Parking pickle: Bangkok condo resident slapped with 20,000 baht fine

[webfact]

 

A Bangkok resident has been hit a hefty fine of 20,000 baht after leaving her car parked in the condo’s parking lot for 20 days. The unnamed condominium management team explained to the resident, named Jen, that a fine is triggered once a vehicle remains stationary for over 15 days. This regulation is part of the condo’s rules, which Jen found out about only after receiving the surprisingly high penalty on her return.

 

Jen was out of town for nearly a month. During that time her car was parked at the condo. Upon her return, she checked her mail and was astonished to find an invoice for parking fines. She sought clarification from the condo management, who informed her about the rule that if a car remains stationary for over 15 days, a daily fine of 1,000 baht is levied.

 

According to the condominium’s management, this rule is listed in the condo’s app, but Jen admitted she hadn’t checked it. She was then advised to write a petition to the management. Despite thinking that they might waive the fine as this was her first offence, she was disappointed when the fine was only reduced from over 20,000 baht to 10,000 baht. The amount, which she considered steep, remained unpaid as she took to social media to share her experience and question if others had similar encounters.

 

by Nattapong Westwood

Photo courtesy of iStock.

 

Full story: The Thaiger 2023-09-22

 

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[Gottfrid]

Maybe check up if they also offer free parking for tenants. In that case the rules are in conflict.

[freeworld]

Little spies are everywhere, even monitoring how many day one parks.

[digbeth]

8 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

Maybe check up if they also offer free parking for tenants. In that case the rules are in conflict.

it's not, most of these place, there's like 60% parking spot compared to the number of rooms at best so it's first come first serve, having a co owner or tenant came in, while legal and they are entitled to, but hogging the same space for months without moving is not fair on the rest of the residents. 
It is a rule voted in at AGM, not law

Most condos don't have this but the cheaper ones full of workers do and it's understandable

 

The rule are usually that you can't stay in one spot for more than 7 days, so if you drive out once a week you're fine, and if you have extended leave like going away overseas, you have to let the Juristic Person office knows in advance so that they let you off, some would even come and start your engine to keep the batteries topped if you leave them your keys.

 

If playing musical chairs with parking spot and the endless rules are too much, (which it can be) yes living in a cheapish condo building is not for you, at least with some rule enforcement and fine collections it prevents the place from becoming too much of a dump

[Henryford]

Crazy rule. So you can't go on holiday for more than 14 days !!!

[petedk]

25 minutes ago, freeworld said:

Little spies are everywhere, even monitoring how many day one parks.

I have noticed at nearly all car parks the security guards walk around writing down the registration numbers of cars. I though it was just to give them something to do.

[NanLaew]

44 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Crazy rule. So you can't go on holiday for more than 14 days !!!

It doesn't stop you going on holiday at all. It stops you from leaving your car sitting for an excessive amount of time in a space-pressured car park.

[Middle Aged Grouch]

Reminds me of some stories from residents in pool villa developpments in Hua Hin.

 

The farang developpers will agree to all the requests from buyers and only show up later, once the upgrades are made and paid, and only them inform that it was the wrong or non-compatible choice.

Edited September 22 by Middle Aged Grouch

[Taboo2]

Always focus on "Attention to Details" when you live in a condo.  Just get some tea or coffer or a cold drink, go on your balcony and read everything in your Condo rule book.

 

 

[digbeth]

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

Crazy rule. So you can't go on holiday for more than 14 days !!!

not without prior notice, no

 

it's a rule owners voted in or agreed to when they bought in

[Sigmund]

49 minutes ago, Middle Aged Grouch said:

Reminds me of some stories from residents in pool villa developpments in Hua Hin.

 

The farang developpers will agree to all the requests from buyers and only show up later, once the upgrades are made and paid, and only them inform that it was the wrong or non-compatible choice.

Not to mention many electrical flaws and issues in many modern HuaHin villas that naturally the europen developpers will never admit.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Henryford said:

Crazy rule. So you can't go on holiday for more than 14 days !!!

Of course, that can be done, the JP just has to be informed, that's all.

[Liverpool Lou]

57 minutes ago, Middle Aged Grouch said:

Reminds me of some stories from residents in pool villa developpments in Hua Hin.

 

The farang developpers will agree to all the requests from buyers and only show up later, once the upgrades are made and paid, and only them inform that it was the wrong or non-compatible choice.

There's no correlation, at all, between those two circumstances.

[jippytum]

1000. Per day is a bit steep. However  if there is limited parking the rule must have been introduced because of problems in the past.  Some  tenants who have a car And rent a condo for six months leave the car at the condo until they return. 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, Henryford said:

Crazy rule. So you can't go on holiday for more than 14 days !!!

It's a rule to stop people parking in the area for extended times who are possibly friends of tenants, working in the area or a multi car family taking up precious spaces.

If going on an extended holiday I'm sure letting management know would give you an opt-out.

 

[Digitalbanana]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

she was disappointed when the fine was only reduced from over 20,000 baht to 10,000 baht.

If the owner didn't know the rule then why not? If there is a valid reason for not knowing then there should be no fine at all.

Edited September 22 by Digitalbanana

[shackleton]

A lesson to be learned by others check your Condo parking rules 

Could save you some money ???? ???? 

[SingAPorn]

Be it in a condo developpment or a villa project, the property managers will often  look for new ways to screw you out of your cash.

 

Here it is a fine. Other places left unoccupied, they will invent all kinds of maintennce issues say in plumbing or electrical, allegedly needing to be replaced just after 2 or 3 years. Often,  just to squeeze out money from the foreign owner who is absent from the premises and has no means to check on their allegations. But as most of the owners just don't care and pay like fools, why stop ?

[smedly]

1 hour ago, jippytum said:

1000. Per day is a bit steep. However  if there is limited parking the rule must have been introduced because of problems in the past.  Some  tenants who have a car And rent a condo for six months leave the car at the condo until they return. 

where else are they going to leave it, this is quite frankly absurd 

[ChipButty]

It's cheaper to park at the airport, 1000 baht is a bit steep, pays you to read the rules, 

[wwest5829]

While I owned a condo for two years, as long as I paid the annual management/maintenance fee, I certainly expected parking for both my car and motorbike. Good to know about this ... should I ever be in the market for a condo in the future I would certainly insist on a parking spot as an owner.

 

[Gottfrid]

4 hours ago, digbeth said:

it's not, most of these place, there's like 60% parking spot compared to the number of rooms at best so it's first come first serve, having a co owner or tenant came in, while legal and they are entitled to, but hogging the same space for months without moving is not fair on the rest of the residents. 
It is a rule voted in at AGM, not law

Most condos don't have this but the cheaper ones full of workers do and it's understandable

 

The rule are usually that you can't stay in one spot for more than 7 days, so if you drive out once a week you're fine, and if you have extended leave like going away overseas, you have to let the Juristic Person office knows in advance so that they let you off, some would even come and start your engine to keep the batteries topped if you leave them your keys.

 

If playing musical chairs with parking spot and the endless rules are too much, (which it can be) yes living in a cheapish condo building is not for you, at least with some rule enforcement and fine collections it prevents the place from becoming too much of a dump

I don´t live in a cheap condo.

[richard_smith237]

In most condos the contract stipulates a number of spaces per unit, usually 1 per 1 or 2 BR condo unit. 
 

If so, I wonder if the juristic rules are in contradiction to the purchase contract & which supersedes the other. 
 

I would certainly never imagine such a ridiculous issue to arise when parking ‘at home’…. 
 

So many people go on holiday, this rule is completely ridiculous.

 

Just when I think things can’t get any sillier, I read of such issues. 
 

Condo committee could easily waive this fine. She should just ignore the pedantic nazis !!! 

 

[ChipButty]

3 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

In most condos the contract stipulates a number of spaces per unit, usually 1 per 1 or 2 BR condo unit. 
 

If so, I wonder if the juristic rules are in contradiction to the purchase contract & which supersedes the other. 
 

I would certainly never imagine such a ridiculous issue to arise when parking ‘at home’…. 
 

So many people go on holiday, this rule is completely ridiculous.

 

Just when I think things can’t get any sillier, I read of such issues. 
 

Condo committee could easily waive this fine. She should just ignore the pedantic nazis !!! 

 

I would imagine most condo owners have not read the rules, you buy a condo and there is parking so one space is for you as an owner, we have a condo but we don't live there, and there is parking but now thinking about it there is not enough for every condo owner, we don't have our own spot to park were ever is available, I'll have to get her indoors to have a read just in case I need to inform a tenant, upto now we have never had a problem in 6 years next month, although I did suspect some dodgy Russian running a bike rental business from there parking his bikes in the underground car park, 

[digbeth]

If you buy a condo and didn't ask about parking situation and expecting there to be a 1:1 parking per unit, in most cheap condo, you'll be in for a surprise 

 

cheap condos with 1:1 parking exist, expect to pay extras for them though, 

most work out to about 60-40% car park per unit in the real world 

[richard_smith237]

8 minutes ago, digbeth said:

If you buy a condo and didn't ask about parking situation and expecting there to be a 1:1 parking per unit, in most cheap condo, you'll be in for a surprise 

 

cheap condos with 1:1 parking exist, expect to pay extras for them though, 

most work out to about 60-40% car park per unit in the real world 

When we purchased a condo (12 years ago or so) we did enquire of the parking situation.

There was an allocation of 1 space per unit, ours was a 2BR, others 1BR & 3BR.

More units than parking spaces. 
We parked our 2nd car for free until it became ’busy’ & were told we’d have to pay 1000b per month for the second car.

Entertaining logic as this didn’t help the congestion.

We paid & moved to park in the guest parking until we were told we couldn’t.

We simply ignored that, we’d paid extra to park there. 

The juristic committee were just being silly & gave up. 

They also told us things such as we were not permitted to advertise our condo for sale unless we do so with them !!! Hilarious… just a bunch of chancers… 

 

 

[ChipButty]

11 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

When we purchased a condo (12 years ago or so) we did enquire of the parking situation.

There was an allocation of 1 space per unit, ours was a 2BR, others 1BR & 3BR.

More units than parking spaces. 
We parked our 2nd car for free until it became ’busy’ & were told we’d have to pay 1000b per month for the second car.

Entertaining logic as this didn’t help the congestion.

We paid & moved to park in the guest parking until we were told we couldn’t.

We simply ignored that, we’d paid extra to park there. 

The juristic committee were just being silly & gave up. 

They also told us things such as we were not permitted to advertise our condo for sale unless we do so with them !!! Hilarious… just a bunch of chancers… 

 

 

And pay them commission 

[Bangkok Barry]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

She sought clarification from the condo management, who informed her about the rule that if a car remains stationary for over 15 days, a daily fine of 1,000 baht is levied.

Why? Has this condo set up a world first as having the first car park you aren't allowed to use for parking? She's a resident. What's the problem? The excuse they gave of having limited parking space is nonsense. Residents can park there, or they can't. More evidence that Thailand is a lunatic asylum.

[richard_smith237]

Just now, ChipButty said:

And pay them commission 

Indeed.. that’s exactly what

that was about. 
 

& in this case I wonder if some of the juristic committee are not eyeing up the 20,000 baht fine…. 
… is there any proof of where the money ends up? 
 

In another condo I was a tenant at, other residents were charged 20,000b for littering. 
Their son had thrown a paper airplane out of the window !!! 
I’m not sure what happened there, but the condo management staff were toxic.

 

We were told that my son couldn’t ride his bike or play with a ball in the ‘common play area’…. 
- the bike was a balance bike, the ball was a foam ball… my son was 2 year old toddler !!!.., I voiced displeasure at their attitudes & suggested they call the police to deal with the crime ! 
 

(we moved out as soon as the contract ended & informed the landlord why - so many ppl complained & few years later the management company was switched out). 

 

[Sydebolle]

Well, if she is a resident, tenant or owner in said condominium, then I would take it the full nine yards to court - otherwise pay up and understand, that you've misused private parking of other people!