Village Maintenance Fees

[redman]

Friend of mine getting ready to move into a new village North Side of Pattaya. He has been hit with a bill for 3 years maintenance fees in advance. Fees are around 93,000 baht which is around 31,000 baht per year. Where I am staying now in a very nice village near Pattaya, we pay 12,000 baht per annum. Our village is slightly bigger, so I would expect a slightly lower fee as more people sgharing the security aspect.

First question he has, (as I also have) is how the fees are worked out. Are they worked out by the local government, or just a figure the developer comes up with? He has not supplied any reasons for the price, just says that is what it is.

Secondly, why does he have to pay 3 years up front?

Third Question. When should an owner start to pay this fee. It is still a building site and the village will probably never be completed as per the original specs

[Fun2Fun]

Many new developments hits you upfront for 3 to 5 years maintenance fees when you buy/move in.

The price varies some from project to project, and also it varies within the same project based on how big your property's land is.

Edited February 21, 2009 by Fun2Fun

[dr_Pat_Pong]

Friend of mine getting ready to move into a new village North Side of Pattaya. He has been hit with a bill for 3 years maintenance fees in advance. Fees are around 93,000 baht which is around 31,000 baht per year. Where I am staying now in a very nice village near Pattaya, we pay 12,000 baht per annum. Our village is slightly bigger, so I would expect a slightly lower fee as more people sgharing the security aspect.

First question he has, (as I also have) is how the fees are worked out. Are they worked out by the local government, or just a figure the developer comes up with? He has not supplied any reasons for the price, just says that is what it is.

Secondly, why does he have to pay 3 years up front?

Third Question. When should an owner start to pay this fee. It is still a building site and the village will probably never be completed as per the original specs

Go see a lawyer NOW

[JohnC]

Go see a lawyer NOW

That would be the obvious starting point plus I would think carefully about buying something in a village with such high fees, as a previous poster said it is normal in a new village to pay the first three years in advance plus the fees are based on the size of plot which you do not mention. The average village fees in Pattaya east are around 12000 baht per year, on the low side some are 3000 baht. This is for a standard plot of 50sqwah, and includes such things as : security, street lighting, rubbish collection, swimming pool maintenance, road/light maintenance plus of course the all important admin charge!! A word of warning, in my village they neve actually finished the road and the village has been sold twice since then and we keep getting told "no money" despite the fact it was in the original contract but no one is bothered enough to take them to court plus they charge extra for using the pool, having said that I only pay 3000 baht a year so Im not bothered as I have good neighbours and I like the village.

Its a question of balance really but 31000 a year ??? something smells, maybe a developer trying to recoup costs in this difficult financial climate? As I said I would be looking elsewhere, in addition any development I have looked at have always stated the maintenance fees up front so I am surprised your friend didnt query this before deciding to buy there.

Edited February 21, 2009 by JohnC

[ignis]

This may help...

Early 2004 had a house build in a village project, there are just 63 detached houses here, paid up front 2 years maintenance fees, which worked out at just under 1,000 baht per month....

At the end of this contract, we the owners took over the management of this Village, so we pay for the 24hr Security, street lighting, street cleaning 2x per day, rubbish collection x2 per week, mosquito sprayers x 6 per year, we installed security cameras and a new monitor in the Gate house. Trimming of all the trees every year.............. We pay 600 baht per month and so far we have a fund in the Bank of 911,000 baht. We have a meeting next month to see what we need if anything, or to reduce the monthly maintenance fees

Out of the 63 houses 5 do not pay, 3 are empty 2 were repossessed by the Bank [we the management keep these garden in order until sold]

So this is a small private project with 63 detached houses, 50km north west of BKK, we all pay the same regardless of the size of land or house [we have 3, 4 and 5 bedrooms houses]

[Thumchok]

31'000 is very expencive... i am in the process of buying a house in east pattaya, Soi CC...it is a new village... very good grounds..good roads within the village.. good play grounds and club house , pool.... only 15'000 per year, and only pay 1 year in advance...

[Rimmer]

What guarantee will the builder give in writing that for his part he will maintain the development for three years and put all your money into a sinking fund with audited accounts available for inspection every six months?

[redman]

What guarantee will the builder give in writing that for his part he will maintain the development for three years and put all your money into a sinking fund with audited accounts available for inspection every six months?

From what we know of this man so far, there will be no guarantee. He has a few outstanding legal issues which will probably stop him ever honouring anything

[johnnyk]

I've never heard of 3 years in advance. I pay 1 year in advance to the residents' committee juristic entity.

Someone is taking the piss and you shouldn't pay it and nor should any one else without some legal advice.

[patklang]

sounds well dodgy to me.How many residents are there,can you all meet up and discuss this then meet the owner.

[LennyW]

What guarantee will the builder give in writing that for his part he will maintain the development for three years and put all your money into a sinking fund with audited accounts available for inspection every six months?

From what we know of this man so far, there will be no guarantee. He has a few outstanding legal issues which will probably stop him ever honouring anything

Really does not sound like the type of "village" you should be buying into, plenty others!!

[khundon]

Rippoff pure and simple, get a lawyer.

[redman]

Thanks for the replies, guess another visit to the legal eagle is on the cards. btw, the house area is around 400 sq. yards (20x20) so not so big.

[Mai Krap]

Its rare to find a gated community that has decent maintenance. Half the people where I live refuse to pay anything and with good reason. The security is a bunch of old piss artists who ride bicycles around the neighborhood and never see anything. They are scared to keep order or tell anyone anything and lately houses have been broken into, its suspected they get payed off but who knows.

The surrounding land around our neighborhood is now being developed by other companies and they have back filled one meter higher so this place will be flooding everytime it rains in the future. In general I do not have anything positive to say about how things are taken care of, any decent manager would fire the lot of em. Then again the management is focused on their own motivations, not customer satisfaction. Good luck to anyone buying a new house now, things seem to be getting worse and worse and with less money floating around those digging for coin will only dig harder.

[WilliamCave]

Friend of mine getting ready to move into a new village North Side of Pattaya. He has been hit with a bill for 3 years maintenance fees in advance. Fees are around 93,000 baht which is around 31,000 baht per year. Where I am staying now in a very nice village near Pattaya, we pay 12,000 baht per annum. Our village is slightly bigger, so I would expect a slightly lower fee as more people sgharing the security aspect.

First question he has, (as I also have) is how the fees are worked out. Are they worked out by the local government, or just a figure the developer comes up with? He has not supplied any reasons for the price, just says that is what it is.

Secondly, why does he have to pay 3 years up front?

Third Question. When should an owner start to pay this fee. It is still a building site and the village will probably never be completed as per the original specs

Woow very high..in Bkk some nice developments in our are the average is about 2thousand baht a month, but the service is excelent and it is in bkk. the properties are well kept up and not all the business in the project. there is a rec centre and pool., restaurant and many other ameities for that..

So u are paying alot for what u are getting, the average price of the homes in this project are up to 10million baht

[prakhonchai nick]

Rippoff pure and simple, get a lawyer.

Would you trust a Thai Lawyer any more than a Thai developer? There are good and bad everywhere. I once threatened a Pattaya lawyer, with legal action if he did not return 10,000bt he had stolen by altering a land office bill. The cash was returned within 6 hours!

Why throw yet more money away?

Just refuse to pay - at least until you are in occupation and the services (lighting, rubbish collection, swimming pool etc are in operation). Then ask to see a list of charges etc, and pay not more than 1 year in advance. But make sure everything promised is provided.

If the development is only 20% sold, then charges will of course be higher than when fully occupied.

[loong]

If the developer is charging that much, I can't see many takers and the way things are, the village is likely to stay a building site for a long time

[pontious]

On our estate they charge 40 baht per tara wah. We had to pay two years in advance plus 35000 sinking fund.

That worked out to 127tw x 40 = 5080 per month. (60960 baht per year.)

So in advance we paid 121920 +35000 = baht 156920.

We are now at the end of the 1st year and the developer wants the residents to take over.

They reccomend one year in advance now ( so taking us 2 years in advance again)

I am always prepared to pay my share but in the present financial turmoil that means transferring another sack of money from UK at the lowest exchange rates for many moons. I think that is unreasonable and would appreciate any advice.

[prefabs]

If the developer is charging that much, I can't see many takers and the way things are, the village is likely to stay a building site for a long time

I have tried but can't work out how the sum is calculated. If it ws for general village upkeep, then the more people, the less to pay. In a very small village, there is little to be maintained

[Rdrokit]

This is just another reason (rip off the farang) why I moved from Pattaya to Korat. I live in a large development on Korat which has 24 hour guarded gates and guards that ride bikes through the village 24 hr a day, pool and club house and the fee includes garbage collection. Just paid my second year fees last month, 3400 baht for the year.