Your Two Months Rental Deposit

[JimHuaHin]

I rented a high-end condo on Sukhumvit, Bangkok for 7 months (on a monthly basis agreement) back in 1997.  I informed the management 2 months in advance that I would be checking out on date x.  Upon checkout, the management informed me that they were waiting for approval from the owner to return my 2-months deposit, and would send me a cheque.  It never arrived.

 

I rented a house in Hua Hin starting about 11 years ago; about 5 years ago the house sold.  The new owner, a farang, from a small northern European country, who wanted to move into the house with his family, drew up a new lease permitting me to stay for a few months while I searched for new accommodation.  No damage was done to the house, and I paid for house cleaning upon departure.  The new farang owner claimed there was damage to the house facilities, which he could not identify (the house was in exactly the same condition when he inspected the house prior to purchase), so he only repaid half my 2-months deposit.

[J Branche]

Just Saturday my girlfriends Thai son contacted us about moving.  Stated the landlord did not fix a badly broken bathroom door and when the Air Conditioner was not cooling informed him to pay to fix it.

 

He stated it is common on cheap rooms for a Thai tenant to Not pay the last month' rent and then move out.

The landlord keeps only 1 month's rent and tenant considers the lost month of deposit as acceptable.

 

I informed him that Section 547 of Thailand Civil and Commercial code states "The lessor is responsible for reimbursing the lessee for any essential and reasonable expenses the have accrued."

 

I consider repairing a broken AC as a reasonable expense and informed him if it happens on future rentals to message the landlord, state the Code 547 and inform the landlord you will deduct it from the rent that is owed.

 

I also advised him to be careful when signing agreement. To check any statements regarding what the tenants obligations will be if something is broken, what amount a tenant may be expected to pay for a repair and at what level the landlord would pay.

[Hugh Jarse]

On 9/28/2024 at 8:00 AM, marin said:

What is your source for this statement? 

Just returned deposit to tenant after deducting a charge for professional cleaning. Many tenants in the past carry outa perfunctory clean only and expect new tenant to put up with that. Few do. And what about the tenant from hell?

[marin]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jarse said:

ust returned deposit to tenant after deducting a charge for professional cleaning. Many tenants in the past carry outa perfunctory clean only and expect new tenant to put up with that. Few do. And what about the tenant from hell?

Dont know as I was not talking to you. Was talking to Kool Karl. My wife and I own apartments as well. 

[Kinok Farang]

On 9/28/2024 at 8:00 AM, marin said:

What is your source for this statement? 

Common knowledge but of course it has never happened to you has it?

[marin]

7 minutes ago, Kinok Farang said:

Common knowledge but of course it has never happened to you has it?

I only rented 3 apartments in Bangkok, got my deposit back. My wife and I have had our house for 27 years and its well paid for. We have 18 units of apartments as well. 1-10 tenants who move out will have not cleaned well enough and be charged for cleaning.  

 

Decent people keep their apartment in good shaped, seems others dont.  Check you tenants well before renting to them. 

[Tropicalevo]

On 9/28/2024 at 12:16 PM, RichardColeman said:

The way round this is to tell your landlord when you intend to move out and ask them to come and inspect the property beforehand so you can put anything wrong with the house correct, then tell them to keep the deposit as the last 2 months rent - or simply do not pay it

All of the leases that we provide state that the rent must be paid within 7 days of due date.

Not paid? - evicted.

In 20 years, we have only held back the deposit once.

That renter still has an outstanding bill for items that were no longer in the villa as well as unpaid utilities.

I am not holding my breath for the payment of that bill.

[thesetat2013]

On 9/28/2024 at 7:54 AM, koolkarl said:

Apparently it is a national past time in Thailand for landlords to keep the 2 months deposit.  Has this happened to many of you and if so, what did you do?

My landlord tried this and even tried to make me pay for the last month on top of it. It is illegal to charge more than a months rent for damages. So your deposit pays for last months rent also. So when the owner asked for the last months rent, I refused quoting the contract. She tried to say i misinterpreted it but the local police read it in Thai the same as my interpretation. I had the police on my side which made me allowed to stay longer even though the owner kept the damage deposit

I would suggest a good translation of what the deposit entails. I would be sure your 2 months deposit is really half for last months rent and half for damages. And then expect to lose your damage deposit part. 

but if you are a patsy, let them take it all. That way they can continue to cheat foreigners on their deposits.

[JBChiangRai]

32 minutes ago, thesetat2013 said:

My landlord tried this and even tried to make me pay for the last month on top of it. It is illegal to charge more than a months rent for damages. So your deposit pays for last months rent also. So when the owner asked for the last months rent, I refused quoting the contract. She tried to say i misinterpreted it but the local police read it in Thai the same as my interpretation. I had the police on my side which made me allowed to stay longer even though the owner kept the damage deposit

I would suggest a good translation of what the deposit entails. I would be sure your 2 months deposit is really half for last months rent and half for damages. And then expect to lose your damage deposit part. 

but if you are a patsy, let them take it all. That way they can continue to cheat foreigners on their deposits.

Landlord can charge the full amount of the damages, even if they are 100 times monthly rental income.

 

I think you are referring to the advanced deposit, some landlords can only charge one month deposit, others can charge two months deposit.

 

The deposit is never to be used as the last month’s rent, that is breaking the terms of the lease.

[Kinok Farang]

1 hour ago, marin said:

I only rented 3 apartments in Bangkok, got my deposit back. My wife and I have had our house for 27 years and its well paid for. We have 18 units of apartments as well. 1-10 tenants who move out will have not cleaned well enough and be charged for cleaning.  

 

Decent people keep their apartment in good shaped, seems others dont.  Check you tenants well before renting to them. 

Sorry mate,i didn't realise you were talking from the landlords point of view.Seems like you have a fair decent business there.Nice one.