A Renter's Nightmare

[ivowatson]

But, just like Americans and UK citizens Thai people respond to threats from lawyers.

by hiring a better or tougher lawyer who will threaten your lawyer.

Forget about:

-going to the police

-get a lawyer

-get her videotaped

It won't help you.

There's only 2 things you can do:

leave and accept your loss (and learn from it for next time)

or do it the Thai way.

I recommend you leave a.s.a.p.

[yabaaaa]

Having just spent a few days in Hua Hin land hunting the " greed" is definitely on the increase. I spoke to an Englsih couple who bought land 12 months ago price 175000 baht a rai they told me it was now 200000 bahtmax but when enquring in the local village we had price from 400000 to 1 million a rai, welcome to greedy Hua Hin. I was not to be seen during this process so it was a Thai deal. mmmmmmmmm nice greedy folk!!

Sorry, but what does this story of possible "greed" in Hua Hin have to do with the OP's problem with the landlord and what is happening to them.?

I'm not the sharpest tack sometimes so explain please.

The landlady is being greedy???

[Kf6vci]

When you go to the Tourist Police, make sure to bring an interpreter!

There are specialist attorneys who could also help and government agencies to complain to.

When she gets into trouble over this, she might opt to end this rather than continue. (I had a LL once of a 4 BR detatched home. He bothered me constantly with late surprise visits, but then he was exceedingly worried as I rented his house as a single man. Maybe he thought I would sublet or throw parties?)

Document the stealing of electricity. Keep written notices.

Which items were stolen by this landlady?

It sounds like she is going off the deep end.

She won't re-rent the place quickly in this recession and not with a similar contract!

Good luck, remember, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.

Chris

[topdogdk]

As stated before,

inform the tax-people of her income from the rental.

That will piss her off for sure.

[stevejones123]

The first thing you should have done after signing the contract was to change the locks. Then go to a good lawyer.

[longball53098]

Sorry but as a renter of a house/apartment you do not have the right to arbitrarily change the locks of the place. You are not allowed to modify the place unless it's written in the lease agreement. The landlord retains a right to enter the premises for inspections and repairs given a proper notice in writing or in event of a suspected emergency.

[imaneggspurt]

As stated before,

inform the tax-people of her income from the rental.

That will piss her off for sure.

Pissed off many thais have you ?, not good advice i feel,.

[imaneggspurt]

Sorry but as a renter of a house/apartment you do not have the right to arbitrarily change the locks of the place. You are not allowed to modify the place unless it's written in the lease agreement. The landlord retains a right to enter the premises for inspections and repairs given a proper notice in writing or in event of a suspected emergency.

Really ?. thats in thailand i take it,?. well as a landlord in the uk i can asure you a uk tennant can change the locks, and the owner can ONLY inspect the premises when invited in by the renter, you cant even throw them out if they dont pay over there !

[denissr]

My husband and I rented a beautiful house in Mae Rim, Chiang Mai on the river.....but our landlady is a nightmare. Our lease is for 3 years and we are going into our 2nd. Instead of a deposit, our contract requires that the year's rent to be prepaid in full. Our problem is that now that we have given her the money, 600,000, she wants us to move out asap and if we do she plans to keep the money as a breech of our lease. She refuses to recognize our contract and says she doesn't care. Our differences stem from money, she has manipulated every situation so that we would be paying for more than our fair share. She is building another house on the property and have even gone so far as to have her workers run extension lines to our electricity plugs. When we question her about any of this, she will go into a rage and becomes completely unreasonable. She enters and searches our house when we are not at home and has taken my things without permission.

She continually tries to extort more money by charging me for items provided for the house. Since I have not complied to her demands, she has resorted to violence by written threats and screaming at me, my staff and guests. Within a month, 2 of our pet cats have gone missing. When she heard the maid looking for the cat, she taunted her by yelling repeatedly out of her window "may mii, meow" (no have cat). I suspect that she has something to do with their disappearances. There are many other incidences but they are too numerous to mention. It is as though I am living in a horror movie.

Our house in situated on a 4 rai property which she shares. Besides ours there are 2 other houses. She will live in one and plans to rent out the other one soon. Being in such close proximity to one another does anyone know if a restraining order preventing her from entering our leased property be levied. I am in dire need of help and will welcome your suggestions.

Thanks for the story. But to solve your problem, head stright to a lawyer.

[Scott123]

I just read about an Ozzie couple who rented a house for a few months in Thailand. While out to dinner, it burned down. The investigators said it was faulty wiring. The couple confirmed everything was OK for them to leave the country, and they did. Now, 2 years later, they return to the LOS and are in big trouble.

The owner got another investigator to say it was a cigarette in the bed that caused the fire. He wanted 60,000B. The couple had to pay or they were not allowed to leave the Kingdom.

What a mess these Thai's allow to happen. Such a shame....hope you get your issued resolved!!!!

This seems strange....

How did the police know these Ozzie couple returned to Thailand?

Were they on immigration's black list and arrested upon entering Thailand?

or perhaps they returned to visit the landlord?

[craigt3365]

Scott...I guess the landlord got the police involved and had immigration track for them. Just goes to show that anything can happen in Thailand with the police being so corrupt. Here is a link to the article, which also discusses a few other crazy cases in Thailand:

Brave New Traveler Article