Thai Landlords That Don`t Play Ball.....

[sublime]

from many experiences from tenancy in various parts of the world and in thailand too, you can usually get a good feel if you are going to get your depsit back or not... this feeling can be interpreted from requests to fix things in the property within a decent time frame... all landlords that i have had that have not wanted to fix things (as per the rental contract), have been the ones that i have had a problem getting the deposit back from... the ones who fixed things quickly no questions asked have always been the ones who have given the deposit back quickly too...

[Neeranam]

my current place - 3 month deposit! and a year lease only... standard in the Ramkhamheang area, though I hear)

Thong Charoen soi Mahathai , Ramkamhaeng 65 is a good place, 3 months deposit but can get contracts for 2 months if you are not just off the boat.

[Gleen_tea]

I've stayed at many apartments/condos during my 10 years in Bangkok and I got screwed only once. It was the owner of a condo who refused to return my deposit, he lied and said that I had not paid the rent. Funny thing is, this guy was as nice as they come. If anything needed to be fixed (like the aircon, once), there was no problem with me calling the repair guys and then deducting the cost from the rent. He didn't even ask to see the receipt. He never complained about anything and in the four years I stayed at his place I think he didn't come to see me more than a couple of times. One time was when I had locked myself out and he came over from the other side of the city to open the door for me (he had a set of spare keys) and he did it with a smile. But when it was time to move out, he simply kept the deposit. It would have cost more in lawyer fees to get the deposit back than the actual deposit amount so there wasn't much I could do about it. I didn't paint the room purple. Maybe I should have.

I've rented two condos from Thai-Chinese landlords, the first one a was a woman. She was very anxious to get the rent on time each month but she would take care of any repairs that needed to be done. I told her that I would not pay last month's rent and she would have to deduct it from the deposit, I didn't want to get screwed again. She was upset about this but didn't make too much of a fuss about it. She returned the balance of the deposit after deducting last month's bills, no problems there. The last landlord, a Thai-Chinese man, was incredibly greedy. He demanded payment of utility bills down to the last satang and tried a few little scams here and there. I got the feeling that I was going to get cheated out of my deposit again but finally I did get every baht back after he deducted the bills, although he would not return the deposit until 45 days after I had moved out as he wanted to make sure he wouldn't get stuck with any of the bills.

On a positive note, one of my first landlords was a very sweet lady who ran a tailor shop downstairs and let me rent the top floor in the building. She couldn't speak a word of English and my Thai was pretty much non-existent at the time, but she never tried to trick me in any way. Occasionally, she would send up fruit to my room. Deposit was returned down to the last satang.

Another landlord of mine was a Muslim woman who could speak English rather well. She didn't even want a deposit and every month when she came to collect the rent she would bring me two loaves of bread and a fresh copy of the Bangkok Post.

[Gleen_tea]

my current place - 3 month deposit! and a year lease only... standard in the Ramkhamheang area, though I hear)

Thong Charoen soi Mahathai , Ramkamhaeng 65 is a good place, 3 months deposit but can get contracts for 2 months if you are not just off the boat.

I once stayed at Thong Charoen Mansion, although many years ago. I guess the place was ok but there was at that time many "ladies of the night" staying at that place . Also, they cheated visitors on parking fees, if charging people who are there to visit tenants for parking is right to begin with. I moved out after six month to a placed called "Family Vill" which is nearby/behind Thong Charoen Mansion. The rooms there were smaller but nicer.

[Phil Conners]

I have NEVER heard of a deposit beeing paid back....

Two times I moved out I had my deposit paid back, albeit after some arguing.

To avoild the problem in the future I will simply stop paying rent 2-3 months before leaving like everybody else seems to do.

[PeaceBlondie]

I think there's one other factor to consider. Things change. You start with one landlord and one property management. Soon, they both change.

I had that happen to me in the USA. Granted, my kids were tearing the place up a little, but the landlord was a retired accountant who got along great with me. He sold the condo just before I moved out, and it was 180 degrees different after that.

At another complex, I recall the old guy who boasted he'd been living in the same apartment before any of the present management or ownership had arrived in the country. Made no difference.

[Axel]

They have all the aces. It all boils down to how black their hearts are.

I never got my money, but I got my satisfaction when I left 8 or 9 fish in the wall cavities and in the roof.

Som Nom nah!!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

First I thought below was a joke but than I rembered your post. LOL

The curtain rods...

She spent the first day packing her belongings into boxes, crates and suitcases. On the second day, she had the removal men come and collect her things. On the third day, she sat down for the last time at their beautiful dining room table by candlelight, put on some soft background music, and feasted on a pound of shrimp, a jar of caviar, and a bottle of Chardonnay. When she had finished, she went into each and every room and deposited a few half-eaten shrimp shells, dipped in caviar, into the hollow of the curtain rods.

She then cleaned up the kitchen and left.

When the husband returned with his new girlfriend, all was bliss for the first few days. Then slowly, the house began to smell. They tried everything; cleaning and mopping and airing the place out. Vents were checked for dead rodents, and carpets were steam cleaned. Air fresheners were hung everywhere. Exterminators were brought in to set off gas canisters, during which they had to move out for a few days, and in the end they even paid to replace the expensive wool carpeting. Nothing worked.

People stopped coming over to visit... Repairmen refused to work in the house...The cleaning lady quit...

The ex-wife called the man, and asked how things were going. He told her the saga. She listened politely, and said that she missed her old home terribly, and would be willing to reduce her divorce settlement in exchange for getting the house back. Knowing his ex-wife had no idea how bad the smell was, he agreed on a price that was about 1/10th of what the house had been worth...But only if she were to sign the papers that very day. She agreed, and within the hour, his lawyers delivered the paperwork. A week later, the man and his new girlfriend stood smirking as they watched the moving company pack everything to take to their new home...

...including the curtain rods.

[Gazza]

They have all the aces. It all boils down to how black their hearts are.

I never got my money, but I got my satisfaction when I left 8 or 9 fish in the wall cavities and in the roof.

Som Nom nah!!!

First I thought below was a joke but than I rembered your post. LOL

...including the curtain rods.[/i]

I seem to remember when I was a kid there was a similar kind of trick to get revenge on someone who had a car. And that was to bung a potato into the end of the car's exhaust pipe. I imagine that the exhaust would be the last place to look for a stalling problem after checking the carb, engine, fuel and electrical systems.

Never tried it myself so I don't know if it would work or not.