New Marital Law Being Enforced

[mobs00]

The owner of my apartment building just told the girlfriend and I that we need to do a new contract for our stay. Thailand is now enforcing a law that states people under 25 are not allowed to live together unless they are married. Our contract was in the girlfriends name but now it must be changed to mine.

The details were a bit foggy but the owner of the building feels that there is enough pressure from the powers that be to enforce this on all his tenants.

Does anyone else know about this? Do you have any more information? The owner and the girlfriend are a bit confused about this as am I.

I hope this does not turn into the same situation they have in Laos where you cannot stay with a person of the opposite sex unless you are married. There, you face imprisonment and or a fine. I recently met a guy in Laos who was hit with this and had to pay a hefty fine.

[PhilHarries]

To be honest it sounds like a scam by your apartment block owner. Any additional costs associated with this change in contract?

[BigSnake]

For how long, I wonder??

[tijnebijn]

Just change appartments , and wait and see if they ask the same , doubt it !

[mobs00]

To be honest it sounds like a scam by your apartment block owner. Any additional costs associated with this change in contract?

No, not a scam. I have been here for over a year and there are no costs to go along with it. The girlfriend also said she has heard about this before but it was never enforced.

She is in Uni so this would affect all her friends. She said most of them also know about it.

Edited March 14, 2008 by mobs00

[KhaoNiaw]

I vaguely remember something in the news a while ago about clamping down on students who are living together. Could it be related to that?

[barky]

The bed just got bigger. Half the aliens living here will be affected by this. Maybe a property market trick to get more condos rented.

[PhilHarries]

Could be a ploy to boost the wedding cake business.

So it seems it's just another unenforced Thai law that gets dusted off once in a while to provide the BiB with something not too arduous to do. But what difference would the change in name on the contract make? You are both still living together unless there is some fiendish reverse boolean logic behind it all.

Mai khaw chai

[elephantkungfu]

i remember reading about this aswell... in the chiang mai mail i think. i'm pretty sure it just related to students and student accomodation. couples under 25 who aren't students, or who aren't staying in student accomodation are alright to live together. i've thrown the paper away already, so can't be sure... maybe someone else has still got a copy?!?

[haybilly]

To be honest it sounds like a scam by your apartment block owner. Any additional costs associated with this change in contract?

No, not a scam. I have been here for over a year and there are no costs to go along with it. The girlfriend also said she has heard about this before but it was never enforced.

She is in Uni so this would affect all her friends. She said most of them also know about it.

No sweat--get a long piece of white string, some young banana trees about 1 metre long, have a sing song, and a good piss up--hey presto--you're married, Thai style. What's the prob??

[Crow Boy]

To be honest it sounds like a scam by your apartment block owner. Any additional costs associated with this change in contract?

No, not a scam. I have been here for over a year and there are no costs to go along with it. The girlfriend also said she has heard about this before but it was never enforced.

She is in Uni so this would affect all her friends. She said most of them also know about it.

No sweat--get a long piece of white string, some young banana trees about 1 metre long, have a sing song, and a good piss up--hey presto--you're married, Thai style. What's the prob??

In this situation where a person under 25 needs to show they are married they will have to register it at the Amphur which is somewhat more complicated than your example above.

CB

[cmsally]

I think you will find it is only to do with student accommodation.

There is some kind of association for apartment owners and there are rules about allowing younger couples to share etc.

I know a friend of mine has an apartment block and when taking students there were always meetings (government or Tesabahn I suppose) and rules they were meant to be enforcing. His apartments then took in more working people and steered away from the student market as it was too much of a bureaucratic hassle.

[haybilly]

To be honest it sounds like a scam by your apartment block owner. Any additional costs associated with this change in contract?

No, not a scam. I have been here for over a year and there are no costs to go along with it. The girlfriend also said she has heard about this before but it was never enforced.

She is in Uni so this would affect all her friends. She said most of them also know about it.

No sweat--get a long piece of white string, some young banana trees about 1 metre long, have a sing song, and a good piss up--hey presto--you're married, Thai style. What's the prob??

In this situation where a person under 25 needs to show they are married they will have to register it at the Amphur which is somewhat more complicated than your example above.

CB

I am seriously sorry if I ruffled your feathers 'crow boy' but it was my pathetic attempt at a joke--soz.

[Crow Boy]

To be honest it sounds like a scam by your apartment block owner. Any additional costs associated with this change in contract?

No, not a scam. I have been here for over a year and there are no costs to go along with it. The girlfriend also said she has heard about this before but it was never enforced.

She is in Uni so this would affect all her friends. She said most of them also know about it.

No sweat--get a long piece of white string, some young banana trees about 1 metre long, have a sing song, and a good piss up--hey presto--you're married, Thai style. What's the prob??

In this situation where a person under 25 needs to show they are married they will have to register it at the Amphur which is somewhat more complicated than your example above.

CB

I am seriously sorry if I ruffled your feathers 'crow boy' but it was my pathetic attempt at a joke--soz.

No ruffled feathers and I got the joke. My hope for many people is that this really is a joke and not something that will be real law in Thailand.

CB

[FolkGuitar]

In this situation where a person under 25 needs to show they are married they will have to register it at the Amphur which is somewhat more complicated than your example above.

CB

What if only one of your wives is under 25?

[Rasseru]

In this situation where a person under 25 needs to show they are married they will have to register it at the Amphur which is somewhat more complicated than your example above.

CB

What if only one of your wives is under 25?

It depends. If the average age of your wives is over 25, all is well; otherwise, not.

[PhilHarries]

In this situation where a person under 25 needs to show they are married they will have to register it at the Amphur which is somewhat more complicated than your example above.

CB

What if only one of your wives is under 25?

But if she's one of your wives you'd be guilty of bigamy unless a mia noi counts as a wife.

This almost ranks alongside the law here in Viet Nam where it is illegal for a man and a Vietnamese woman to be alone together after 10pm unless they are married. Up to 21:59 they could be banging away like a couple of rabbits but at 22:00 she has to vacate the premises smiling demurely for the cameras. Of course there are workarounds .

[Sojourner]

The owner of my apartment building just told the girlfriend and I that we need to do a new contract for our stay. Thailand is now enforcing a law that states people under 25 are not allowed to live together unless they are married. Our contract was in the girlfriends name but now it must be changed to mine.

The details were a bit foggy but the owner of the building feels that there is enough pressure from the powers that be to enforce this on all his tenants.

Does anyone else know about this? Do you have any more information? The owner and the girlfriend are a bit confused about this as am I.

I hope this does not turn into the same situation they have in Laos where you cannot stay with a person of the opposite sex unless you are married. There, you face imprisonment and or a fine. I recently met a guy in Laos who was hit with this and had to pay a hefty fine.

My guess about changing the lease to your name is that the authorities won't bother checking on an old fart but if the flat is in your mate's name, they may want to investigate further. Try lamb's blood over the doorway.

[britmaveric]

K Rd for some fake documents??? (sounds like BS at any rate)

[slapout]

As stated above this is a regulation pertaining to student housing, so if your landlord is leaseing to students he is trying to stay legal Thai style, do next to nothing but change something to baffle the people who implemented this rule, law,decree, or wish list. I think I read that this was to improve the morality of unversity students in housing approved for students by the Universities and who ever else is involved. I wonder where these ideas are comning from, maybe someone has hired a southern baptist as a consultant on changing Thai morality, you notice I did not say improve. I would think the moral fiber of 18 plus year old students is pertty well established or is lacking, in either case, doubt if the Carey Nation, just say no, etc types will have much impact on those poor, inexperienced students.

[helloall]

Not wanting to repeat everything but as I understand, If an appartment block has more than 5 students staying then the rules do apply. If you chuck out all the students they do not apply. Many appts are putting up doors on all floors trying to segregate the sexes. It would appear that the authorities are semi serious this time, although the deadline to comply was 31 Dec 2007. Merely changing the name on the tenancy is a rather half hearted attempt to fool the authorities, although I guess an envelope will smooth the path. This regulation was brought on by the soaring pregnancy rates of thai female students