Thai couple claim American tenant damaged rented house - video

[snoop1130]

 

A Thai couple accused an American man of breaking his tenancy contract on their rented house in the northern province of Phitsanulok and trashing the house.

 

The couple lodged a complaint with the police against the American for vandalising their residence but he has not yet been summoned for questioning or charged. Frustrated by the lack of progress, the couple urged ThaiRath to share their story in the hope of expediting the case.

 

The Thai man, identified only as Em, told ThaiRath that a Thai woman had contacted him and his wife on behalf of the American, who wished to rent their house for a year.

 

Em charged the foreigner 8,000 baht a month and required him to pay a tenancy deposit of 16,000 baht before moving in.

 

Everything went well until the contract nearly ended. The couple asked to check inside the house to see if anything was damaged before returning the tenancy deposit.

 

According to Em, the American man did not allow him and his wife to enter the house and became angry for no reason.

 

Em and the foreigner engaged in a heated argument outside the house, daring each other to fight. Em stated they eventually separated without resorting to any violence and he terminated the rental contract.

 

Anger venting

 

After the American man moved out, the couple checked inside the house and found part of the roof damaged. The wall was covered in colour splashes and vulgarities were written almost everywhere. They also found that the foreigner was growing cannabis without a license.

 

Em stated that the foreign man not only made a mess of the house but also avoided paying an electricity bill costing over 17,000 baht. Em attempted to contact the Thai woman to ask about the foreign man but received no response.

 

ThaiRath shared videos of Em and the American man arguing and of the couple checking the house on its Facebook page yesterday, June 5. In the comment section, a foreign man using the Facebook account Daniel A Martin defended the American man.

 

“Actually, the Thai man started the fight, called him over to fight him, threw stones, shouted insults. This is called defamation. They kicked him out early, kept all the deposits, and harassed him. They demanded money early, threatened him, and threatened a Thai employee. The foreigner had to get a restraining order against him. Get your facts right!”

 

As of now, there is no update on the conclusion of the story. Police have not yet investigated the matter.

 

 

By Petch Petpailin

Photo via ThaiRath

 

Source: The Thaiger 2024-06-06

 

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[hotchilli]

12 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

“Actually, the Thai man started the fight, called him over to fight him, threw stones, shouted insults. This is called defamation. They kicked him out early, kept all the deposits, and harassed him. They demanded money early, threatened him, and threatened a Thai employee. The foreigner had to get a restraining order against him. Get your facts right!”

And the damage to the house?

[thesetat2013]

9 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

And the damage to the house?

The damage to the house was most likely done simply because the foreigner was angry at the owner. knowing he would lose deposit and angry because the owner was doing bad makes people do strange things. I know of many americans who when forced to move out they leave the place trashed or worse, Hide stuff that will stink up or rot hidden in places that can not be accessed easily.  My guess the American had enough. Forced to make a restraining order against the owner. 

It is also plausible that the owner made damage on their own after the man left. Hoping to get more money from the American. 

I had that happen to me on one occasion but i was smart enough to take many photos before leaving the place and the police sided with me. 

The American was not in the wrong to refuse to allow the owner inside. This is within his rights as a renter and the police would support him as well for this. 

[FolkGuitar]

Perhaps it's time for the American to take the landlord to court for violating Thailand's  Defamation Laws.

Regardless of who is right or wrong in the housing situation, the Thai landlord had certainly publically defamed the tenant. It's a hard way to get back a security deposit, but it's Thailand's law...

[steven100]

The Thai landlord didn't read the fine print of what a landlord can and can't do obviously. 

Typical thai ... think they are always right.

[RichardColeman]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Everything went well until the contract nearly ended. The couple asked to check inside the house to see if anything was damaged before returning the tenancy deposit.

I'd suggest that 50% of all Thai landlords find something wrong to prevent the repayment of the deposit

[steven100]

1 minute ago, RichardColeman said:

I'd suggest that 50% of all Thai landlords find something wrong to prevent the repayment of the deposit

I tend to agree with that ... it's just what they try to do,  they absolutely hate handing money back.

 

[pomchop]

14 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I'd suggest that 50% of all Thai landlords find something wrong to prevent the repayment of the deposit

never one time had any problem getting deposit back in thailand...i did however have all sorts of tenants from hell in usa who left owing rent and trashed the place....

[swerve]

26 minutes ago, steven100 said:

I tend to agree with that ... it's just what they try to do,  they absolutely hate handing money back.

 

Disagree with you. I have had all of my damage deposits returned for all of the places in Thailand I have rented.  About 10 in total.  Bangkok, Hua Hin, and Phuket locations.  Treat people fairly and you get treated the same way.  

Edited June 7 by swerve

[bob smith]

another Thai landlord on a power trip!

 

10 a penny here.

 

bob.

[steven100]

6 minutes ago, swerve said:

Disagree with you. I have had all of my damage deposits returned for all of the places in Thailand I have rented.  About 10 in total.  Bangkok, Hua Hin, and Phuket locations.  Treat people fairly and you get treated the same way.  

and while you did always get your deposit back, and I did mine ... I was in the same place for 10yrs and no problem at all.  But he did comment 50% of thai landlords, not all .....  so I still agree.   To comment on your last sentence ....   I treated a family of Thais very fairly for years and i wasn't treated the same that's for damn sure.  

[stoner]

moral of the story....don't grow cannabis without telling the landlord.

[JeffersLos]

8k a month for that in Phitsanulok?

 

Captain America also probably paid sinsod for his wife. 

[Ralf001]

1 hour ago, thesetat2013 said:

The damage to the house was most likely done simply because the foreigner was angry at the owner. knowing he would lose deposit and angry because the owner was doing bad makes people do strange things. I know of many americans who when forced to move out they leave the place trashed or worse, Hide stuff that will stink up or rot hidden in places that can not be accessed easily. 

 

so stoners do get angry !

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, thesetat2013 said:

The damage to the house was most likely done simply because the foreigner was angry at the owner. knowing he would lose deposit and angry because the owner was doing bad makes people do strange things. I know of many americans who when forced to move out they leave the place trashed or worse, Hide stuff that will stink up or rot hidden in places that can not be accessed easily.  My guess the American had enough. Forced to make a restraining order against the owner. 

It is also plausible that the owner made damage on their own after the man left. Hoping to get more money from the American. 

I had that happen to me on one occasion but i was smart enough to take many photos before leaving the place and the police sided with me. 

The American was not in the wrong to refuse to allow the owner inside. This is within his rights as a renter and the police would support him as well for this. 

Are you by any chance one of those Americans?

Somehow, many of them think they are something special, they are Americans! 

 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, FolkGuitar said:

Perhaps it's time for the American to take the landlord to court for violating Thailand's  Defamation Laws.

Regardless of who is right or wrong in the housing situation, the Thai landlord had certainly publically defamed the tenant. It's a hard way to get back a security deposit, but it's Thailand's law...

 

If you want to get the security back, then you should follow at least some basic rules.

Pay the rent until the end.

Pay water, electricity, etc.

And don't behave like an ahole.

 

I you behave like an ahole, then don't be surprised if you are treated as such.

[JeffersLos]

28 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Are you by any chance one of those Americans?

 

I am American, but left years ago.

 

Because of Americans. 

[Kinok Farang]

Maybe the yank wanted the house to resemble a house back home in Portland,San Francisco etc.

Degenerate behaviour from the septic tank.

[ross163103]

2 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

I'd suggest that 50% of all Thai landlords find something wrong to prevent the repayment of the deposit

I agree; I rented a house for approx one year, watered and cut the grass, fixed any lights that failed, kept the place up, and it was in better condition than when the wife and I first rented it....never saw one baht of deposit. The owner made various excuses as to why we couldn't get it back.

Plus the fridge was sarting to fail a month after we moved in--looked about 10-15 years old, and the owner told us if it failed we'd have to buy a new one. I don't think so! If I did something to cause it to fail no problem, but the damage was done before we moved in. Lesson learned, never again.

[john donson]

the landlord has to give a 24 hour warning before wanting to visit

[scorecard]

5 hours ago, thesetat2013 said:

The damage to the house was most likely done simply because the foreigner was angry at the owner. knowing he would lose deposit and angry because the owner was doing bad makes people do strange things. I know of many americans who when forced to move out they leave the place trashed or worse, Hide stuff that will stink up or rot hidden in places that can not be accessed easily.  My guess the American had enough. Forced to make a restraining order against the owner. 

It is also plausible that the owner made damage on their own after the man left. Hoping to get more money from the American. 

I had that happen to me on one occasion but i was smart enough to take many photos before leaving the place and the police sided with me. 

The American was not in the wrong to refuse to allow the owner inside. This is within his rights as a renter and the police would support him as well for this. 

 

Last sentence; that's not my understanding of the law in several countries including Thailand.

[neverere]

2 hours ago, Kinok Farang said:

Maybe the yank wanted the house to resemble a house back home in Portland,San Francisco etc.

Degenerate behaviour from the septic tank.

 

There are a lot of very swanky houses in those locations.

[ChaiyaTH]

17K electric bill sounds like 16K deposit. Then the vulgare writings and damages likely as a after math of what was a fight outside the house initially.

[thesetat2013]

8 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

Last sentence; that's not my understanding of the law in several countries including Thailand.

It is true... The owners can come with the police but if you have a contract then you are within your rights to refuse entry to them. unless you have broken some laws. The actual words the police used for me was that I filed the police report about the owners abusive actions and demands for more money. They said i did not have to allow them entry as it was my condo until the lease expired. They also said should the owner attempt to bring the police with them to forcibly make me allow them entry that all i needed to do was show the police report to the officers at my door. This was in Bangkok so maybe other places the police would act differently. My case was the owner was trying to force me to move out a month early or make me pay an additional month claiming the last months deposit was really a damage deposit. 

[thesetat2013]

12 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Are you by any chance one of those Americans?

Somehow, many of them think they are something special, they are Americans! 

 

 

 

Either you are jealous or a tad bit prejudice to Americans. Hmm

[SingAPorn]

Does the owner of the house pay tax on the rent he got ?

[still kicking]

10 hours ago, john donson said:

the landlord has to give a 24 hour warning before wanting to visit

In OZ the real-estate Agent has to give you typical 2 weeks warning if they want to visit for inspection which is every 3 months. Also, the deposit does not get collected by the owner it goes into a government trust fund.

[Keeps]

13 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Are you by any chance one of those Americans?

Somehow, many of them think they are something special, they are Americans! 

 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, thesetat2013 said:

Either you are jealous or a tad bit prejudice to Americans. Hmm

Or perhaps neither and OMF is actually correct. Is that an option?

[thesetat2013]

4 minutes ago, Keeps said:

 

Or perhaps neither and OMF is actually correct. Is that an option?

Hmm my opinion is that not all people are the same just because they come from the same area or country. So it is an option, but not in this case since his comment is directed at a nationality instead of an individual. 

[scorecard]

18 minutes ago, thesetat2013 said:

It is true... The owners can come with the police but if you have a contract then you are within your rights to refuse entry to them. unless you have broken some laws. The actual words the police used for me was that I filed the police report about the owners abusive actions and demands for more money. They said i did not have to allow them entry as it was my condo until the lease expired. They also said should the owner attempt to bring the police with them to forcibly make me allow them entry that all i needed to do was show the police report to the officers at my door. This was in Bangkok so maybe other places the police would act differently. My case was the owner was trying to force me to move out a month early or make me pay an additional month claiming the last months deposit was really a damage deposit. 

Quote from above:

"The owners can come with the police but if you have a contract then you are within your rights to refuse entry to them."

 

But what landlord would agree to a rental contract which did NOT include mention of; periodic inspections / 3 monthly inspections / monthly inspections etc? I've rented houses previously (in Thailand and in Australia). I always checked that the rental agreement mentioned inspections.

 

I can't imagine and landlord would sign a rental agreement which didn't mention regular inspections.