When You Have A Problem With Your Residence

[lucadg]

Well, that' the story in two words:

- I rented a room for a year in a Residence in the Victory Monument Area (won't say where for now) for 9000 bath a month.

- After I moved in I realized that there was a strange, constant noise on the last floor. No problem in the day, VERY annoying in the night.

- I reported to reception: smiles, "ok, I'll check with my boss", etcc...

- No news for one day

- I reported again: smiles, "ok, I'll check with my boss", etcc...

- No news.

- I got the boss: smiles, "ok, I'll check with the techniian", etcc...

- The boss: "it's the water pump, we'll se what we can do"

- No news.

- I go to the boss and ask: "it's the water pump, we'll se what we can do"

- Ok, repeat the above steps ten times in a period of 2 months.

I am sure you all know what it feels in these situations...

In the meantime a new noise came out. It took towo weeks to the technician to find out that it was the air-conditioner of the room next to me wichh was installed IN the room. My walls tremble.

Now,

- I can't get angry

- I can't shout

- I can't sleep well

what can I do?

I was thinking to reduce my rent and say "fix it and I'll pay the whole rent" or just not pay and say "fix it and I'll pay you".

Or send a letter with that information.

I am quite unaware of Thai ways here. I am willing to try the polite/legal way, at first.

Can you help not to go to prison for smashing the pump ?

[Dragonman]

Well, that' the story in two words:

- I rented a room for a year in a Residence in the Victory Monument Area (won't say where for now) for 9000 bath a month.

- After I moved in I realized that there was a strange, constant noise on the last floor. No problem in the day, VERY annoying in the night.

- I reported to reception: smiles, "ok, I'll check with my boss", etcc...

- No news for one day

- I reported again: smiles, "ok, I'll check with my boss", etcc...

- No news.

- I got the boss: smiles, "ok, I'll check with the techniian", etcc...

- The boss: "it's the water pump, we'll se what we can do"

- No news.

- I go to the boss and ask: "it's the water pump, we'll se what we can do"

- Ok, repeat the above steps ten times in a period of 2 months.

I am sure you all know what it feels in these situations...

In the meantime a new noise came out. It took towo weeks to the technician to find out that it was the air-conditioner of the room next to me wichh was installed IN the room. My walls tremble.

Now,

- I can't get angry

- I can't shout

- I can't sleep well

what can I do?

I was thinking to reduce my rent and say "fix it and I'll pay the whole rent" or just not pay and say "fix it and I'll pay you".

Or send a letter with that information.

I am quite unaware of Thai ways here. I am willing to try the polite/legal way, at first.

Can you help not to go to prison for smashing the pump ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I presume you have a Tenancy Agreement. If so it should have a clause allowing you to enjoy the amenities of the property without the problems you are having. I would write a letter in english and thai.( keep a copy) Explain politely that in spite of your complaints, nothing seems to have been done, and that as per the Agreement there seems to have been a breach in the terms. You would therefore be grateful if they could be remedied say within next 2 weeks. May work, but then TiT Whatever you do, do not stop or reduce paying rent, as you will then be in breach, irrespective of the problems.

[lucadg]

Hi Dragonman,

Thanks for your answer:

I am not usre I get it.

I told them 20 times, Ok I can write a letter but then?

What happens if they still don't fix it? Write another letter?

Don't I have any rights?

Thanks if you could explain, I do appreciate!

Luca

[charles]

Having lived in a few cheap apartments myself (and I would categorise 9k at Victory Monument pretty cheap) personally I would say:

- don't bother with writing a letter (unlikely to get you anywhere) or even paying much attention to your tenancy agreement (how are you going to enforce it and even if you could, would it be worth your while to do so).

- failing to pay the rent in full - even with good reason - will just see them clamp the room, throw you out etc. and you will have no recourse. In any case if you piss them off it will likely make it harder to get your deposit back in the future.

- if speaking to them nicely hasn't worked I'd try asking them nicely if you can move rooms if this would help. You might have to pay a small fee for this.

- if the above doesn't help/appeal, you might just cut your losses and move out. Presumably you would lose your deposit and hopefully this is not more than 2 months rent. This could understandably hurt your pride a bit and seem unjust but at the end of the day in Western money it is hardly going to ruin you for life. It's also possible that if the management is dodgy that even when you've completed a year there that you'll have problems getting your deposit back in full anyway.

In my experience, with cheap apartments you just have to take the rough with the smooth and hope for the best. If you're not happy then just move on and find another place. Some cheap apartments do actually respond to tenant requests to fix things, return deposits, give honest elecy bills etc. But for those places that don't it is just not worth your while to push things. Just think of yourself as being above these piddling little people, forget 'em and move on.

[Dragonman]

Hi Dragonman,

Thanks for your answer:

I am not usre I get it.

I told them 20 times, Ok I can write a letter but then?

What happens if they still don't fix it? Write another letter?

Don't I have any rights?

Thanks if you could explain, I do appreciate!

Luca

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sure you have legal rights if you have a Tenancy Agreement,but Charles is correct in that, because it's not an expensive apartment, they may not really care, and consider you would not take them to Court due to the expense involved. You being a farang presumably. Charles is probably right, but if it was me would still try the letter first. Nothing to lose.

[pluto_manibo]

get a technician yourself and offer to cover half the costs with the boss to remedy the problem.....You will save face and he will save money....I believe that having a compressor unit is a fire hazzard and not allowed for safety reasons ....

[paulfr]

Take a sledge hammer and bash the wall until the noise stops. Then go downstairs and ask to have your wall fixed. That will feel good.

Just kidding.

1/ You might talk to the apt occupant yourself and see if a rubber or cloth pad in between the ac unit and wall might solve the problem.

2/ You could pay for a technician to move the AC unit to another spot in his room; of course you need the occupants cooperation/permission.

3/ Or you could offer to buy another more quiet unit ..... might only cost 10KTHB which is less than losing 18KTHB deposit moving out.

Let us know what happens in the end.

Edited July 28, 2005 by paulfr

[expatinasia]

When I first moved to Thailand, I stayed at the Boss Tower. Virtually all of the tenants were farang college students working towards their international MBAs. The guys next door liked to party until 3-4AM, with a preference to very loud hip-hop. My calls to the front desk and security did not produce any results. The next time it happened, I got up at 7AM, and cranked up my radio turned to a 70s station - ya have to love disco early in the morning. Within a half hour, one of my student next door neighbors knocked on my door, and asked what I thought I was doing. To keep a story short, we worked out an agreement: if the students wanted to party after 10PM, they would go elsewhere, and I wouldn't listen to disco before noon. Perfect!

[lucadg]

Thanks all guys, you gave me a lot of good information.

Today I have to pay my rent and it doesn't feel so good when you know you don't get what you paid for.

I cant; move to another room as the only free ones are right in front of a major construction site: even worse.

It's actually hard to adjust to this way to do things. At least in Europe you could shout to the owners till you feel better. Probably wouldn't help anywa but..

Here is just smiles and low voices and a lot of frustration.

Thanks, I'll keep you posted!

Luca

Edited July 29, 2005 by lucadg