Moving To Other House In Thailand

[printen]

In a weeks time I will move to another place in Thailand. I lived in the present rental house for more than 5 years with a contract, that expires on 31st december 2010.

In those five years i made a numberous improvemens in and around the house. I istalled a watertank (2000 liters), a filter and a pump. I get water from a well with a other pump.

I want to take the tank, filter en pump with me to te new rent house. My present landlord forbids me to do that. He states that the tank, filter en pump is property of the landlord, but I paid the instatallation all bij myself. The present landlord insist that I must let the curtains hang in the house, although I paid for them.

I made up a list of improvements in the past five year and the sum that I paid for the improvements,with exeption of the waterinstallation en the curtains is 128.000 baht. These improvements I will leave at the house. When I leave the house I will make sure that there is running water inside the house through the pump at the well.

My question is: Can i take the waterinstallation and the curtains with me to the new house?

[PattayaParent]

What does it say in your contract?

If it stipulates all improvements stay with the property then you can't.

But it might refer to immovable and fixed fittings and fixtures.

Or it might state that the property should be returned in the same condition as when you took it over?

How much deposit will you lose if you take everything and p1ss off the landlord?

[trogers]

You are asking about the difference between fixture and chattel. Fixtures cannot be taken away, and if you try, can be considered theft. Search Google for the difference.

You can only take away chattel brought in by you.

This is the difference between renting furnished and unfurnished - the hidden cost in lieu of lower rental rates.

[printen]

You are asking about the difference between fixture and chattel. Fixtures cannot be taken away, and if you try, can be considered theft. Search Google for the difference.

You can only take away chattel brought in by you.

This is the difference between renting furnished and unfurnished - the hidden cost in lieu of lower rental rates.

The tank, filter and pump is not fixed at the house. The only thing is that is supplies the water to the house. As far as I know, I must leave the house as when I came in the house five year ago. The problem is that the contract is in Thai. I did rent the house unfurnished and I did not pay a deposit. Is the pump, tank and filter a fixture? Same as the curtains. Thats my problem. I paid for everthing for the improvemens and I leave everything behind, exept for he waterinstallation and the curtains.

[AyG]

You're probably not going to get your deposit back anyway, so personally I'd take as much as I paid for with me as possible. Don't give the landlord your new address. Then it becomes the landlord's problem to track you down and try to recover the property, if he has a legal leg to stand on. It's not moral or ethical, but then, in my experience, neither are landlords in Thailand.

[trogers]

You're probably not going to get your deposit back anyway, so personally I'd take as much as I paid for with me as possible. Don't give the landlord your new address.

I am sure a police report based on a copy of passport forwarded to the Immigration police is good enough to impede, even without any forwarding address.

[trogers]

The tank, filter and pump is not fixed at the house. The only thing is that is supplies the water to the house. As far as I know, I must leave the house as when I came in the house five year ago. The problem is that the contract is in Thai. I did rent the house unfurnished and I did not pay a deposit. Is the pump, tank and filter a fixture? Same as the curtains.

Yes, they will be considered fixtures. You rented both house and the land it sits on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixture_%28property_law%29

[angiud]

I rent a shophouse and the contract clearly state that any improvement, fixture etc will remain after the contract finish.

My neighbor (thai) just gone and left the aircon in the upstair roooms.

[dave111223]

Do you still have a receipt for the water tank/pump?

If so i would just take them with me, but make sure you re-connect the pipes in the same manner as before the water tank was installed.

Leaving curtains that you paid for is just mental. Maybe he'd like you to leave a closet full of your clothes behind too?

I'm not sure what you're so worried about with no deposit anyways? You should have done it the Thai way and mentioned nothing about the end of the lease, quietly packed up and then stuck everything into a couple of pickups at 2AM.

[inzman]

My answer would be to remove the tank and curtains. If he asks about them, answer what tank? Wasnt a tank here when I moved in.Pretty simple.

[bobo42]

...

You should have done it the Thai way and mentioned nothing about the end of the lease, quietly packed up and then stuck everything into a couple of pickups at 2AM.

My answer would be to remove the tank and curtains. If he asks about them, answer what tank? Wasnt a tank here when I moved in.Pretty simple.

This and this.

It might be too late now that you've already had specific discussions with the landlord. Would have been better to leave things unspoken or vague. Take care of your business quietly and quickly undercover, and leave everything in good working order so your landlord has nothing to impede him from renting out again. As always, specific circumstances may make this impossible, like having the landlord's name on installation contracts, or nosy neighbors sympathetic to your landlord, etc, etc....