Condo Service Charge

[jbaldwin]

I own a Condo in a new development in Pattaya. The owners are meeeting next month to discuss, amongst other things, approving the service charge for next year. Some of the units are still unsold. My question is under Thai law should the developer be paying service charge on the unsold unit?

[ProThaiExpat]

Condo laws in Thailand are notoriously weak and make building maintenance a real headache when speculators refuse to make monthly maintenance payments when their units don't turn over quickly.

There are some "good" buildings that have excellent maintenance, partly because they have upscale owners or strong legal agreements forming condo associations with realistic remedies for the condo owners to collect back maintenance fees.

Having said tht, your unit should be governed by a commoan area maintenance agreement that you signed when you bought your unit. That document controls who pays what and when. Read it and it should cover the area of developer responsibilities.

If the developer's responsibilities are not specifically mentioned, your responsibility to pay the maintenance fee would be covered or you wouldn't have to pay. Look to the responsibilities of condo unit owners. The current owner of the unsold units is the developer. His responsibility would be equal to yours as an owner. Economically, it is in his best interest to pay as much of the common area maintenance expenses as are needed, regardless of if it is only for his unsold units or for those not paying, as he won't be able to sell the unsold units if maintenance falls off.

Edited December 27, 2004 by ProThaiExpat