unseen?

3 hours ago, Kalorymetr said:

Contract never signed

Exactly, so there's no reason for her to pay you anything more.   Why did you choose to pay money and move in with no contract?

3 hours ago, Kalorymetr said:

I paid for clean and nice room, not bugs infested

So why did you choose to pay and move in, then?

2 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Clearly the place was not what was promised.

 

You’re being extremely harsh on the Op... its not his fault the place is filthy,

So why did he choose to move in if it was so filthy?  

1 hour ago, FriendlyFarang said:

He wanted to rent an ant infested room? The agent informed him before renting that the room is ant infested? I don't think so, so he didn't get what he paid for.

 

 

If you have enough free time you can file a police report. If there will ever be any outcome ..... who know....

But while you do the police report (and you have printouts of the chat etc. on the table with the police offer), you might want to take some pictures of it, and send this together with the police report to the land lord to inform him that you reported him to police, maybe he gets scared and decides to refund the money.

Yeah, right.

6 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

So why did you choose to pay and move in, then?

Often its to save on a few nights hotel bills .

Instead of moving to an area and spending a few days looking around at properties , they cut corners and book online without seeing the place first , saves money on a few nights at hotels

Facebook looks sketchy with what looks like people taking out yearly leases and subletting, or just regular people posing as agents. I'm going to stick with a brick & mortar agency.

4 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Often its to save on a few nights hotel bills .

Instead of moving to an area and spending a few days looking around at properties , they cut corners and book online without seeing the place first , saves money on a few nights at hotels

I know that, I was asking him why he chose to move in if it was as sh1tty as he claimed, no one forced him to, I don't think.

4 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

I know that, I was asking him why he chose to move in if it was as sh1tty as he claimed, no one forced him to, I don't think.

They take great photo's and fool people, or even photo's of a different unit, or mis-represent it to make a sale.
Many people don't have the time to check every little detail on everything before they commit.

4 hours ago, Kalorymetr said:

I paid for clean and nice room, not bugs infested

Was that in the contract? Buy a bottle of bleach, throw it over the ants and you won't see them for quite a while.

2 hours ago, FriendlyFarang said:

He wanted to rent an ant infested room? The agent informed him before renting that the room is ant infested? I don't think so, so he didn't get what he paid for.

 

 

If you have enough free time you can file a police report. If there will ever be any outcome ..... who know....

But while you do the police report (and you have printouts of the chat etc. on the table with the police offer), you might want to take some pictures of it, and send this together with the police report to the land lord to inform him that you reported him to police, maybe he gets scared and decides to refund the money.

File a police report as there are ants. ROFL

38 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

They take great photo's and fool people, or even photo's of a different unit, or mis-represent it to make a sale.
Many people don't have the time to check every little detail on everything before they commit.

Where have you seen the photos of the condo ?

18 minutes ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Where have you seen the photos of the condo ?

Does not really matter, I always view in person. ????

Just now, JimTripper said:

Does not really matter, I always view in person. ????

You mentioned the photos of the condo and I wondered where you had seen the photos 

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Where does it say that the owner agreed to a certain level of cleanliness ?

Thats a silly comment - its like writing “where does say the toilet flushed”....  

There is a perfectly reasonable assumption that a place is clean and liveable. 

 

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

  As the Condo was cleansed as requested by the OP and he wasn't happy, that suggests the condo was old .

It had an ant-infestation... 

 

1 hour ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

  He really should have had a look before agreeing to live in the condo

Agreed...  naive of the Op.. but that doesn't place him the wrong.