Why is landlord asking so many private questions before agreement ?

[DonniePeverley]

I am aware you get the obligatory 'landlord wants to know what job you do' question when you look at a condo. 

 

Yet today, i have been asked "what job do you do", "owners wants to know what business you have in the UK", "owner wants to know income", "owner wants to know address in the UK", "owner wants to see this and that" etc 

 

I am almost laughed in disbelief. Despite the fact they don't even verify anything and i could say anything, i just find it all rather disgusting and a complete invasion of privacy.. 

 

I know the answer - walk away. But i just find it all rather frustrating, after agreeing price and preparing ourselves mentally to take the property on (which has been empty for a long time). 

[VocalNeal]

If it was your condo and you were renting to him, what would you wish to know.????

[CharlieKo]

Try renting a property in the UK without having to give those details. 

[bignok]

Crypto trader

IQ of 160

Speak 5 languages, English, chav, posh, Klingon and punk.

[KhaoNiaw]

Thais are actually catching up with the world and might have heard stories of foreigners trashing the place or bailing early. In Thailand, if you were trying to be a responsible owner who registered for the TM30 system etc. and you want to put a 1-year contract in front of someone who isn't working here, what would you ask? 

[josephbloggs]

1 hour ago, DonniePeverley said:

I am aware you get the obligatory 'landlord wants to know what job you do' question when you look at a condo. 

 

Yet today, i have been asked "what job do you do", "owners wants to know what business you have in the UK", "owner wants to know income", "owner wants to know address in the UK", "owner wants to see this and that" etc 

 

I am almost laughed in disbelief. Despite the fact they don't even verify anything and i could say anything, i just find it all rather disgusting and a complete invasion of privacy.. 

 

I know the answer - walk away. But i just find it all rather frustrating, after agreeing price and preparing ourselves mentally to take the property on (which has been empty for a long time). 

My brother in UK is currently trying to rent a place for his daughter. Must prove income and it has to be a minimum of three times the price of the rent, proven with pay slips, letter from employer, bank statements. Also it is not possible to take it without a viewing as the owner needs to vet each potential renter, interview them, and then select the chosen one.

It's pretty normal. An owner wants to know you are professional and responsible, you'll not fall behind with payments, you'll not do any dodgy in the property. If you find that pretty disgusting then you are going to struggle in the real world, sorry. Just answer the questions and rent the property if you want it.

And would you trust your property to anyone of the street without knowing they can afford it and will take care of it?

 

 

[bignok]

Simple solution. Offer to prepay 6 months. Ask for best price. You are locked in though. IMO just rent a guesthouse by the month. Less hassle, easy to leave.

[GammaGlobulin]

I will never again rent a place without first thoroughly testing the landlord for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and Gaslighting Behavior. 

 

Also, suggest that you not rent if the landlord has an annoying laugh, or wears mismatched clothes which are not properly color coordinated. 

 

 

[bignok]

3 minutes ago, GammaGlobulin said:

I will never again rent a place without first thoroughly testing the landlord for Narcissistic Personality Disorder, and Gaslighting Behavior. 

 

Also, suggest that you not rent if the landlord has an annoying laugh, or wears mismatched clothes which are not properly color coordinated. 

 

 

Plus ask them if they like Taksin and Biden

[GammaGlobulin]

3 minutes ago, bignok said:

Plus ask them if they like Taksin and Biden

Ask if they majored in Hamburgers... 

 

 

[Sheryl]

it is perfectly reasonable for owner to want to know enough about your finances to be sure you can pay the rent, and also to want to know your permanent home country address (in case you trash the place and leave etc).

 

Owners also want a general idea of what sort of person you are. Here is where it gets tricky. Among themselves Thais know how to assess other Thais but foreigners are something of a mystery to them and they often do not know what exactly to ask, or how to ask it, and what ends up happening is all sorts of random seeming odd questions (the answers to which do not really help them). Basically they are looking for indications of social and financial stability/respectability vs the opposite but they do not really know how to assess that.

 

I would not walk away based just on the sort of questions you mention, rather answer them patiently and offer to meet and discuss with landlord in person, or supply references. But if that does not do the trick, or the questions start to get completely off the wall, then may be an indication that the owner simply is not comfortable renting to a foreigner.

 

 

[DonniePeverley]

3 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

If it was your condo and you were renting to him, what would you wish to know.????

A months rents in advance, and a two month security deposit. Maybe a reference. 

 

I am already agreed to the one months rent in advance, and the two month security deposit. 

 

[JimTripper]

Forget it. If you’re over 50 your retired, that’s it. If you’re under 50 it’s savings.

 

You don’t know who these jerks are and they are doing immigration reporting. Add to that keeping deposits and the possibility of scams. Lots of people are broke here even if they own property so don’t s@hit where you sleep. Plus it’s none of their f@cking business.

[bignok]

7 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

A months rents in advance, and a two month security deposit. Maybe a reference. 

 

I am already agreed to the one months rent in advance, and the two month security deposit. 

 

How much is the rent?

[DonniePeverley]

48 minutes ago, bignok said:

How much is the rent?

 

65,000

[Seth1a2a]

Below are aseannow.com  links to posts old and new about "trust me " tenants who have trashed their rentals.  My rentals are not in Thailand but I have had a few tenants do similar things over the last 34 years . Paid tenant background checks and tenant screening have become standard. 

Would you just roll the dice and gamble or at least take a few precautions to minimize the risks ?

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1167850-us-teacher-and-his-thai-family-left-my-condo-in-a-filthy-mess-says-landlady/

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1294648-tenant-leaves-condo-in-shocking-state-after-not-paying-rent-for-4-months/

  

https://aseannow.com/topic/1304840-thai-condo-owner-discovers-shocking-state-after-foreign-tenants-leave/

 

 

 

4 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

to take the property on (which has been empty for a long time). 

Maybe vacant for a good reason. It does not make him desperate to jump at any offer on the table  . You should also take his attitude as a warning that he is willing to wait for a tenant who is OK with this line of invasive questioning.

[DonniePeverley]

5 hours ago, bignok said:

Simple solution. Offer to prepay 6 months. Ask for best price. You are locked in though. IMO just rent a guesthouse by the month. Less hassle, easy to leave.

 

2 bedroom guesthouse in Silom area ?

[GammaGlobulin]

4 hours ago, JimTripper said:

Forget it. If you’re over 50 your retired, that’s it. If you’re under 50 it’s savings.

 

You don’t know who these jerks are and they are doing immigration reporting. Add to that keeping deposits and the possibility of scams. Lots of people are broke here even if they own property so don’t s@hit where you sleep. Plus it’s none of their f@cking business.

I agree with you.

Before renting a house, I would (this time) NEED to be COMPLETELY comfortable with the landlord, and able to feel at ease discussing any and all issues which might concern me when renting a property.

 

Some of these landlords behave like LORDS, and whatever they say goes, and you gotta hop to it.

 

Never again!

 

The renter needs to feel at home in whatever home he chooses to rent.

Some of us might live a decade in a house.

 

You don't want to end up feeling like a prisoner and prison with the landlord as your warden.

 

Beware before you make that final decision and move in.

 

A good landlord is worth paying more for, too.

A good landlord can help in a thousand small ways, and improve the property too, in many cases.

 

Sometimes the landlord can intercede with a noisy neighbor, for example.

And much more...

 

 

[scorecard]

7 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

I am aware you get the obligatory 'landlord wants to know what job you do' question when you look at a condo. 

 

Yet today, i have been asked "what job do you do", "owners wants to know what business you have in the UK", "owner wants to know income", "owner wants to know address in the UK", "owner wants to see this and that" etc 

 

I am almost laughed in disbelief. Despite the fact they don't even verify anything and i could say anything, i just find it all rather disgusting and a complete invasion of privacy.. 

 

I know the answer - walk away. But i just find it all rather frustrating, after agreeing price and preparing ourselves mentally to take the property on (which has been empty for a long time). 

Having had 4 farang tenants in a luxury house with pool on Jomtien beach and problems with all of them and made no income above expenses I stopped renting the property. 

 

Two tenants tried various games about rent payment and with one tenant (oil company expat specialist engineer) I had to to call the expat coordinator to ask if they could help to get the rent paid. I eventually spoke to the CEO who revealed that the British engineer concerned was on a 300,000+Baht monthly salary plus other cash benefits. Frang wife (severe alcoholic had twice slapped the face of 2 young Thai drivers, they both walked off the job. Engineer and wife given immediate marching orders to return to UK. 

Another tenant (Russian businessman) turned rent payments into a game, claimed payments had been made to wrong person and told me I would have to contact the 'wrong peron' to get my rent money, and lots more. I eventually called Pattaya police. Snr police guy came to the house and strongly threatened the Russsian and eventually had him deported but the Russian did then pay some of the o/s rent. Over 300,000Baht never paid. (I might add the Russian strongly intimidated the property agent and told her 'I move in today or I will have your car destroyed', agent in fear let them move in before I knew anything about the whole situation and ongoing agent had taken cases of Vodka to the house on Russians abusive command, never paid for. 

Third example, farang appeared to be a successsful pleasant Pattaya businessman (not bar scene, engineering coy). Agent called me to ask if I could quickly go to the house. Cops had the farang in handcuffs at the house and a bargirl who he installed in the house had been taken to hospital with knife wounds and a broken arm. Plus farang (a big guy) had thrown her motorcycle into the pool doing a lot of damage to the ceramic tiles on the lip of the pool, plus gasoline and oil in the pool from the mocy. Plus rent nearly 1 month overdue. Turned out the farangs British wife was the company accountant and when she discovered the lease on my house refused to pay. Had to get lawyer to take the farang and his real wife to court to recover the o/due rent. 400,000Baht in other damages (pool, 2 big glass sliding doors, curtains, wllpaper, fridge, m/wave all damaged / inoperable), payment for all of this never fully recovered.

Over many years I've heard of many similar stories about renting to farang.

[retarius]

Maybe the landlord simply didn't want to rent to a dirtbag, a criminal or someone likely to not pay their bills. Credit reports are used in developed countries as a proxy for this questioning./

[GammaGlobulin]

46 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Having had 4 farang tenants in a luxury house with pool on Jomtien beach and problems with all of them and made no income above expenses I stopped renting the property. 

 

Two tenants tried various games about rent payment and with one tenant (oil company expat specialist engineer) I had to to call the expat coordinator to ask if they could help to get the rent paid. I eventually spoke to the CEO who revealed that the British engineer concerned was on a 300,000+Baht monthly salary plus other cash benefits. Frang wife (severe alcoholic had twice slapped the face of 2 young Thai drivers, they both walked off the job. Engineer and wife given immediate marching orders to return to UK. 

Another tenant (Russian businessman) turned rent payments into a game, claimed payments had been made to wrong person and told me I would have to contact the 'wrong peron' to get my rent money, and lots more. I eventually called Pattaya police. Snr police guy came to the house and strongly threatened the Russsian and eventually had him deported but the Russian did then pay some of the o/s rent. Over 300,000Baht never paid. (I might add the Russian strongly intimidated the property agent and told her 'I move in today or I will have your car destroyed', agent in fear let them move in before I knew anything about the whole situation and ongoing agent had taken cases of Vodka to the house on Russians abusive command, never paid for. 

Third example, farang appeared to be a successsful pleasant Pattaya businessman (not bar scene, engineering coy). Agent called me to ask if I could quickly go to the house. Cops had the farang in handcuffs at the house and a bargirl who he installed in the house had been taken to hospital with knife wounds and a broken arm. Plus farang (a big guy) had thrown her motorcycle into the pool doing a lot of damage to the ceramic tiles on the lip of the pool, plus gasoline and oil in the pool from the mocy. Plus rent nearly 1 month overdue. Turned out the farangs British wife was the company accountant and when she discovered the lease on my house refused to pay. Had to get lawyer to take the farang and his real wife to court to recover the o/due rent. 400,000Baht in other damages (pool, 2 big glass sliding doors, curtains, wllpaper, fridge, m/wave all damaged / inoperable), payment for all of this never fully recovered.

Over many years I've heard of many similar stories about renting to farang.

Having read your comment of these trials and tribulations renting to Farang, I am curious if these serious problems you encountered are related to renting on a more short term basis, for example between two and four years. I do know a few Farang, not friends, who have rented the same place for 8, 10 years or more. They protect the property as their own. One has a cat, and another a dog, and there is just no way that they would ever think of trashing their places.

 

Most people dislike moving so much that they try to preserve a nice rental arrangement for as long as possible.

 

For those who come to Thailand for one or two years for employment as expats, they probably could not care less about rental properties.  And this is when humans turn into animals.  Or maybe it is the environment of Jomtien; I have never been there.

 

 

[itsari]

The landlord is asking relevant questions for the security of receiving his rent . .

Why are you surprised about that ?

[ChipButty]

It's not unusual these days to KYC your customer or tenant I see many cities across America where the local authorities require the information and background checks on tenants, 

I don't blame the landlord asking questions they have probably heard all the horror stories, I have hear plenty over the years here in Phuket,

Some years ago a neighbour of mine had the house emptied everything they could get in a SUV they took it was almost brand new villa, 

The other big problem here is the sub letting you used to get Russians going around renting villas then sub letting them, 

[Seth1a2a]

3 hours ago, DonniePeverley said:

2 bedroom guesthouse in Silom area ?

   If not a guesthouse there are a lot of other rentals available at or below the 65,000 price you quoted.

https://www.thailand-property.com/properties-for-rent/bangkok/bang-rak/silom/2-bedrooms

 

Sample:

https://www.thailand-property.com/ads/2-bedroom-condo-for-rent-in-the-address-sathorn-silom-bangkok-near-bts-chong-nonsi_6f2f32f553ff-706f-a6b6-c71c-94439079

The Address Sathorn Condo for Rent - 2 beds - 86 sqm - 35000 THB  (1 year contract)

 

[JimTripper]

3 hours ago, ChipButty said:

The other big problem here is the sub letting you used to get Russians going around renting villas then sub letting them, 

That’s why I’m weary of online listings. It could be existing tenants re-renting properties and pocketing the difference.

 

A lot of arrangements the owner is absent and payments are sent to (or through) a property agent or other individual, not the true owner. Since it’s common it’s hard to tell when subletting is happening.

 

That’s why it’s good to use an agent who vets the property and makes sure it’s the real owner. If they don’t do this they suck as an agent so you need to ask before you pay the deposit which is where they get the commission from.

[DonniePeverley]

4 hours ago, scorecard said:

Having had 4 farang tenants in a luxury house with pool on Jomtien beach and problems with all of them and made no income above expenses I stopped renting the property. 

 

Two tenants tried various games about rent payment and with one tenant (oil company expat specialist engineer) I had to to call the expat coordinator to ask if they could help to get the rent paid. I eventually spoke to the CEO who revealed that the British engineer concerned was on a 300,000+Baht monthly salary plus other cash benefits. Frang wife (severe alcoholic had twice slapped the face of 2 young Thai drivers, they both walked off the job. Engineer and wife given immediate marching orders to return to UK. 

Another tenant (Russian businessman) turned rent payments into a game, claimed payments had been made to wrong person and told me I would have to contact the 'wrong peron' to get my rent money, and lots more. I eventually called Pattaya police. Snr police guy came to the house and strongly threatened the Russsian and eventually had him deported but the Russian did then pay some of the o/s rent. Over 300,000Baht never paid. (I might add the Russian strongly intimidated the property agent and told her 'I move in today or I will have your car destroyed', agent in fear let them move in before I knew anything about the whole situation and ongoing agent had taken cases of Vodka to the house on Russians abusive command, never paid for. 

Third example, farang appeared to be a successsful pleasant Pattaya businessman (not bar scene, engineering coy). Agent called me to ask if I could quickly go to the house. Cops had the farang in handcuffs at the house and a bargirl who he installed in the house had been taken to hospital with knife wounds and a broken arm. Plus farang (a big guy) had thrown her motorcycle into the pool doing a lot of damage to the ceramic tiles on the lip of the pool, plus gasoline and oil in the pool from the mocy. Plus rent nearly 1 month overdue. Turned out the farangs British wife was the company accountant and when she discovered the lease on my house refused to pay. Had to get lawyer to take the farang and his real wife to court to recover the o/due rent. 400,000Baht in other damages (pool, 2 big glass sliding doors, curtains, wllpaper, fridge, m/wave all damaged / inoperable), payment for all of this never fully recovered.

Over many years I've heard of many similar stories about renting to farang.

 

Then what is the point of the 2 month security bond ?

 

What is the point of taking a rent one month in advance ?

 

Were you doing this ?

[NanLaew]

13 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

 

Then what is the point of the 2 month security bond ?

 

What is the point of taking a rent one month in advance ?

 

Were you doing this ?

And there was me thinking that after all these statements about bad tenants and rental abuse, you would come up with some serious questions.

[ChipButty]

31 minutes ago, JimTripper said:

That’s why I’m weary of online listings. It could be existing tenants re-renting properties and pocketing the difference.

 

A lot of arrangements the owner is absent and payments are sent to (or through) a property agent or other individual, not the true owner. Since it’s common it’s hard to tell when subletting is happening.

 

That’s why it’s good to use an agent who vets the property and makes sure it’s the real owner. If they don’t do this they suck as an agent so you need to ask before you pay the deposit which is where they get the commission from.

From what I have seen over the years agents don't give a FF once they have their commission and here everybody is an agent, 

[DonniePeverley]

9 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

And there was me thinking that after all these statements about bad tenants and rental abuse, you would come up with some serious questions.

 

Seems pretty genuine. If your tennant dosn't pay, keep hold of the security desposit. You have a months rent in advance. Kick him straight out if he is late. 

 

Furthermore why aren't you inspecting your property at least once every few months ?

 

 

[DonniePeverley]

3 minutes ago, ChipButty said:

From what I have seen over the years agents don't give a FF once they have their commission and here everybody is an agent, 

 

Newer condos are a bit more programmed with the sublet. 

 

Everyone it seems is an agent though ! I was talking to one lady, turns out she was an agent for cleaning condos, but here she was showing me around a condo she found online. She was actually very good too.