Residents refusing to pay maintenance in gated village.

[giddyup]

I've lived in a gated village of 35 houses on the darkside for 13 years. During that time there has been the odd non payer, but now we have 8 houses that are refusing to pay maintenance. So now we are fast approaching the situation where there won't be enough funds to pay for security, pool maintenance, lighting and road sweeping.

AFAIK there is no way to force these parasites to pay.

Anyone else having a similar problem in their village?

[VocalNeal]

Russians per chance🤔

[tgw]

4 minutes ago, giddyup said:

I've lived in a gated village of 35 houses on the darkside for 13 years. During that time there has been the odd non payer, but now we have 8 houses that are refusing to pay maintenance. So now we are fast approaching the situation where there won't be enough funds to pay for security, pool maintenance, lighting and road sweeping.

AFAIK there is no way to force these parasites to pay.

Anyone else having a similar problem in their village?

 

setup a toll gate at the entrance to collect the daily fee for using the common roads.

[Pattaya57]

Not gated village but Condo. We had many non-payers for years, getting worse every year. Our Juristic just wasn't pushing it hard enough, just sending reminder emails.

 

We then appointed a new Juristic who followed the law as written. It's still a long process with legal letters being sent and late fee interest being formally charged, followed by water and electricity disconnection.  Eventually people got the message and started paying on time.

 

This should be a very heated topic at your AGM's

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Pattaya57

[giddyup]

4 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Russians per chance🤔

No, some falang (German) and some Thai.

[giddyup]

3 minutes ago, tgw said:

 

setup a toll gate at the entrance to collect the daily fee for using the common roads.

I very much doubt if that was either legal or could be enforced.

[giddyup]

3 minutes ago, Pattaya57 said:

Not gated village but Condo. We had many non-payers for years, getting worse every year. Our Juristic just wasn't pushing it hard enough, just sending reminder emails.

 

We then appointed a new Juristic who followed the law as written. It's still a long process with legal letters being sent and late fee interest being formally charged, followed by water and electricity disconnection.  Eventually people got the message and started paying

I think the law is different for villages. I know it's illegal to turn off water or electric, only those suppliers can do that.

[VocalNeal]

Don't collect the garbage from non payers

 

[Pattaya57]

1 minute ago, giddyup said:

I think the law is different for villages. I know it's illegal to turn off water or electric, only those suppliers can do that.

The water and electricity was the absolute last straw preceeded by a letter warning of disconnection. I don't know if they actually disconnected as everyone paid. 

[worgeordie]

We have properties in 2 separate MooBahns  the one we live in and have

been paying  service charge for 30 odd years ,but last August they had to get rid of the

guards as too many houses were not paying the service charge ,tough times I suppose,

 

In the other MooBahn we have 3 properties and have been paying service charge on those,

even after they got rid of the guards 3 years ago , but this month told them I would not be 

paying any more ,paying money for nothing , 

 

There is nothing they can do to make homeowners pay ,if they put up a list of non payers

they could be sued , so the minority just don't care about guards maybe nothing to steal.

 

regards worgeordie 

[giddyup]

7 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Don't collect the garbage from non payers

 

Yes, we can do that.

[Woof999]

My gated community stops visitors vehicles from entering the village. I don't believe they are allowed by law to stop the homeowners own vehicles, but if you have visitors and they are forced to park outside and then walk, and then told why that is the case, an amount of shame is added.

 

To add further shame, a sizeable board with a list of the non-payers is posted just past the entrance gates.

[giddyup]

1 minute ago, Woof999 said:

My gated community stops visitors vehicles from entering the village. I don't believe they are allowed by law to stop the homeowners own vehicles, but if you have visitors and they are forced to park outside and then walk, and then told why that is the case, an amount of shame is added.

 

To add further shame, a sizeable board with a list of the non-payers is posted just past the entrance gates.

I have suggested a shame board, but I guess if you either have no money or no shame, that may not work either.

[couchpotato]

If the Village is registered as a 'Juristic Entity' then they can be taken to Court, and in some cases the house can not be sold until arrears are paid.

If the Village provide water to each house from a common village tank (as in the earlier years of moobaans), then water can be cut off to individual houses, but as another poster said, if the water and electric is provided through meters from the government, then it is illegal to touch those meters, even if the Village is Juristic.

Yes rubbish collection could be stopped for those houses, but in the end it affects other houses also with smells, rats etc, so not a great solution.

Also legally a resident can not be stopped from entering the village if they own a home. Many villages try this tactic with non payers but it leads to police visits and sometimes other nasty circumstances.

It is conundrum for many villages.

Edited December 6, 2023 by couchpotato

[couchpotato]

9 minutes ago, Pattaya57 said:

The water and electricity was the absolute last straw preceeded by a letter warning of disconnection. I don't know if they actually disconnected as everyone paid. 

If the houses pays the water and electric bill on time to the relevant authorities, then there is absolutely nothing the village can do about it. Sad but true.

[Pattaya57]

2 minutes ago, couchpotato said:

If the houses pays the water and electric bill on time to the relevant authorities, then there is absolutely nothing the village can do about it. Sad but true.

Then shut off the gate for the non payers 😀

[couchpotato]

The sad thing about non payers is that the majority are the rich, well connected residents, who just feel they are above all that type of stuff. The 'I'll say normal residents' nearly always pay when fees are due.

[couchpotato]

3 minutes ago, Pattaya57 said:

Then shut off the gate for the non payers 😀

As I mentioned a few posts above, this is not legal and cannot be enforced for homeowners.

[ravip]

34 minutes ago, VocalNeal said:

Russians per chance🤔

Its NOT always the Russians, Chinese, Indians etc.... Sometimes the Super Elite too stoop down. REALITY!

[giddyup]

2 minutes ago, couchpotato said:

The sad thing about non payers is that the majority are the rich, well connected residents, who just feel they are above all that type of stuff. The 'I'll say normal residents' nearly always pay when fees are due.

We had one 2 storey house that was a non payer for 10 years, always had the latest red plate BMW or Merc outside, but the bank recently reposessed their house and kicked them out. Karma.

[couchpotato]

Just now, ravip said:

Its NOT always the Russians, Chinese, Indians etc.... Sometimes the Super Elite too stoop down. REALITY!

As I mentioned 3 posts above.

[ravip]

Today, it seems living in a "community" can be hell.

Simply because the standard of humans have dropped.

...and this is International!

[couchpotato]

Just now, ravip said:

Today, it seems living in a "community" can be hell.

Simply because the standard of humans have dropped.

...and this is International!

Standard of humans--strange way to say it, but definitely agree with you.

[giddyup]

Just now, couchpotato said:

As I mentioned 3 posts above.

The maintenance fees are reasonable, depending on land size. I pay 14000 baht a year for 95 sq. wah. But not all residents would be high income earners or may have lost jobs etc, but I think most would just rather spend the fees on something else.

[ravip]

2 minutes ago, couchpotato said:

Standard of humans--strange way to say it, but definitely agree with you.

Sad... but a reality.

[lopburi3]

Our village in Bangkok was established in 1975 with gate and guards and local water supply.  After a few years many were not willing to pay for thieving guards and city took over and things got much better.  New roads.  Safe water.  Street lights that worked.  Drains that drained.  And most importantly no more guards whose function seemed to be keyed to advising thieves when people were not home and assisting them.  I also lived in such a city for 3 years in USA and would never do again.  Am sure it works well for the Trumps of the world but costs can quickly become insane for things most people do not use and have no interest in.

[NemoH]

11 hours ago, ravip said:

Sad... but a reality.

We call it human morality. The standard of morals in this country n in this age has declined substantially. The main reason for decline is the education system of humans. Thailand has been declining because its education system has always been weak.. 

Apologies for digressing from the topic. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by NemoH

[jacko45k]

12 hours ago, giddyup said:

I very much doubt if that was either legal or could be enforced.

Let them dispute it or get involved in legal action at their own expense.

I am sure there are ways to bring pressure to bear......cutting of water, which is often under the control of the village, is one possibility. 

[Dazinoz]

I live in a gated community that a few years back control was released from the developer so a local community group of residents was set up to collect fees and organise the maintenance. A lot of people were not paying including the landlord of the house I rented and was 18 months in arrears. So to play the "shame game" they put a letter in everyones mail box detailing payments to be made and they put a list of every house in the community with detail of what each owed and how long in arrears. I think the most was 3 years in arrears. Next "shame game" ploy was they hung a sign on each fence that people had paid and up to date. It was in Thai but read something along the lines of good people paid. I wasn't impressed by this and told agent if I have any issues I will leave. Agent contacted owner and she paid up. She claimed why should she have to pay when others don't. It was then arranged that I paid the monthly fee direct to community group as part of my rent. Next step was electronic entry and exit gates and if you didn't pay you didn't get an entry card. I think most have paid up but I recently did see a sign on the gate house with house numbers so I assume not paid.

 

According to one of the committee members the biggest non payer is a senior police officer who's father was in charge of building the mooban so claimed he did not have to pay.

[Ralf001]

14 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Don't collect the garbage from non payers

 

 

And throw it back into their property if left out front.