Deposit

[DB84]

I would like to know what you guys paid in deposit in connection with your house rental. I am currently negotiating a deal to rent a house in a Land & House property area. I will sign a two year contract and they have asked for 1 months rent advance + 3 months deposit. As far as I have heard, even for 2 years it should be 1 months rent advance + 2 months deposit.

I currently live in a house for which I signed a 1 year contract and I only paid 1 months adv. + 2 months dep. as well...

Hope someone can help shedding some light on this issue.

Edited April 30, 2008 by DB84

[apetley]

I paid 1 month in advance and a 3 month deposit on a 1 year rental.

As I didn't entirely trust my landlady to give me my deposit back, got alot of letters addressed to her from Toyota asking for hp payments! I asked her if I could have the last 3 months rental for free so she didn't have to pay back my deposit.

I was amazed when she agreed.

[longball53098]

I paid 1 months rent and 2 months deposit for 1 year contract,,,,,,,,,,,two rentals,,,,,,,,,,,,I would never consider a 2 year contract unless the rent was lowered a lot,,,,,,,,,,,I rent out a condo and ask for 1 months rent in advance and 1 month deposit for a 6 month contract if the customer wants a year then I ask for 2 months deposit.

My last landlord(Thai lady) allowed me to use the deposit as the last 2 months rent,,,,,,,,,,,I lived in the house for 2 years and she lived 3 houses away and we had a good relationship with her,,,,,,,,,,,,,plus I kept the place in immaculate condition so no worries for her

[MaiChai]

Standard terms for renting a property in Thailand: 2 months deposit. Unlike in the UK, they will hold you till the rental period is up, so no wiggling out of it after say 6 months if you signed for a year. Most folks seem to be happy with a 6 month rental agreement, so this is what I recommend, just in case something does not work out, and you need to exit. Once the contract period is up, just keep paying the same rent as I believe the contract is assumed to extend under Thai law; otherwise you need to sign for another period, thus loosing the flexibility to leave when you want. Do everything properly; eg sign a contract, and make sure you understand the terms if its in Thai. Note contracts in English can be accepted by Thai courts if you ever get into any legal disputes, so try and go this way.

When you plan to move out, try and work it so you don't need to get your deposit back; Thais, in particular Thai Chinese are notoriously difficult to get deposits back! Thus don't pay rent for the last two months if you can wing it, and then you will be alright.

Thing I noticed about house rentals. They are happy for you to improve the property. This is clever since it adds value to the property and thus means its more 'rentable' in the future. If you do plan anything like this, ask the owner, and if he/she is tricky, get them to sign something to confirm they are happy for you to make the change.

Last tip: change the locks, keeping the old ones to put back when you leave. If you need to replace starters/flourent light tubes fairly early in the contract, keep the originals and put them back when you leave!

You have less rights and its more difficult to resolve legal issues here, so try and do everything properly and by the book. My word is my bond. does not apply here!

[thaigene2]

Three months is too much, unless the third month is the 'last' month - which is still crap IMHO. I paid one month, but the standard seems to be two months.

[Moonfruit]

Yup, the standard is two months.

[torrenova]

One reason why they use 2 months here is that many agents operate on a 1 month finders fee and thus, the landlord actually only gets 1 month's deposit and 1 month's advance rent.

I always try to ascertain whether the landlord actually has the cash and often they do not. Then I just use the deposit as the last XYZ month's rent. Not within the normal contract rules I agree but you will either lose it or have to wait until they rent it again to get the deposit off the next tenant.