Residential Houses Turned Into Businesses Etc

[Richb2004v2]

About a year ago we had some Koreans move into the house directly opposite us. There are several other houses on our estate occupied by Koreans that all work in the same place. Every lunch time their company bring them by minibus to eat at the house opposite ours. In total there are probably between a dozen and twenty of them at any one time. As its a small house they all end up sat in the garden eating, smoking and talking. I can't really complain about that, but their habits include flicking their cigarette butts into the street, so that after a couple of days there's a fine covering of them. As well as this they constantly clear their throats and spit into their garden and the street as they wonder up and down. This I do find very annoying and disgusting. They have provided entertainment on one occasion though, when they returned drunk one night and had a group fight in the street outside my house . It's not a huge problem as they are normally only on their one hour lunch break with them sometimes returning on an evening to repeat the procedure. It got me wondering though as to what similar problems others have experienced, as there seems to be no restrictions as to what people do with their residential homes. Just down the road on my estate there were two huge luxury coaches parked on the street for a while, which would really have upset me had they been opposite my house.

[sassienie]

I moved to Chiang Mai in 2003.

My family and I bought and lived in a large 4-bedroom bungalow 20 kilometres outside of town.

It had wonderful views, quite and in a convenient location for the town but still located in it’s own secluded area.

In 2005 a Farang bought all the surrounding lands from individual owners and 2 years later built a whacking big warehouse only 1 metre from the rear of our house, and living accommodation for his Burmese staff only 6 feet away from my bedroom.

Gone were the views, the interior of my house was placed in semi darkness, the noise was unbearable and later discovered this is to be part of a large factory complex.

Had several run ins with the guy who was totally unsympathetic and just said, he is going to destroy my property, that under Thai law there is nothing I can do about it and it’s my fault for building there.

In a way he was right, there was nothing I could do.

So that was it, my family and I abandoned the property because there was no way we could live in that sort of environment. Now trying to sell the place at a giveaway price but don’t think anyone’s going to be interested.

I had another house built in Chiang Mai, this time made sure it is in a residential area, with space between my property and the neighbours, but with not enough area for factories and warehouses to be built.

The costly lesson here is, this is Thailand, check out everything first before purchasing land and real estate here.

Edited May 22, 2009 by sassienie

[Richb2004v2]

That's a sad tale, but probably not an uncommon one.

I've seen so many great looking houses situated directly opposite slums or in the middle of very poor areas it makes me wonder if you are ever safe from this kind of thing in Thailand.

I have a friend with a fighting cock shed next door to his previously quite house, and others that have become surrounded by people with packs of barking dogs. I guess that at the end of the day there are very few assurances here in Thailand.

[slapout]

We had a fish monger family move into a house across a small irrigation canal from our walled mo baan. They were throwing the dead fish into the camel, plus dumping waste water into it, with the result being a good stench. Wife and other residents went to owner of house and told her if she did not take care of the problem, the lynch mob would go to tambon officials and get it taken care of. The offending operation and family were moved within a 14 day period. When we bought land to build on on, I was assured it and surrounding land is only residential, verified by builder.

[GuestHouse]

We had a fish monger family move into a house across a small irrigation canal from our walled mo baan.

We had a neighbour right next door to us who bought a boat and then started a business selling fish which they stored in cool boxes in their garden.

Not fresh fish for human consumption - which would have been refrigerated and hence not so smelly

No, these charming neighbours started selling fish for crab bait - stored in regular cool boxes.

The stink was horrendous, we moved out and I understand it took over two years of legal wrangling to finally get the offending smelly business removed.

[JohnGotti]

just a few more reasons why i prefer my Condo.

[nam-thip]

Now you know where the ‘neighbours from hel_l’ story originated.

A few years ago a friend of mine was warned by his neighbours that unless he stopped complaining about the noise coming from the business next door he would be severely dealt with.

Lawyers got involved and it ended in a court of law where he was told in no uncertain terms that in Thailand it is not against the law to operate a business from your home.

He tried to sell his house but failed.

A house in my Soi has some sort of air stapling machine going all day but in all fairness it’s not that loud and stops at a reasonable hour.

TIT.

[lost_in_space]

In my moo baan, a small distributing company has taken over our soi, occupying townhouses meant for residential use. Everybody who can is moving out. There is something to be said for zoning.

[Richb2004v2]

When we bought land to build on on, I was assured it and surrounding land is only residential, verified by builder.

When I bought my land to build on we were assured all sorts of things, and although not so bad at the minute most of those things have since been broken.

[givenall]

When we bought land to build on on, I was assured it and surrounding land is only residential, verified by builder.

When I bought my land to build on we were assured all sorts of things, and although not so bad at the minute most of those things have since been broken.

Never trust the sellers in Thailand. They tell you everything is perfect for the things they sell

[Tokay]

Looks like the moral of all these stories is to buy enough land around your house so that pesky neighbors don't mess up your little slice of heaven.

[Tokay]

I moved to Chiang Mai in 2003.

My family and I bought and lived in a large 4-bedroom bungalow 20 kilometres outside of town.

It had wonderful views, quite and in a convenient location for the town but still located in it's own secluded area.

In 2005 a Farang bought all the surrounding lands from individual owners and 2 years later built a whacking big warehouse only 1 metre from the rear of our house, and living accommodation for his Burmese staff only 6 feet away from my bedroom.

Gone were the views, the interior of my house was placed in semi darkness, the noise was unbearable and later discovered this is to be part of a large factory complex.

Had several run ins with the guy who was totally unsympathetic and just said, he is going to destroy my property, that under Thai law there is nothing I can do about it and it's my fault for building there.

In a way he was right, there was nothing I could do.

So that was it, my family and I abandoned the property because there was no way we could live in that sort of environment. Now trying to sell the place at a giveaway price but don't think anyone's going to be interested.

Hmmmmm. Would be a shame should your house catch fire do to "a chain smoking Burmese employee" and it burn down the entire area, factory included.